What`s the Difference.............

[CarlC]

...Between a Bevel Edge, paring and Mortice Chisels?

thanks Carl

 

[paulm]

Hi Carl,

There's many on the forum more qualified than me to explain, but as no one's come along yet I'll try my best !

Bevel-edge have the long sides relieved at an angle that allows them to clean up between the tails on dovetail joints where the sides angle inwards.

Conversely, mortice or firmer chisels have the long edges at right angles to the back/front of the chisel. This prevents them from bieng used on dovetail joints, but leaves more metal and therefore strength which is good when doing deeper mortices and allows them to be used with a levering action without fear of breakage when cleaning out the waste in a deep mortice.

Having said that about mortice chisels, some of them do have a very slight angle grind on the sides which some people prefer, but nowhere near as much as the bevel-edge types.

Paring chisels I am less sure about but think they generally have longer blades to make it easier to use with two hands when doing fine accurate paring on the end of a piece of wood, the longer blade also helping registration against the vertical cut surface.

Hope that's some help until the experts arrive !

Cheers, Paul.

 

[CarlC]

Hi Carl,

There's many on the forum more qualified than me to explain, but as no one's come along yet I'll try my best !

Bevel-edge have the long sides relieved at an angle that allows them to clean up between the tails on dovetail joints where the sides angle inwards.

Conversely, mortice or firmer chisels have the long edges at right angles to the back/front of the chisel. This prevents them from bieng used on dovetail joints, but leaves more metal and therefore strength which is good when doing deeper mortices and allows them to be used with a levering action without fear of breakage when cleaning out the waste in a deep mortice.

Having said that about mortice chisels, some of them do have a very slight angle grind on the sides which some people prefer, but nowhere near as much as the bevel-edge types.

Paring chisels I am less sure about but think they generally have longer blades to make it easier to use with two hands when doing fine accurate paring on the end of a piece of wood, the longer blade also helping registration against the vertical cut surface.

Hope that's some help until the experts arrive !

Cheers, Paul.

Yer quite alot actually thanks.
That`s why my works f****** up cause we only use the Bevel Edge chisels.So when i`m doing the Mortice joints that must be why i`m struggling on them.

 

[ByronBlack]

Carl, if I were you, I would definitly invest in a couple of motice chisels it will make cutting mortices a lot easier and they can take a lot more of a pounding than the bevel edges.. ebay is a source of good cheap mortise chisels

 

[MooreToolsPlease]

I think paring chisels were mainly designed for pattern makers, I haven't come across a situation where I wish i would have had the length of a paring chisel versus a bevel edged.
I think the biggest help with a mortice chisel is that the tall section helps to keep the mortice straight

 

[MikeW]

Hi Carl,

Here's the end of a few vintage oval bolstered mortise chisels

If I had been smart enough to take a picture from the ends, you would see that they have a very slight taper from the backs to the faces of the chisels. This gives a bit of clearance.

Tony Murland usually has vintage ones. Ray Iles there makes the best new ones.

I don't know if you have to use a chisel exclusively for the test or not, but one can drill out the center of a mortise and simply use the bevel edge chisels to pare to the lay out lines.

Take care, Mike
who does use long paring chisels...