Fishtail chisels

[Maurice Ungaro]

Anyone have any experience using both the L-N and the Blue Spruce fishtails? Also interested in what size(s) are most beneficial. It's a no-brained to see their usefulness in half-blind DTs.

[Jim Matthews]

I went a different direction to skin the same cat, the LV detail chisels made after Yeung Chan's design.

Two Benjamins for a set wasn't cheap, but they're very useful in many applications, not only with dovetail adjustments.

[Mike Henderson]

In my opinion, there's no reason to spend a lot of money on a fishtail chisel for dovetails - it just doesn't get that hard of use. If you want to save some money, look at fishtail chisels in the carving tool section. You have a big selection and the steel is quite good for that application.

Mike

[And if you want to save more money, buy a couple of cheap 1/4" chisels and grind them into skews, left and right. The only disadvantage is you have to change chisels for each end, whereas the fishtail will do both with one chisel. If you're into grinding, get a wider chisel, maybe a 3/8" and grind it into a fishtail.]

[Scott Stafford]

I have both brands and in both .375" and .500" sizes; I prefer the Blue Spruce in the smaller .375" size for almost everything. I bought the LN's because they came out first but I like the shape of the Blue Spruce much better. And the fit and finish is beautiful as well.

I would start by buying the smaller size and only buy the larger if you found an application for it. I use my fishtail frequently so I never regret the price paid. Maybe I'll sell the LN's some day?

Scott in Montana

[george wilson]

Fishtail chisels or gouges are very easy to make. I have posted a set of gouges that I made from 1/4" W1 square steel. Just heat up one end red hot and flatten it out. Automatically makes a fishtail,unless you are VERY clumsy!

The gouges were then heated again on their ends,and driven against a hardwood block with steel bars of differing diameters to curve them. A square point was ground on the handle end. Drill a hole in the handle,heat up the tang red hot,and poke it into the hole MOST of the way. Sinks right in. After hardening and tempering the ends of the gouges,polish the gouges up,and finish driving the tangs into the handles.

There are a few odd chisels and gouges thrown in. The small sizes are just filed with small round files to get the grooves. No big deal. Just about everything was done with hand tools on these,except grinding the tangs tapered.

As you can see,I had chipped a point off of 1 of the skews. Dropped it just before photographing it.

The handles are just quick and dirty. At that time,I had just made about 100 handles for carving tools,and was making them functional,but not hard to make. There are 18th.C. handles like these,but not as tapered.

A few evenings work,if I recall.

[Derek Cohen]

Anyone have any experience using both the L-N and the Blue Spruce fishtails? Also interested in what size(s) are most beneficial. It's a no-brained to see their usefulness in half-blind DTs.

Hi Maurice

I cannot comment on the LN versions, but for years I used one I made for myself out of an old chisel (carefully ground away) ...



A couple of years ago I picked up the two Blue Spruce fishtails at a deceased estate sale. They were unused. I am so pleased that I bought them as they are fantastic - well shaped and hold the edge forever. If I was buying just one I would get the 1:6 ratio as this can do it all. I suspect that I may have been the one to tip Dave Jeske over the edge to produce these as I did nag him so!

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Maurice Ungaro]

If you want to save some money, look at fishtail chisels in the carving tool section. You have a big selection and the steel is quite good ]

Great suggestion, Mike!

[Maurice Ungaro]

George, very simple and elegant execution. Regading the handles, I had some period cutlery with similar handles, and you're right, they were not as tapered. What could I use in a garage workshop to heat the metal enough for shaping?

[Jim Paulson]

Awesome work on the fishtails George.

Maurice,
I've found that an old track forge with a hand cranked blower works pretty good for occasional blacksmithing projects.
I hope to make some chisels also, but for now Pfeil Swiss Made fishtails are what I buy for carving purposes. Down the road I'll try Austrian made Dastra, but the wallet won't allow it yet.

Like Mike, I haven't seen the need for fishtails in making dovetail joints.

Jim

[george wilson]

I just used a MAPP gas torch for those small chisels. That was all I really had back when they were made. You can take some DRY bricks and lay them into a small hearth. 2 bricks will do for this. Lay one down and put the other on edge to make a corner to lay the work against. Really helps keep the heat from getting lost.

Using this corner,and 2 Mapp gas torches,I was able to effectively heat about 3" of a 2" wide plane iron. Quench the chisels in a quench of enough vegetable oil to NOT GET HOT when you quench your tools. Too warmed up of a quench will not harden the steel. The steel has to cool at a certain rapid rate to "go through the gate",and get hard.

Notice,I filed down the metal in the centers of the chisels,leaving it to swoop out to full width at each end. Made them more graceful. The little "G" on top of the "W" is a brass brand I made back in the mid 60's,and still use.

[Maurice Ungaro]

Thanks Geoege -that sounds amazingly simple. With the low cost of vegetable oil, there's really no need to skimp on the volume.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I had a feeling George would reply to this thread. When I first saw the Yeung chisels at LV, I thought the small amount of metal and the simple-ish handles would lend themselves to attempting some metalworking. I haven't had the opportunity yet, but a simplified version of one of those is on my list of someday projects.

[Derek Cohen]

Those are awesome carving chisels George. They inspire me to make my own.

However I would not be considering them to clean out pin sockets, which is what I assume the OP was referring to when he asked about the LN and BS fishtails. Chiseling into endgrain may prove too much for the delicate bevels of your carvers. Carving long grain would be a pleasure.

Rergards from Perth

Derek

[george wilson]

They can be made more heavy duty if needed. Make them thicker. Also,grind them out of jointer knives,or old planer blades. Then,they can be left 1/8" thick all over.

[Jim Paulson]

I love this thread and this is something very interesting to me. Thanks George for firing us up on making fishtails. What steel would be best for this as a DIY project? I'm still thinking O1, but I'm really appreciating A2 these days.Jim