Red Handled "Footprint" wood chisels

[Eshmiel]

More pertinent question though. What sharpening workflow are you going to be providing.

Sharpening workflow? I'm almost tempted to do a Jacob! Do you mean "method" - a rather less involved (and perhaps less rigid) approach than deriving a whole workflow? On the other hand, sharpening can be a hobby all by itself. Been there and still doing that.

Unless they also have a workbench and any desire to do actual chisel stuff... I would probably just leave chisels out with the exception of old faithful the trim lifter and paint opener. Because that is what they will become. There is no need for chisels for normal diy these days.

This is an intriguing opinion. Does no one do the sort of DIY that involved forming and fitting things together by removing the unwanted parts? I suppose DIY has expanded to include screwing together flat-pack stuff (or maybe such lego-building is now the limit of "DIY"). Long before I was a woodworker I had two chisels for paring bits off ill-fitting doors/windows and similar tasks that seemed to arise when doing all sorts of DIY - which DIY never involved flat-pack screwing either, mind. Perhaps I am just an olephart behind the times?

A small thor mallet is probably more useful than a claw hammer even. Knocking ikea stuff together. Other than picture hooks who even nails anything these days?

Me Thor two-faced mallet (grey rubber & white plastic) is so much used that it lives in its own bracket-hook right next to my right hand as I work at the bench, They are a great tool - and getting an extra screw-in head or two besides the grey/white can make them good for other tasks besides those of woodworking. Mine has a plastic handle but I fancy the wooden handle one. I can't part with the one I have, though, so a wooden handled one has been on the Workshop Heaven wish list for decades now. The claw hammer gets used about once every three months.

Nailing is common in carpentry, including the DIY kind. However, most seem to buy a huge nail gun now, rather than use a hammer. I suppose they are faster if you have 150 nails to drive into a garden shed or similar. I recall a Grand Designs programme in which someone bought a kit house, in which two European carpenters eventually appeared to speed up the construction with their nail guns, as the Blighty carpenters were still hammering in the nails and taking forever at it.

Myself I have 11 hammers of various kinds, but most are used once in a blue moon. I became obsessed with buying old ones in junk shops and doing them up.

 

[AJBaker]

I'm making a toolbox for Daughter/Son in Law, filling with tools, suitable for DIY! use.
I have a spare amount of the red handled Footprint firmer chisels, which I intend to supply.
Now what is the collective wisdom, should I supply a wooden mallet, or just a claw hammer for use with these chisels?
I got them 2nd hand, from car boots, none show any handle damage, all the information I can find shows they were good in the day, but no indication as to how "hammer" proof they are.

Bod

Btw, what kind of toolbox are you making? What else is going into it?

 

[MikeB1972]

The Black and Yellow footprint firmer chisels are my go-to chisel of choice (I use them for pretty much everything except dovetails).

IIRC, footprint made red handled wood & plastic ones - if they are plastic, then a hammer is fine, if wood I'd go with one of the nylon/steel combination Thor type hammers instead of a normal hammer, although if they are only using it every so often it shouldn't really matter too much.

 

[RupertV]

Footprint are good chisels.
Use a hammer if you must (they are only chisels) but a mallet is much easier - mainly because the size of the mallet means you can safely hit the handle end whilst you are watching the cutting end carefully, with less risk of missing and hitting your hand. That's the whole reason for a mallet, plus less damage to your tool - but you can get soft face hammers.
A flat face mallet is also good for knocking workpieces about with less damage, so it is an essential tool.

I've used the side of a claw hammer on plastic handled chisels for this reason (larger area), only use the mallet with wooden handled ones. This has served well for the last 50 years