Hirsch Mortise /Veritas Detail chisels

[Gil Knowles]

Hi
I am looking to purchase some mortise chisels and wondered if anybody has the Hirsch brand and what they thought of them

I have also been looking at the dovetail Veritas Detail Chisels designed by Yeung Chan that LV sells.

Any and all comments will be appreciated.

Many Thanks

[lowell holmes]

I have the detail chisels and I recommend them. I was using them today for some inlay work.
I can't comment about the Hirsch Mortise Chisels. I have Lie Nielsen mortise chisels. If I were buying mortise chisels, I would consider the Ray Iles chisels sold by Tools for Working Wood.

[Casey Gooding]

I have used the Hirsch chisels and can't say I care for them that much. I prefer an oval handle rather than the round handle found on the Hirsch. I have heard great things about the Ray Iles also.

[Eric Brown]

I have the Ray Iles mortise chisels and love them. They work really well. Wish they made a small 1/8" one though.

I also have the three piece detail dogleg chisel set from Veritas. They are good for the money but don't seem strong enough for cleaning half-blind dovetails in hardwood. Don't seem to hold an edge long either. But they do work. I'm looking to get a Blue Spruce fishtail with the 1:8 ratio so I only have to pick up one tool to clean both corners. Switching between three seems like too much time. Three times sharpening too.

Eric

[John Keeton]

I'm looking to get a Blue Spruce fishtail with the 1:8 ratio so I only have to pick up one tool to clean both corners. Eric

Eric, you will love the BS fishtail!! I have the BS dovetail paring chisels, the skews, and a couple of the bench chisels. I think if I were doing it again, I would probably not get the skews, and get only a couple of the paring chisels, and more of the bench chisels.

Sorry, Gil, for hijacking/diverting your thread!!

[Rick Erickson]

Eric, John,
I've got two of the BS fishtail chisels and absolutely love them. You can't go wrong.

[David Gendron]

I also have a fishtail chisel from BS and indeed it is a great tool! I have a couple of Ray Ilse "pig sticker" and they are real nice, the oval handle is great! Eric B., if you are looking for a 1/8 " pig sticker, Have a look at Jim Bode tools web site, he usualy have some for sale, I picked one a few weeks ago for 25 or 30 bucks and it is a realy nice one!
(no affiliation with the tool dealer mantion above)

[Richard Magbanua]

I have a Hirsch mortise chisel. It works okay. I haven't used any other ones yet so I don't know if I can say how well it works. It's big though I know that. Are you looking at any others? What's your price range? I got the Hirsch because I wasn't too sure about hand mortising and didn't want to invest a whole lot. If I were to get another I would probably look into a pigsticker like the Ray Iles because the handles look more comfortable and easier to hold in position. I think the Ray Iles 1/4" is about $68, the LN's are $65 and the Hirsch is $45. If you're wanting try it out cheap I think the Narex mortise chisel is only $13.
I'm hand mortising for the first time on my current project and really like it. It's not as hard as I had originally thought. I'm sure there's plenty of experienced ww's here who can give you tips if you need them.

[Mark Stutz]

Can't comment on the Hirsch, but I love the Ray Isles 1/4 that I have. Have some vintage sash mortice type that also work well.

Richard,
If you can move either the work or your body so that you are in line with the piece you're working on, it will be less tiring than leaning sideways, and will be much easier to keep the chisel plumb. I think you will have better luck with the wooden mallet in the background than the Rubber mallet DAMHIKT

Mark

[Robert Rozaieski]

I have used both the Hirsch mortise chisels (my old ones) and the Ray Iles mortise chisels (my current ones). The Hirsch are perfectly fine chisels and chop fine mortises. If that is all your budget will allow you, then they will suit you well for at least your lifetime, probably longer. However, with that said, there are a few fundamental differences between the two that do make a difference if you intend to hand chop all your mortises.

First is the handle. The Hirsch handles are round and the Iles are oval. The oval handle helps with registering the chisel straight and keeping it straight. It also prevents them from rolling off the bench. I like the oval handle better personally, but the hirsch could easily be modified by planing a flat on each side.

Second, the Hirsch chisels are square in cross section while the Iles are ever so slightly trapezoidal in cross section. What this means is that the Iles are easier to steer in the mortise and also easier to pry with because they do not scrape and widen the mortise walls as you pry with them.

Third is the bevel angle. The Hirsch come standard with [about] a 35 degree bevel. The Iles come standard with a 20 degree primary bevel and a 35 degree secondary micro bevel. This makes a huge difference with penetration. The Iles will penetrate into the mortise much deeper because of the much shallower primary bevel. This means that chopping the mortise is a much faster process; a big deal when you have 20 or 30 of them to do. While this can be remedied by grinding the Hirsch chisels, it does make a big difference in use.

Fourth is the steel. The Hirsch are O1 steel while the Iles are D2. The O1 steel is easier/faster to hone to a razor sharp edge than the D2 but does not stand up to abuse as well as the D2. The D2 does take a little longer to hone to a very sharp edge, however, that edge lasts several times as long as the edge in the O1 steel. Plus, most mortising can be done with less than paring sharp chisels so razor sharpness is typically less important in a mortise chisel. However, be warned that if you use a honing guide, the Iles chisels will likely not fit in them well because of their shape (tapered from bolster to tip and in cross section). The Hirsch are easier to hone with a honing guide.

After several years using both, I would say that if you are going to do all of your mortising by hand using the chopping method, save your pennies a little longer and get the Iles (or some vintage oval bolstered style chisels). You really only need 2 for most furniture sized work, a 1/4" and a 3/8". However, you will appreciate the differences between the Hirsch and Iles if you chop all of your mortises. However, if you bore your mortises and only use the chisel to remove the waste and square the bored mortise up, or if you only hand chop a mortise every once in awhile, then the Hirsch will suffice and you are unlikely to see any benefit by spending the extra money on the Iles chisels.

[Richard Magbanua]

You're right Mark. It wasn't too bad though. I would have preferred to move to the end of the bench and face away from the camera but I had a bunch of crap stacked there and didn't want to take time to move it. The wood mallet in the back is a bit light. I need to make a bigger one for mortising sometime this winter.
Thanks for the tips!

Can't comment on the Hirsch, but I love the Ray Isles 1/4 that I have. Have some vintage sash mortice type that also work well.

Richard,
If you can move either the work or your body so that you are in line with the piece you're working on, it will be less tiring than leaning sideways, and will be much easier to keep the chisel plumb. I think you will have better luck with the wooden mallet in the background than the Rubber mallet DAMHIKT

Mark