My Mortise Chisel Set is Finally Done

[Preston Baxter]

I've been working on this set for three years now, I've managed to make one over each Christmas break. A new baby sure slows down your hobby time, but I wouldn't trade time spent with the family for anything.

Blades are 1/4" 3/8" & 1/2" widths, Steel is O1 drill rod, and handles are from a backyard Walnut tree limb that fell down in a storm.

I really liked the looks of the Lie Nielsen mortise chisels, but at the time could not afford them, so I set out on making my own. I read complaints on the boards that the Lie Nielsen's were too short, so I made the blades on mine almost twice as long. Like old chisels, the sockets and handles are graduated in size according to the blade thickness. They have the length and sockets of millright mortise chisels and the heft of English mortise chisels.

They work beautifully, much better than the Hirsch set I once had. The Hirsch were long and stout, but the blades had too much of a trapezoidal profile which made it difficult to keep them square in in in deep mortises. And the tanged blades never felt solid enough at the handle.

The Walnut for the handles was just something I had lying around. At first I thought it would be too soft; but so far they have held up just fine without a dent, even when mortising in oak. I did make sure to split the blanks from the log though to make sure the grain went straight through.

Maybe in five more years I'll get around to making a complete set of bench chisels. My lifelong goal is to fill a toolchest with a complete set of hand tools that I made myself to pass down to my son.

[Mike Henderson]

Very nice looking. How did you make the sockets?

Mike

[Brian Kent]

Wow!

You have some mighty fine skills and equipment there!

[Leigh Betsch]

Did you heat treat the O1 yourself or send it out? How about posting some dimensions, I'd like to build a set.

[Preston Baxter]

Thanks for the compliments.

The blades, including socket, are all 9.5-10" long. Overall lengths are 12-14" depending on handle size. I made then as long as I could comfortably fit in my milling vise and figured I could always shorten them if they were too long.

The blades are square in cross section. I planned on trying them this way and if they bind up too much I was going to relieve the sides a little. The main problem with a square blade is than if you start it un-square, it dings up the sides of the mortise, I discovered something along the way that prevents this. I rounded over just the sides of the primary grinding bevel to remove the sharp edges where they meet the face. Now, if the chisel is started un-squarely in a shallow mortise, the primary bevel will pull it back square without damaging the sides. So with this design, you only have to be careful during the initial stages to get the mortise square, after that the chisel is self registering.



I hardened and light straw tempered about 2-3" from tips up using a MAPP torch and peanut oil. I also selectively hardened and blue tempered the shank of the 1/4" chisel where the socket meets the blade to make it resist bending.

I based the socket size of the 1/4" chisel on a photo of a the LN chisels. Which all looked to be about 5/8" diameter at the top. However, I may have mis-judged since after making mine, wooden pin on the 1/4" chisel handle just seems too small for a mortising chisel, but it is still otherwise holding up. The 3/8" chisel socket is 3/4" dia, and the 1/2" is 7/8" dia. respectively. Both the internal and external tapers are 6 deg (12 deg included angle) which I measured from a large old 2" Ohio Tool socket chisel that I inherited from my great grandfather. Anyone care to measure their LN or stanley 750 socket top diameter and taper angle and report back? I'm curious.

The sockets were the fist part of the chisel to be made. They were turned on a metal lathe. The O1 is tough stuff. I had to take very light cuts on my small 6" lathe. The inside of the socket was drilled with successively smaller drills with the tailstock to create a rough taper. The final inner taper cuts were made with a boring tool. Next, to create the blade, the bar is milled from round to flat on a milling machine then hand lapped on a cast iron plate charged with lapping paste. Vintage socket chisels were forged to shape then ground. I'll bet the Lie Nielsen chisels are made the same way mine were, but with much more automated CNC equipment.

My lathe and mill were cast off old equipment that had seen better days and each required lots of sweat equity to get them up and running. Each rebuild was a learning experience in and of itself. If you look hard enough you can find real good deals on woodworking and metalworking machinery that just needs some TLC.

Here's a before and after shot of the mill that the chisels were made on:



My lathe does double duty as a woodturning machine to make small spindles and tool handles. They are my only stationary power tools other than a bandsaw, which I'm considering selling in favor of a neander frame saw. Wood working power tools just make too much fine dust for me to tolerate. Metalworking machines make big chips that can be swept up like woodworking hand tools.

I wish I had taken some photos of the chisels during different phases of production so folks could see how they were made. I'll be sure and take some detailed photos when I do the bench chisels.

[David Gendron]

Realy impresive! Are the blades cross section "square"? And yes , if you can tell us a little more on the steps of fabrication, it would be great!
Thank you for shairing

[Steve Clardy]

Very nice work!

[george wilson]

+1 on Very nice work !!

[Keith Christopher]

I've been working on this set for three years now, I've managed to make one over each Christmas break. A new baby sure slows down your hobby time, but I wouldn't trade time spent with the family for anything.

Maybe in five more years I'll get around to making a complete set of bench chisels. My lifelong goal is to fill a toolchest with a complete set of hand tools that I made myself to pass down to my son.

This is what it is all about ! I think they are wonderful chisels I wish I could do something like this !

I am not a metal smith in any sense but the first chisel on the left looks like its a bit small where the socket meets the chisel ? (also understand I don't have any socket handle chisels)

Keith

[Leigh Betsch]

Thanks for the info. I too do some metal work when I can afford the time. I plan to put a chisel project on the list but it may not be until 2011.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

um - WOW. Those are absolutely stunning!

and nice work on the lathe restoration! Some pics of that during the restoration would be great too!

[Gary Herrmann]

Beautiful work

[Preston Baxter]

I am not a metal smith in any sense but the first chisel on the left looks like its a bit small where the socket meets the chisel ? (also understand I don't have any socket handle chisels)
Keith

I kind of thought the same thing after I finished turning the socket. I agree, it is a weak point in the design. In the photo there is some oxide reside at the base where the socket meets the blade that makes it look smaller than it is. The actual diameter is 0.245" just barely smaller than the 1/4" blade width.

I decided to harden it just a little above the annealed hardness to resist bending, but not hard enough to snap off as if it were as hard as the cutting edge. It shouldn't bend while malleting since all the force is straight down. The only concern would probably be it bending while levering chips out. In use, when prying, I've found that the handle will release from the taper due to side pressure before the socket tip wants to bend.

On the next chisels I make I'll probably increase the diameter at that location for the small sizes, however, it requires dubbing off the sides of the socket which does not look as elegant.

[Phillip Pattee]

Fabulous work. I am intrigued by the rounding of the bevel edges. I've not seen that before, but it sounds like a good idea.

[Dave Anderson NH]

Just a quick note Preston. The LN chisels are indeed made from A2 round rod stock and are machined from beginning to end on CNC machining centers with carousel tool changers.