Firmer chisels - What are they good for?

[Jim Koepke]

Okay all this slick talk got me wondering...

My dictionary associates slick with smooth. With this note, "Old Norse slíkr ‘smooth’."

Was this how a smooth surface was made in the days before a smoother plane?

Wikipedia says:

Slicks are used mostly by shipwrights and timber framers.

Smoothing tenons for a 'slick fit?'

jtk

[John Vernier]

It's worth noting that, at least in the later 19th century, the term Firmer referred to the thickness of the chisel rather than the lack of a bevel. Looking at the 1889 Sheffield tool trade list, and the 1890 Buck Brothers (USA) price list (I have reprints of both), firmer chisels are offered with square sides and beveled, and paring chisels are also offered with square sides and beveled. The Sheffield list also offers a grade of Strong Firmer chisels, not to be confused with Registered chisels, which are yet another listing.

Neither of theses catalogs explains the differences in type explicitly. I have a set of English beveled cabinet chisels which I assembled piecemeal over time, and naturally enough I was shopping mainly for different widths when I was buying. The thickness of these chisels varies dramatically. The most delicate of my beveled chisels is scarcely 1/16" thick near the tip, while some are nearly 3/16. It wasn't until I read the old catalogs that I realized I probably have a mix of beveled paring and beveled firmer chisels. All of them have delicately ground bevels, by modern standards, so I find that the thicker ones work just fine for my paring needs. Some of the thin ones are astonishingly delicate, and I used them with great caution and some trepidation.

[Scott Vanzo]

I do not pretend to be any type of scholar in this area, but I found a few references for "Firmer" from over a 100-120 years ago. The first two seem to suggest that the Firmer chisel is simply a short paring chisel, while the last claims that it has to do with the material and manner in which it is made. I also found other sources that distinguish a firmer chisel (primarily used by cabinet makers) from a socket chisel (used primarily for timber framing). Yet another showed an illustration of a "Socket Firmer", which has me all confuzzled.

The Firmer Chisel, see Fig. 9 (2), is so called because it is the firmest type of paring chisel. Firmer chisels are made from 1/16-1 1/2 in. wide of well-tempered steel, and used for general chisel work where striking with a hammer or mallet is not necessary. A Paring Chisel is shown in (1), the blade of extra length, and used for work inaccessible to a firmer chisel. The width of blade varies from 3/4-1 1/2 in. All chisels are made with either square or bevelled edges; the latter, see (3), afford an advantage in dovetailing and in bevelled work where a square chisel edge could not be entered in the corner. (4) shows another kind of handle, made chiefly in boxwood. Fig. 10 (1) illustrates a Firmer Gouge, made from 1/4- 1 1/2 in. in width and of varying curvature. Firmer gouges are always ground and sharpened on the outside face, distinguishing them from scribing gouges-which are sharpened upon the inside-thus enabling a cut to be made square with the face of an object or moulding. Firmer gouges are especially useful for recessing work-such as the concave shape in a pen tray, etc. Carving gouges are made of hard-tempered steel, much thinner in section, with the bevel hardly perceptible, and are made in various shapes.

From Handcraft In Wood And Metal, by John Hooper, Alfred J. Shirley, 1913

Chisels


These, whether called firmer, paring, or mortise, are much the same thing, and between the former two the cabinet-maker need hardly distinguish, as the chief difference between them is that the paring chisel is longer than the ordinary firmer. Perhaps a better way of putting it to the novice is to say that a long firmer is a paring - chisel, or that a short paring-chisel is a firmer. The latter often have thin or bevelled edges, as in Fig. 17, instead of as shown in Fig. 18, which represents the ordinary firmers, though these are also made with bevelled edges.

from "The Art And Craft Of Cabinet-Making", by David Denning, 1891.

22. Tang Firmer-Chisel


This style of chisel is preferred by joiners, cabinetmakers, pattern makers, and those engaged in the finer class of woodworking. They are better balanced, hang better, and cut nicer than the socket chisels, but are more easily broken. A ferrule handle is used on this style of chisel. The term "firmer" refers to the manner in ,which the tool is made and the material out of which it is made. Firmer-chisels have blades wholly of tool steel, while in some kinds of chisels iron blades overlaid with steel are used. Firmer-chisels should be used in manual training work. They are made in sizes from 1" to 2".

-from the "Educational Woodworking For Home And School" book, by Joseph C.Park, 1908

[lowell holmes]

Back in the day - - -
Before the pig sticker mortise chisels became easily available again, and when I was learning to chop mortises, all I had were bevel edged Blue Chip bench chisels.

I learned to use the bevel edge chisels to chop mortises, but I became aware of the square edged firmer chisels. I tried them and found they would allow me to really bang away chopping mortises.
I tried them and liked them.

Then, Tools for Working Wood made the pig stickers available again, so naturally we had to try them and we like them. Then Narex came out with their mortise chisels, same story, tried them and liked them.

I tend to get confused about sash chisels, I think the LN mortise chisels may be sash mortise chisels. I have them and like them.

Along the way, I found I can chop mortises with any of them, so I use the one that strikes my fancy at the moment.

I also have two large timber framing chisel and after sharpening them and putting handles in them, I have chopped some big mortises with them. They are also good for paring deck framing.
These chisels were inherited. They used to be owned by a deceased stair builder in Hoboken New Jersey.

I think the real reason for the different types of chisels is to get my money.

[Gary Herrmann]

I have a set of Greenlee bevel edge firmers. I treat them as somewhat beefy bench chisels. They can mortise, and they're sharp enough to pare.

I started buying them because I wanted a set of 12 vintage chisels (still missing the 5/8 and the 7/8 - but I may never find those). At the time, firmers didn't seem to be as popular as bench or paring chisels.

I was born in IL, so that was another reason.

I like them as general use chisels. I still have my blue handles for beaters.

[Warren Mickley]

What would be the use for firmer chisels versus bevel edge or sash and mortise chisels? The larger, timber framing chisels seem to be firmers but I also see small ones. 1/4", 1/2" etc.

I'm not really looking to acquire a set, I'm just curious about how they were used.

Firmer chisel is an older name for a bench chisel. They are generally used by joiners and cabinetmakers and are roughly 8 to 11 inches long. In the late 19th century and early 20th century there were socket firmer chisels, tang firmer chisels, bevel edge socket firmer chisels, and bevel edge tang firmer chisels.

In the 18th century, English and French firmer chisels were tang chisels and not bevelled. They tapered in thickness from bolster to tip, being quite thin at the bevel when new. They also tapered in width, widest at the tip, but gradually became more uniform in width around 1800. In the 17th and 18th centuries, socket chisels were used by carpenters, generally not bench workers.

In the late 19th century American companies manufactured "socket framing chisels" in a variety of widths including narrow, like 1/8 and 1/4. They are generally longer and heavier than firmer chisels. Some have called the narrow ones "sash mortise chisels", but they were not marketed as such and are not as carefully made as a mortise chisel. Before the Lie Nielsen design, almost all mortise chisels were tang chisels.

[Daniel Rode]

Thanks Warren. That's the clearest explanation I've read. It sounds like the firmer chisels morphed over time as did their uses.