Crown chisels

[Richard Dooling]

I might have a chance to get a good deal on a pair of Crown skew chisels. Any thoughts on the qulity of Crown tools?

Thanks

.

[Dave Anderson NH]

As a moderator, I'll try to be polite on this one to set an example. I have several Crown tools bought early in my acquisition cycle and they are of what can be called "variable quality" Some had to be returned because of visible defects. My Crown skew chisels are far too soft, have shiny blades, but were nowhere near flat on the side opposite the bevel. I remedied the problem by grinding past the bad steel, roughly 1/4", and flattening the backs. It was a lot of unnecessary work and not something I would want to go through again. There are a lot of choices for skew chisels now of better quality and without that much of a price difference. That was not the case when I bought mine 12 years ago.

Their bevel gages need to be inspected because they often drill the hole for the wind nut off of center which makes the tool unusable in one direction.

Generally speaking, I stay away from anything made by Crown whether under their name or under one of the private labels they also make. It's a premium price for what is at best a mediocre product.

[Pat Zabrocki]

Skew chisels are just regular chisels that spent some caddy-corner time at the grinder. You can get plenty of good old chisels at flea markets or on the bay and grind them to your desire. That said I have a pair of crowns the purchased under the same conditions and with the same final opinion as Dave

the ones I've ground myself are way better.
cheers
Pat

[Richard Dooling]

Thanks for the input. They are at my local Woodcraft on the closeout table at a steep discout - now I know why. I already have some disappointing Sorby firmer chisels and I not looking to buy a chore.

[Thomas Crawford]

I have some crown butt chisels, and the 1/4" one came visibly skewed. Looking to replace them when I can.

[Tony Zaffuto]

Just for fun, I'll play the "devil's advocate". There are advantages to a skew chisel being soft, namely it sharpens easier (albeit not holding its edge as long).

My issue with the Crown would be more of the size of the chisels more than the hardness. I have a set of LN 1/4" and my opinion would be anything wider than that would be problematic in my use of cleaning out dovetails.

But, given how much I really need a skew chisel, would probably cause me to rethink their purchase should I have had that opportunity. When I first started cutting dovetails, I was looking for every crutch I could find. Today, after more than several hundred, I'm looking for simplicity.

T.Z.

[Greg Crawford]

Richard,

I have several Sorbys, and I've noticed they take some work to get the backs smooth. They seem to be flat, but with deep machine marks, some being worse than others. Is this what you're talking about? After I get them in shape, they seem to be great chisels. Of course, with a new chisel, you wouldn't expect to have to do much work.

[Mike Cutler]

I'm going to be a little less polite than Dave.

I have Crown chisels in the skew and straight bevel configuration. They are a pain to get, and keep a sharp edge on. Their worst fault is rust tracks. I store my chisels and planes in the house because my garage shop is exposed. I have LN, Sorby's Hirsch's, Stanley 750's and some beaters. The Crowns are the only chisels I have that rusted in the tool roll, in a wooden chest that has dessicant cartridges in it at all times! All are stored the same way, and maintained the same. It wasn't just rust either, it was deep running pitted tracks that looked like a worm did them. I've been very disappointed with the quality of the Crown's. I expected a lot more for the price.

[Richard Dooling]

Hey Greg,

My problem with the Sorbys is that they just don’t hold an edge. It feels almost like the edge is curling under the mallet blows. Suggestions here have been to grind them back some, grind them at a steeper angle and retemper them.

I just haven’t gotten around to trying any of these suggestions.

.

[Steve Hamlin]

The only Crown "chisels" I have are some butt "chisels." If anyone asks to borrow a chisel, they get these instead. I don't care if they come back chipped, I'd rather they didn't come back at all.
Side edges were heavily rounded, faces wavily convex, steel feels like oatmeal in a cheese matrix. Ground back and with a high angle bezel, they're not too bad at keeping an edge.

With regards skew chisels, I see two discreet applications:

1) Half blind dovetail clean up, as an alternative to a fishtail chisel - I like 1/4" bevel edge chisels with a minimal skew ground into them - just slightly more than the dovetail angle itself - so mine are at about 10° off of square.
This allows me to clean out the corners with a push cut, rather than using the chisel to knife out the waste.

2) Paring cuts, as an alternative to a carving knife - such as shaping Krenovian through tenons, studs, and the like. I find a broader chisel, ground with a pronounced skew is better for this.
Except for the sub par steel, the Crowns would be suited to this (the skew would offset the need for a low angle bezel.)

[Dan O'Sullivan]

I have a couple crown skews for work other than cleaning out dovetail sockets. They are a bit wide for that application. Like you, I found them at a discount and bought them to carve end grain arches on raised panels. The Crown chisels are not very hard as others have stated. The backs of my chisels were surprisingly flat but needed some honing before use. In my case I have used them to pare surface areas around carved elements and they have done a decent job. Not blown away but not as disappointed as the other guys.

Recommendation: I bought 2 of the 1/4" Narex(Czech Repub) straight chisels and ground them into left/right skews. I can not get over how well these "beaters" hold an edge. They are very cheap, they have ugly handles but they will sharpen well and hold an edge for a long time. They are cheaper than the Crown chisels. Might be what you need if you don't have access to some nice old chisels to reshape.

Dan

[Harry Goodwin]

All of us have favorites and work right for us. I like my Crown tools a lot and realize it's not fair to judge dfferent tools when there is great price deviation. I was encourge to buy Japanese chisels and they are not even ground on the side and when I ordered some more pricy ones same problem I didn't think it was anything to brage about soooooo. To each his own. Harry

[george wilson]

We had 2 Crown skews,but they were several (10-15) years old.they seemed to be o.k.,but the current ones may not be. I had read an article where it said tool makers were going to soften their tools,to avoid lawsuits from broken bits of steel injuring users. Maybe Crown is in that school?