Which type of chisel is appropriate for this task?

[lowell holmes]

No one mentioned firmer chisels. At times I will use a firmer chisel to pare a mortise. The thick square sides on the chisel seems to help, but I'm not convinced it does.
I think it is a matter of mood, but I doubt anyone else has that issue.

[Frederick Skelly]

I went back and read your first post. While I don't have any, there may be some Butt Chisels in your future.

Yes, I was looking at those last night. You may be right.

[Frederick Skelly]

For through mortises I use a paring chisel. If your mark out is accurate to your reference face, then you don't need jigs or guides, just a thin straight edge to check your progress.

Yes, my paring chisels were the better of my 2 available choices. I think one of the things I didn't previously get, was why working from a reference face is necessary. I definitely get it now though!

Thanks Brian!
Fred

[Tom Vanzant]

Frederick, glad you sorted out your mortise. As I read it, you had 1/2x1-1/2" mortises from front and back faces of a 1-1/2" thick board, mis-aligned by 1/32". I would have pared the 1/32" from each side using the existing mortise wall as a guide. Any bench or butt chisel would have worked. That would have resulted in a 9/16" wide mortise, but that could have been remedied with a 9/16" tenon to fit. You didn't say whether the mating piece had been processed yet.

[Frederick Skelly]

Dang, I didn't think of that Tom. But I did get the tenons cut and fit. They look better than anything I've been able to produce so far. I'm not where I want to be yet, but I've turned a corner. Thanks for your help!

Fred

[lowell holmes]

It's time to visit the article shown here.It is my all time favorite.

In particular, read about the Maynard Technique. It works spectacularly.


http://www.popularwoodworking.com/wp-content/uploads/MORTISE_BY_HAND.pdf

[steven c newman]

Must the way I do mine?
Mortise chisels are from Butcher, or New Haven Edge Tool co., and maybe a Witherby
Mallet is one I turned awhile back from Spalted Maple
No real Mortise gauge, just a combo square, and a sharp pencil. I then tap each line with a chisel to knife cut the lines.

Wide bench chisel to square the walls. Same one I used to knife cut the lines.
I use the skinniest Mortise chisel I have, 1/8" Butcher, to clean the mortise out. It also will "pry"out the waste.

Through Mortises, handchopped from both sides.
IMAG0198.jpg
Then, if needed, a chisel to pare flat on the sides, or if there is room, a rasp.
IMAG0200.jpg
Sometimes, things get ..complicated in there.

[Patrick Chase]

It's time to visit the article shown here.It is my all time favorite.

In particular, read about the Maynard Technique. It works spectacularly.


http://www.popularwoodworking.com/wp-content/uploads/MORTISE_BY_HAND.pdf

Yep, that's my preference as well. Having that single drilled hole to begin with instead of trying to chop down into solid wood makes things a lot easier on both tools and driver.

FWIW his claim that "This [1-2 degree side] taper is presenton quality older tools and missing on latertools and every modern chisel I’ve encountered" suggests he hasn't encountered many modern chisels. The Narex mortise chisels have tapered sides and IIRC there are others like them. I'd love to have those D2 Ray Iles chisels but can't justify the expense.

[Pat Barry]

FWIW his claim that "This [1-2 degree side] taper is presenton quality older tools and missing on latertools and every modern chisel I’ve encountered" suggests he hasn't encountered many modern chisels.

I'm pretty sure that C Schwarz knows what HE is talking about. He is well educated in things of this nature and well respected.

[Patrick Chase]

I'm pretty sure that C Schwarz knows what HE is talking about. He is well educated in things of this nature and well respected.

Pat, it's very clear that you've developed some sort of obsessive dislike of me (though a quick look through the archives reveals that I'm in very good company in that regard), but I'd encourage you to stick to what you know or at least avoid cases where your argument isn't so trivially disproven.

The Narex and Hirsch mortise chisels at a minimum have similar base-to-top taper to the Ray Iles ones that Schwartz was claiming were unique.

EDIT: OK, I was wrong here as Lowell pointed out. That's what happens when you let trolls get under your skin. My apologies to everybody else who saw this.

[lowell holmes]

Yep, that's my preference as well. Having that single drilled hole to begin with instead of trying to chop down into solid wood makes things a lot easier on both tools and driver.
The Narex mortise chisels have tapered sides and IIRC there are others like them. I'd love to have those D2 Ray Iles chisels but can't justify the expense.

I have two Ray Iles pig stickers and two Narex pig stickers. The Ray Iles chisels are better looking, but the Narex pig stickers really do a good job. I don't feel like I'm losing anything when using them. I sand the handles of Narex chisels and hit them with Johnson's floor wax. They feel as good as the Iles chisels when I do that.

[Tom M King]

These Ulmia's have tapered sides. I bought them new in the early '70s.ElamsHouse Oct. 2012 045 (1280x960).jpgI like ones with tapered sides. This was a 20' long Heart Pine replacement top rail for wainscoting, like in the background, to replace the partially rotten one laying on the sawhorses next to it. Stiles were mortised into the rails, and no two were the same spacing off the face. That board is just as we got it from the supplier of reclaimed lumber. The surface was smooth planed to match all the other original ones before we put it in. Those planer marks didn't stay. This house was built in 1828, and every room, even though really close in style, was done by a different joiner with slightly differently worn molding planes.

[Patrick Chase]

I have two Ray Iles pig stickers and two Narex pig stickers. The Ray Iles chisels are better looking, but the Narex pig stickers really do a good job. I don't feel like I'm losing anything when using them. I sand the handles of Narex chisels and hit them with Johnson's floor wax. They feel as good as the Iles chisels when I do that.

What do you think about durability?

The Narex mortise chisels appear (I haven't taken the handle off of any of mine) to be fairly conventional tanged chisels, though they don't have a thin neck between the shoulder and bolster like a sash mortise chisel - they retain their full profile all the way to the bolster. Joel's series of articles about English mortise chisels argue that the full-size (as wide/thick as the handle) bolster on "true" pigstickers is a significant plus - any opinion either way?

EDIT: I agree that the Narex ones work well. Their Cr-Mn steel is fairly tough if not all that hard, and that makes them more than serviceable for mortising. I'll replace them with better ones if they break but until then I'm happy.

[lowell holmes]

In regard to the Schwarz article, at the time it was written, pigsticker chisels were not as prevalent as they are now. It was common to use square sided mortise chisels, even firmer chisels for chopping mortises. For a long time, I thought firmer chisels were mortise chisels. The Lie Nielsen mortise chisels were (and are) square sided. I have Lie Nielsen mortise chisels. I still use them occasionally, but I prefer the pig stickers. We used bevel edge chisels (and still do on occasion) to chop mortises.

So Schwarz was speaking the truth at the time he wrote about the sides of the mortise chisels.

[Brian Holcombe]

I use square sided mortise chisels, fairly happy with them. All things considered I like them better than comparable tapered side mortise chisels I had previously.

Yamahiro is the maker.