New Lee Valley Mortise Chisels

[Derek Cohen]

The videos are difficult to find under GE Hong. I watch his stuff a lot - great admirer - so I know whom to look for. Here is a link to a mortice and tenon demo...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNzz...H1fG1L&index=2

This is the second of three videos, and he takes a long time to get to the chopping stage as he is in real time and preparing the timber first. Go to the 16 minute mark if you want to go directly to chopping.

His demo is very different to that of Peter Follansbee, who has the advantage of chopping against a glass wall. That adds an artificial aid in keeping the chisel aligned. Ge Hong approaches this differently ..

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Steve Voigt]

Derek, did you mean to link to this one?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DqgH...H1fG1L&index=4

[Derek Cohen]

Yes Steve! My apology for pasting the wrong one (I copied another one on morticing earlier, but it did not demonstrate anything. I searched further, found the one you have now linked to, and then thought I was linking to it). The chopping begins around 16 minutes.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Steve Voigt]

No worries, Derek, just trying to help out…

[Reinis Kanders]

Those videos are great. Something to aspire for. His chisel seems to have around 30 Deg angle. I like his tip about returning hammer handle to a resting position.

[Patrick Chase]

Those videos are great. Something to aspire for. His chisel seems to have around 30 Deg angle. I like his tip about returning hammer handle to a resting position.

I use more or less the same "center-out" approach he does, though MUCH more slowly and cautiously. It takes a lot of well-trained muscle-memory to mark out freehand, cut as quickly has he does, and still get decent results.

[Sean Nagle]

Excellent, in-depth discussion!

Unfortunately , I'm still unsure whether to go ahead with the Lee Valley/Veritas mortise chisels, the Ray Iles chisels or even the Narex chisels. It's great that Derrick was able to offer up some impressions of the Lee Valley pre-production versions. I am leaning toward the Lee Valley chisels, especially since they are less expensive than the RI's and there's always one or two Ray Iles chisel sizes that are unavailable from TFWW every time I look.

[Pat Barry]

Excellent, in-depth discussion!

Unfortunately , I'm still unsure whether to go ahead with the Lee Valley/Veritas mortise chisels, the Ray Iles chisels or even the Narex chisels. It's great that Derrick was able to offer up some impressions of the Lee Valley pre-production versions. I am leaning toward the Lee Valley chisels, especially since they are less expensive than the RI's and there's always one or two Ray Iles chisel sizes that are unavailable from TFWW every time I look.

Do you make lots of mortises? Are they a variety of sizes? You get a set of Narex for the price of one Veritas. If it were me and I was going to get one chisel I would go with the Veritas. If on the other hand, like me, you are a hobbyist, I think the Narex fills the bill for mortise chisel very well just because of the price. Nte: I recently bought a set of the Narex bench chisels and find, for me, they are everything I need. In fact, I consider them a big step up from the mismatched chisels I have, including 3 piece older plastic handled Stanley set I have had forever, that I have been very happy. I am tempted to refine the handles a bit like Stewie did though.

[Sean Nagle]

Do you make lots of mortises?

It is rare that I chop mortises from scratch, but I have on occasion. I usually hog out most of the material with a Fostner bit in a drill press and then clean them up afterwards with my bench chisels. However, I always felt I was abusing my bench chisels doing this and was under the impression that I needed a more robust chisel, thus a mortising chisel.

[Jim Koepke]

It is rare that I chop mortises from scratch, but I have on occasion. I usually hog out most of the material with a Fostner bit in a drill press and then clean them up afterwards with my bench chisels. However, I always felt I was abusing my bench chisels doing this and was under the impression that I needed a more robust chisel, thus a mortising chisel.

A good set of mortise chisels might encourage you to chop them more from scratch or it may be money spent with little return on investment.

If my finances were in a position to purchase a set of mortise chisels, my choice would likely be the Veritas.

With my current limited finances, my choice might be the Narex.

In the long run the Veritas will likely retain more of their original cost at resale if that is of concern.

jtk

[Pat Barry]

It is rare that I chop mortises from scratch, but I have on occasion. I usually hog out most of the material with a Fostner bit in a drill press and then clean them up afterwards with my bench chisels. However, I always felt I was abusing my bench chisels doing this and was under the impression that I needed a more robust chisel, thus a mortising chisel.

My opinion, just that, if you are drilling to remove the bulk if the waste, then a bench chisel is the ticket for removing the rest. I think a mortise chisel might actually perform worse in that situation. I'd be curious though, what others experience is.

[Jim Koepke]

My opinion, just that, if you are drilling to remove the bulk if the waste, then a bench chisel is the ticket for removing the rest. I think a mortise chisel might actually perform worse in that situation. I'd be curious though, what others experience is.

In my experience the only use for a mortise chisel in this situation is to clean up the ends of the mortise.

jtk

[Reinis Kanders]

Excellent, in-depth discussion!

Unfortunately , I'm still unsure whether to go ahead with the Lee Valley/Veritas mortise chisels, the Ray Iles chisels or even the Narex chisels. It's great that Derrick was able to offer up some impressions of the Lee Valley pre-production versions. I am leaning toward the Lee Valley chisels, especially since they are less expensive than the RI's and there's always one or two Ray Iles chisel sizes that are unavailable from TFWW every time I look.

At the moment I like a feel of japanese mortise chisels for regular size mortises. Their handles feel right if a bit dainty because I have a 4" wide palm. Ray Isles are more weapon like, definitely good for some self defense Narex have the same feel. You can get used Japanese ones from eBay for decent prices if you feel like experimenting.

[Patrick Chase]

Do you make lots of mortises? Are they a variety of sizes? You get a set of Narex for the price of one Veritas. If it were me and I was going to get one chisel I would go with the Veritas. If on the other hand, like me, you are a hobbyist, I think the Narex fills the bill for mortise chisel very well just because of the price. Nte: I recently bought a set of the Narex bench chisels and find, for me, they are everything I need. In fact, I consider them a big step up from the mismatched chisels I have, including 3 piece older plastic handled Stanley set I have had forever, that I have been very happy. I am tempted to refine the handles a bit like Stewie did though.

Now that I've used the RIs for a while I find the Narex chisels a bit difficult to go back to. As I said in an earlier post, I've come to dislike lengthwise (tip-to-bolster) taper, and the Narex mortise chisels taper by about 12 mils per inch.

[Patrick Chase]

My opinion, just that, if you are drilling to remove the bulk if the waste, then a bench chisel is the ticket for removing the rest. I think a mortise chisel might actually perform worse in that situation. I'd be curious though, what others experience is.

+1 to this. Cleaning up after hogging with a drill is basically a paring operation, not mortising. IMO it's best done with bench chisels.