Paring chisel thickness

[JohnPW]

Hello all,

How thick are long thin paring chisels?

I recently got a 38mm bevel edge chisel which is quite long (215mm/8.5 inches blade, from business end to where it meets the handle) but it's 5mm and 6mm thick, which is the same as my other normal chisels, and it's hardly flexible at all. Is it a normal chisel but just a bit longer because of the width?

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

Hi John

I am interested to hear the opinion of others here. My view ...

Ideally, a paring chisel is for precise work. It is not about power (such as a chisel that is forced through wood with a hammer); it is about making fine, thin cuts to tune a joint (pushed only). These were the chisels of choice of patternmakers.

I think that there has been misunderstanding about the thin blades.

Traditionally, paring chisels are long to enable movements to create slight changes of direction. The total length of the chisel is the relevant aspect here.

In Western chisels the design is a long blade and a short handle. The Japanese, however, have a different take on this, using a long handle and a short blade.

Along with the length (for control). both Western and Japanese types attempt to create a chisel that offers much feedback. The Japanese do this by keeping the blade short, which keeps the weight down. I think that many have misunderstood the thin blade of Western paring chisels to only offer feedback through their flex. I believe that the thinness is way of keeping the mass down, and it is the lower mass that creates feedback.

The long-and-short of it is that a thick, long blade will still offer lots of control. What it loses is feedback.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[Klaus Kretschmar]

My paring chisels have the thickness of 4 mm, one has 3.5 mm. While I agree with Derek that it's the length of the chisel that gives some more cutting control, the thin blade is important to me as well. It allows to put the power to the very edge of the tool without the risk of digging in.

Klaus

 

[deema]

The pairing chisels I have are the same thickness as my standard palm tree chisels, the length of the blade is the only real differentiator. I have the bevel at a very shallow angle which is the other differentiator. They have never seen a mallet, or any real pressure being applied.

 

[memzey]

My Ward and Payne parers are very long and extremely thin:


That's a wide one at 1 1/2" but it's no more than 1/8" thick (can't get to it to put a calliper on it at the moment as I'm in Cyprus on my holibobs). The blades are probably about 10" or thereabouts from bolster to tip

 

[custard]

Hello all,

How thick are long thin paring chisels?

I recently got a 38mm bevel edge chisel which is quite long (215mm/8.5 inches blade, from business end to where it meets the handle) but it's 5mm and 6mm thick, which is the same as my other normal chisels, and it's hardly flexible at all. Is it a normal chisel but just a bit longer because of the width?

Maybe it's not a paring chisel at all, maybe it's a framer's slick?

 

[ED65]

I think we'll find that this has always varied, even back when paring chisels were much more common they weren't all thin, or at least thin enough to be flexible. It was the length of the blade that set them apart.

In many modern workshops a "paring chisel" is just a bench chisel sharpened to a more acute angle (20° or lower) rather than being a purpose-made tool with a longer-than-average blade.

 

[adidat]

just measured my narex chisel, it goes from 6 mm at the pointy end to 7mm before the tang, dosent strike me as much of a taper, but i doubt there machines would be out by that much so i would assume it was done on purpose??

adidat

 

[Jacob]

Narex paring chisels are much chunkier than your typical old un, which makes them heavier, which is inconvenient as they are intended for one handed gentle cuts. (I've got both in my workshop I'll measure them tomorrow).
They are used for paring (surprise!) which means taking off a thin shaving in similar circs to a block plane e.g. shaping ("blocking in" - see block plane thread) , trimming arrises off a finished item etc.
The length gives you precision (more accurate aim/control) but also permits a reach into tight spots so you can trim a door edge where a short chisel would put your knuckles in the way, or ease sides of a deep mortice or face of a wide tenon etc

 

[JohnPW]

Maybe it's not a paring chisel at all, maybe it's a framer's slick?

It looks like a normal bevel edge chisel but just long and wide. Here's a pic, it's the one at the top, a relatively recent Marples, because of the round bolster, but for some reason has a short handle. Under are typical normal length chisels for comparison (32mm to 12mm):

 

[D_W]

My Ward and Payne parers are very long and extremely thin:


That's a wide one at 1 1/2" but it's no more than 1/8" thick (can't get to it to put a calliper on it at the moment as I'm in Cyprus on my holibobs). The blades are probably about 10" or thereabouts from bolster to tip

Beautiful chisel - a top example of the chisel maker's art.

 

[D_W]

Hello all,

How thick are long thin paring chisels?

I recently got a 38mm bevel edge chisel which is quite long (215mm/8.5 inches blade, from business end to where it meets the handle) but it's 5mm and 6mm thick, which is the same as my other normal chisels, and it's hardly flexible at all. Is it a normal chisel but just a bit longer because of the width?

The finest quality older paring chisels are all very thin with very finely ground bevels and a superb finish quality (unless they have no bevels).

My good parers are closer to the ward chisel pictured above, and probably aren't much thicker than 1/8th inch (even though they may not be quite the quality level of the ward chisel above), but most are a bit thicker toward the bolster. I much prefer the thinner chisels and would keep looking until I found one that is both thin and close to full length. They just seem to have more control in the cut and handle much more nicely. I haven't found them cheap in the state, though.

 

[AndyT]

This is one of my favourites.

Flexible enough to cut even if the board is wider than the chisel's length

 

[Derek Cohen (Perth Oz)]

I am curious to know how many others have this feature in their paring chisels ....

As mentioned before, I use Kiyohisa slicks. As purchased ...

In this picture there is nothing to alert you that they are different (other than being Japanese, of course) ...

However, they have a feature that makes cuts like that above and this below easier ...

The head of the chisel is not coplanar with the handle, as are other chisels, but is at a 5 degree incline ...

That is different from a cranked handle chisel, which has a markedly raised handle.

This feature is sooo nice, providing better visibility and control.

Regards from Perth

Derek

 

[rxh]

Four long chisels. I think three of them could be called paring chisels but one is much too thick. From the top down the thicknesses are:
Near tip 2.3 mm, near bolster 4.2 mm
Near tip 2.8 mm, near bolster 5.0 mm
Near tip 6.2 mm, near bolster 8.0 mm
Near tip 3.0 mm, near bolster 4.8 mm

 

[memzey]

I think only the bottom one could be called a paring chisel. The others I'd call firmers with the thickest being a registered firmer but I could be wrong.

 

[ED65]

The head of the chisel is not coplanar with the handle, as are other chisels, but is at a 5 degree incline ...

This is the reason I think people shouldn't be so quick to dismiss banana chisels when they find one, as long as the curvature flattens out near the edge to allow for easier sharpening it can be used in a similar way (and I'm betting in the past similar chisels were used in exactly this way).

 

[JohnPW]

Here's two more long chisels:

19mm wide: 5.5mm (no tapering), has round bolster. No name on the chisel.
38mm wide: 4.2 and 5.5mm thick. Has "Geo..." on it.

Blade length is about 200mm.

So both are not thin.

 

[JohnPW]

I've finally manage to get a bevel edge thin paring chisel for a relatively reasonable price, although still quite expensive. Thickness near the handle is 4mm, tapering down to 2.7mm at the cutting edge, width is 22mm. The lands are small and it is definitely bendy!

I need it for work, so I can justify spending 4 times than what I would normally pay for a normal length chisel which is £3!

 

[D_W]

Haha...12 pounds? Let us know how you like it. I think you'll find it pretty pleasant to use compared to a more rigid chisel.