Ebony handles/Kiyohisa chisels

[Allen Fulmer]

Several weeks back I was looking for recommendations for white steel #1 chisels. Well I was lucky enough to find a set of 10 brand new of Kiyohisa's. I need to get some nice handles for them. Ultimately I would love to get ebony handles, Im just worried they would split under abuse. These chisels will not be my primary chisels for every day work, but they will be used for cleaning up joinery and such with a mallet. I know the story goes that ebony handles crack and should never be struck, but has anyone struck ebony handled chisels with success? or just failure? My back up plan is Rosewood.

[David Weaver]

My first set of chisels was an export only set with ebony handles. I used them for a couple of months with mallets only and ended up selling them to a buddy when I found a set of mokume iyoroi chisels with white oak handles.

Personally, I'd get white oak or gumi. To me, the feel is better, and the sound is a lot less annoying.

[Mike Henderson]

I have a couple of narrow chisels with ebony handles (ones I made). You generally don't hit narrow chisels that hard but I have used a mallet on them. No problems at all.

While Ebony is nice, I'd recommend cocobolo for looks. I have many chisels with cocobolo handles and have hit them hard and often and they still look like new. And cocobolo is a beautiful wood.

Mike

[Allen Fulmer]

David, when you say you used mallets on them, was it just light tapping? Or did you do any moderate chopping with them? Im really looking for a dark wood handle, thats the only reason i wasn't considering white oak. Macassar ebony has always drawn my eye. I just don't want to be breaking handles.

Mike. I agree with you about cocobolo, however the handle maker doesn't use cocobolo. Its either ebony or rosewood. or any of the traditional handles for japanese chisels of course.

[David Weaver]

I hit them like you would any other chisels intended to be struck. They were regular oire with multiple hollows, probably white #2. They were made OK, but somewhat sloppy compared to the quality makers here, and I think ebony handles and multi hollows were used because someone thought that's what they could sell in the west - chisels with fairly sloppy workmanship, a big "made in japan" stamp in the top and ebony handles. I only paid about $350 for the 10 of them, they were perfectly functional, and I never broke any ebony on them. I suppose they were as good as any other $35 chisels.

[Chris Vandiver]

Have you bought Kiyohisa chisels without handle or is it that you haven't chosen the handle wood yet and that the seller will provide the handles. One of the best choices for Japanese chisels is "Hon" red oak. "Hon" red Oak isn't to be confused with regular Japanese red oak. It is very dark, quite dense and very durable. It is a scarce wood now so it is not used for tools like it once was, and it is highly sought after. It is still an option and would be my recommendation for a premium chisel like Kiyohisa. If the handles are going to be made in Japan, choose a signed handle from the likes of the maker Kane-e. Your premium chisels warrant such handles. You can pound on these handles as much as you like, all with a steel hammer!

[Derek Cohen]

Hi Allen

I have a set of Western bench chisels with ebony handles that I do use with a wooden mallet. These lack the protection of a steel hoop of the Japanese bench chisel, but they do fine because the mallet is faced with leather. That is, the surface of the mallet is softer than the ebony. Hooped Japanese bench chisels, on the other hand, are designed to be struck with steel.

I suspect that you are considering ebony for appearance. I had the choice of woods when purchasing my Kiyohesa set, which are slicks not bench chisels. I decided to go with a traditional wood, red oak. I am glad I did - it creates a gentle appearance, which is how I understand is the personality of its maker, Mr Kiyohesa.





For me, The ebony is perfect on the Western chisel. The red oak is perfect here. However this does not answer your question other than to show that, like you, I feel the need to protect ebony handles. However, with care in choice of hammer (the ebony handles get hit pretty hard), mine have not shown the slightest damage over the past year.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Allen Fulmer]

Chris, I bought them without handles and theyre in route to Kane-Ei as we speak. I will look into "hon' oak. Thanks for the suggestion! When you say pound on these handles, are you referring specifically to the Hon Oak or any of the handles Kane-Ei makes?

Derek, Yes I do like the appearance of the ebony handle. I also like the dark on dark overall appearance of the chisel.

Its interesting, when reading about ebony handles for striking chisels(oire) theyre not recommended, yet the people that have had experience with them seem to say they haven't had issues. Im pretty careful with my tools, however at the same time i don't want to have to switch chisels for a certain task because I'm afraid ill break or crack a handle. I want to be able to chop out waste with these chisels(with majority of waste removed by handsaw/fret saw)

[Chris Vandiver]

Allen,

I was referring to "Hon" red oak in general and not the fact that Kane-e made them. Make sure you refer to it as "Hon" red oak and not just "Hon" oak. I would say that "Hon" red oak is as tough as white oak. Regular red oak(especially if it is dark and dense) is pretty tough as well, certainly tough enough for using a steel faced hammer on. It would also be a fine choice. Any oak handle that Kane-e makes and signs is going to be excellent quality, in every way.

[Jussi Auvinen]

Very lucky man to get such premium chisels

I have 90% of my japanese stricking chisels with boxwood handles. Very tough material, yo will notice when you're mushrooming the head after hooping.

Many do not like the yellow-tone of the wood but when you take off the laquer and use an oil like tung-oil or I like to use Liberon finishing oil (which is tung oil with additives) the pale yellow gets a very nice look and the different hueys in the wood come alive.

Heres a photo of two boxwood handles(atsu) and a white oak(oire) just to show off!

[Jack Curtis]

Very lucky man to get such premium chisels

I have 90% of my japanese stricking chisels with boxwood handles. Very tough material, yo will notice when you're mushrooming the head after hooping....

My favorite Japanese handle wood is gumi (close to boxwood). For western chisels, I'd go out of my way to find dogwood.

[Tony Shea]

I also prefer gumi handles on my Japanese chisels and have grown to like the yellowish hue. But I do have a KI Japanese chisel that has a hooped ebony handle that gets hit with a metal hammer and have had zero issues.

[Allen Fulmer]

I would really like to try out some gumi handles just not on this particular set of chisels. But in the future Im going to get a chisel or two with a gumi handle.

I was set on either ebony or rosewood, but now I'm second guessing it, wondering if I should go for white oak or Hon red oak and maybe apply a stain to get the desired handle color I was after. The issue with these dense handles is it transfers the blow directly to the cutting edge and can/will either break the edge or the handle upon the wrong impact?

I guess I also should have specified, when I say "mallet" i was just being general. I often use a wooden mallet made from Lignum vitae as well as a steel faced hammer.

[Jussi Auvinen]

dont stain, it will look rather ugly, atleast after working with sweaty hands.

You can get rosewood or ebony handles for your chisels pretty easily, there are a few japanese tool dealers who can find the handles for you+hoops!
It wont be a off the box perfect fit ofcourse.

Do how you feel! You can always change them if they dont work out for you!

[Allen Fulmer]

Well if I stained, I would do a lacquer finish over top of the stain so they wouldn't bleed. I always re-lacquer all of my chisel handles when I get them. The finish thats on them when the come from japan never seems to be very good.

Well fortunately, the chisels are going to Kane-Ei so he will make them fit perfectly. Maybe I will get a set of Ebony and a set of white oak, He can fit both sets at the same time so if I have problems with the ebony then i can swap them out and theyre already pre fitted.

Thanks for all of everyones input. I guess I will find out for sure how ebony handles hold up. It will be like an episode of Myth Busters!
Anymore input is welcome!