Wooden Handles...Plastic Handles...but which is best...?

[AndyT]

Now then Eric, stop getting on with your work, and start making a whole selection of mallets!! One of them will turn out comfy!

(Or at least get a spokeshave or a whittling knife onto your current handle and adapt it to suit your hand - but that might not take too long...)

 

[Eric The Viking]

Now then Eric, stop getting on with your work, and start making a whole selection of mallets!!

Yesssir!

(tugs forelock and sidles out for a furtive smoke* round the back of the drying sheds)







*well he would if he was a smoker...

 

[Vann]

...but I'm used to using the heel of my hand most of the time...

Now when I did my apprenticeship I was told to never use the palm of my hand for hitting chisels. They said we'd damage the nevres, and pointed to several old fellas who had the shakes :shock:

On the other hand I was taught to break off the burr when honing, by stropping on the palm of my hand - a definite no-no these days. I still do it and have never cut myself 8) ....yet!

Cheers, Vann.

 

[Allylearm]

...but I'm used to using the heel of my hand most of the time...

Now when I did my apprenticeship I was told to never use the palm of my hand for hitting chisels. They said we'd damage the nerves, and pointed to several old fellas who had the shakes :shock:

On the other hand I was taught to break off the burr when honing, by stropping on the palm of my hand - a definite no-no these days. I still do it and have never cut myself 8) ....yet!

Cheers, Vann.

Sounds reasonable explanation, I have stropped since a youngster I would even dare say it very hard to cut oneself if stropped in the proper manner. It just looks like it could, slow down as you stropp and you will see the edge is never pointing in to the flesh but running past.

Oh, and to answer the point about plastic or real, I would need extensive research of trying out varied hues for the sake of science you understand to come up with a answer.

 

[Jacob]

...but I'm used to using the heel of my hand most of the time...

Now when I did my apprenticeship I was told to never use the palm of my hand for hitting chisels. They said we'd damage the nevres, and pointed to several old fellas who had the shakes :shock:

On the other hand I was taught to break off the burr when honing, by stropping on the palm of my hand - a definite no-no these days. I still do it and have never cut myself 8) ....yet!

Cheers, Vann.

I agree - no hand hitting chisels - that's what mallets are for. If you want to hit gently then use a little mallet - it only takes a few minutes to turn one up if you need to. Hand stropping looks dangerous (impresses the clients!) but isn't at all, unless you are drunk or something. It does work too, as far as I can see.

 

[Eric The Viking]

That's an interesting point, but damaging the nerves is the least of my worries!

I don't hand strop, as I find the side of my trouser leg (jeans) works better!

Eric (the-rebel).

 

[Allylearm]

Nice array of tools and look worked which makes them even better in my book.

 

[woodbloke]

As a little 'aside', that storage set up for chisels would scare the life out of me...there are only a few with guards on! So you reach into the back of the tool well to pick up something (pencil from the pot, say) draw your hand back towards yourself...straight across the undguarded blade of a chisel! Ouch! Been there, done it I store all my chisels in the same way, blade down:

but behind a clear acrylic front cover (which you can just make out in the pic) that reaches below the the level of the blades - Rob

 

[AndyT]

Good point Rob, and the perspex is sensible, but don't worry, it's mostly where things not in use get shoved - I have other pencils ready to hand. And it's at the back of a cupboard (with the lathe on) - not my bench.
But your workshop is a lot tidier than mine, I admit!

 

[sparkymarky]

Wooden Handles...Plastic Handles...but which is best...?

theres only one way to find out..... FIGHT!!

sorry couldn`t resist after seeing the title, but in a matter of health and safty dont fight with chisels :wink:

 

[Vann]

I store all my chisels in the same way, blade down:

but behind a clear acrylic front cover (which you can just make out in the pic) that reaches below the the level of the blades

And the perspex will keep out the moisture that comes into the garage/workshop when the the car comes in wet. I like it :!: I've been measuring up to make a few chisel drawers with dividers (my users currently roll around loose in a drawer). This might be a better option.

But I digress... this is, after all, a handle thread. Err, wooden for bench and fine work, plastic for beating the snot out of.

Cheers, Vann.

 

[dibs]

I've always bought my tools for working with and not looking at, though I will admit to the odd admiring glance at my Makita impact driver!
20 years ago, I bought a 3 piece chisel set from B&Q, 1/4, 1/2 & 3/4 inches. They've had some wallop and the blades are now set more firmly into the handles than the makers intended. They've been used on everything about the house, wood, plaster and concrete. A touch up on the grinder and a taste of the oil stone got them up and running again.A few years back, I bought a chisel set from Screwfix for about £10, 1/8" to 1 1/2" in the set. The oil stone that came with the set was useless, but with a better stone and a Lee valley jig, I could get a decent edge. I won't claim that the edge is long lasting, but I can get it sharp enough for the task in hand. No good for professional everyday use, but for the hobby woodworker (dovetails not included), they are good enough. Handles, they are all plastic! I can't justify the cost of a big "name" set of chisels, but I can understand a serious/pro user spending big bucks on any tool. (The Makita was a 50th birthday present.)
Rick.

 

[AndyT]

I've got a set of those Screwfix chisels too. Just right for splitting tiles off walls, chipping away at plaster, digging roots out of stone walls - all those jobs where you need something chisel shaped, rather than a real woodworking tool.

 

[Fat ferret]

I have old cast steel chisels mostly, I only use a mallet with the double hoop and leather washer ones but I don't hit them very hard because there's no need to if they are sharp, even for inch mortices in knotty larch. I like wood and don't think it is significantly weaker than plastic but each to their own.

 

[GazPal]

I tend to prefer plastic handled chisels for work (Both bench and site work) as there tends to be little to worry about in terms of maintaining them apart from typical sharpening routines. Quite different to my approach regarding hand saw and hand plane handles which I tend to whittle to suit my grip. It should be a case of adapting the tool to suit your needs.

It's just a case of if a tool works for you and your crafting style........use it, but don't be afraid to adjust handling to fit your grip. :wink:

 

[Jelly]

I to throw a spanner in the works I can't pick sides here, I really like the wooden "carver" style handles, but my favourite chisels to use are the red acrylic handled footprint chisels, i find the rounded off trapizoid shape very comfortable, and gives excellent control especially their Patternmakers chisels.

However, when I did woodwork for a living my work chisels were all stanley Black & Yellow jobbies, and undoubtedly survived a few incidents of fairly brutal misuse at the hands of colleagues and frequently being knocked off my bench more or less unharmed, my nice box handled chisels would not have.

 

[Trafalgar]

Hard to improve on the round-cornered rectangle plastic ones which one should remember kept the chisels at a good price point.

 

[D_W]

...but I'm used to using the heel of my hand most of the time...

Now when I did my apprenticeship I was told to never use the palm of my hand for hitting chisels. They said we'd damage the nevres, and pointed to several old fellas who had the shakes :shock:

On the other hand I was taught to break off the burr when honing, by stropping on the palm of my hand - a definite no-no these days. I still do it and have never cut myself 8) ....yet!

Cheers, Vann.

Sounds like you were told reasonable things. I don't know what the danger would be to palm stropping....other than maybe getting dirty oil on your hand and then on the work.

I think some of the things we're told not to do are imagined hazards.

 

[Bluekingfisher]

late in the day, however my vote goes to the black one.

David

 

[JonnyW]

The title of the post is obviously a rhetorical question - wood all the way. The chisel at the top of the pic is a shear delight to behold.

I do agree with the post regarding how the tool is sharpened. I own Ashley Iles, Lie Nielsen, Robert Sorby and plastic non-split handled Marples. All are really good chisels when sharpened property.

It is purely 'horses for courses' and all down to what you are going to do with them and what type of work you are doing. I served my time (1989 - 1993) with a set of Robert Sorby chisels that I abused day in, day out. They lived in a chisel role in my tool box and were used on site and in the workshop. I replaced the split handles (rosewood I think) on them a few months back - the reason for the handles splitting was inappropriate abuse and lack of sharpening.

In hindsight I most definitely wouldn't buy a set of Sorby chisels to put in in my tool bag and take on site - it would be a set of Marples plastic non-split handled babies. When I was on site working, you didn't seem to have the time to nip off and run the thing over an oil stone - that was saved for workshop time. However when you were at a bench all day working on finer things, you seemed to have the time and the luxury of spending a few minutes grinding and honing, hence the use of better quality chisels.

Jonny