Reshaping a carving chisel

[phil harold]

Lets say I have a couple of flat (#1) carving chisels, J. A. Henckels brand
I want to reshape them into more curved ones, like #3 and #5s or so

What would the process be
Thanks!

[bridger berdel]

If the difference is slight you could grind it. If the difference is large, it would require forging. Neither is likely to be worth the effort. This forum has a swap and sell area. Offer them up for trade....

[Mike Henderson]

Sell them and buy a #3 or #5. You'll be way ahead.

Mike

[phil harold]

If the difference is slight you could grind it. If the difference is large, it would require forging. Neither is likely to be worth the effort.

but forging would be fun!

[Patrick Chase]

but forging would be fun!

Even then it would probably be better to work from new stock rather than a chisel that's already been shaped, hardened, and tempered.

[Kees Heiden]

No problem there Patrick. Remove the handle. Anneal the gouge. Make some dies in the required shape. Beat the gouge into one of those dies. Normalise the steel. And harden and temper to the required degree.

Just the normal stuff we do here every day with our gouges every time one doesn't quite fit the intended cut.

[Pat Barry]

I did a quick search out of curiosity and didn't find much about J. A. Henckels brand chisels. Some reports indicated they were not premium tools. If they aren't, and you want to try, and have a torch that would heat the steel enough to get it hot enough to anneal (MAP gas?), then why not take a crack at it?

[phil harold]

No problem there Patrick. Remove the handle. Anneal the gouge. Make some dies in the required shape. Beat the gouge into one of those dies. Normalise the steel. And harden and temper to the required degree.

Just the normal stuff we do here every day with our gouges every time one doesn't quite fit the intended cut.

Thanks Kees!
When you like the way a chisel feels in your hand but is not the profile I need, Time to modify !

all these Naysayers, should be banned from the Neanderthal Haven, all say buy new instead of working with what ya got!

[george wilson]

Kee's advice is the best. I have made quite a few carving tools from scratch. The main concern is: Do YOU have the skill to do it? If you forge below red hot out of being in a hurry,and crack the gouge,you are out of luck. So,be careful to make sure the gouge is still red hot when you have finished hammering on it. Also; Do you have an appropriate shaped form to hammer it over? An anvil horn is usually too large in diameter to do anything but nearly flat shaped gouges. A bick iron would be much more serviceable. At the least a piece of round steel(NOT hollow pipe) the curve you want your gouge to be,held tightly in a machinist's vise (a wood vise will probably slip). Since I have a lathe,I'd probably go for the last option. But,I can turn a round bar of steel to any diameter I want. Since ,with an anvil horn,or a bick iron,you can only forge the very end of your gouge to the curve you want,those two items being tapered,you could do a neater job with a steel bar held in a vise.

Most of the time,I just have forged simple fish tail gouges. I tend to do very small work anyway(lute rose is an example,or the small carving on the stock of Kentucky rifles,or around the breech of a flintlock pistol,etc.. Here are a few fish tails I made from 1/4" or 1/8" square W1 or 01 steel. I like them because they are able to get into acute corners of a bit less than 90º. It would take a long time to wear one of them out. These I'll show were made in the 70's and 80's. Things like this caused my director to beg me to become a toolmaker. After 3 years I gave in,and never regretted getting out of the public. Hard to make much progress when someone was always asking questions,and I hated dark days.

Notice the thin veiners: I made their long grooves by sawing with a hacksaw,then filing with a round edge needle file. The one at about 2:30 position was squeezed to a smaller size groove while red hot as I did not at that time have as small a needle file as I needed. You could make a quicker veiner by making one like the one just above that one. It will last many years. That looooong groove isn't really necessary,unless you don't know how to grind a small tool without wasting it away. I never use a power grinder on real small carving tools as they sharpen plenty quickly with stones. Stewart Macdonald guitar maker's supply sells individual or round edge files in sets for filing grooves in guitar nuts. Their finest is .010",I believe. That will make a really small gouge! I didn't have any of those at the time. A cut off when in a Dremel tool will make a pretty small gouge,too. The edge of those wheels automatically gets worn instantly to a round shape.

Notice the purple temper color you can see on some of the tools. I didn't notice the chipped off corner on one of the tools until I used the picture!

[phil harold]

Kee's advice is the best. I have made quite a few carving tools from scratch. The main concern is: Do YOU have the skill to do it? If you forge below red hot out of being in a hurry,and crack the gouge,you are out of luck. So,be careful to make sure the gouge is still red hot when you have finished hammering on it. Also; Do you have an appropriate shaped form to hammer it over? An anvil horn is usually too large in diameter to do anything but nearly flat shaped gouges. A bick iron would be much more serviceable. At the least a piece of round steel(NOT hollow pipe) the curve you want your gouge to be,held tightly in a machinist's vise (a wood vise will probably slip). Since I have a lathe,I'd probably go for the last option. But,I can turn a round bar of steel to any diameter I want. Since ,with an anvil horn,or a bick iron,you can only forge the very end of your gouge to the curve you want,those two items being tapered,you could do a neater job with a steel bar held in a vise.

Thanks George!
I know I can do, this just was looking for tips which you and Kees provided for me
possibly play with this this weekend!

[Kees Heiden]

To be honest, my reply was tongue in cheek. But it is the appropriate method if you really want to. Not sure if annealing is neccessary before forging though.

[phil harold]

Saturday surprise
Found two chisels today with the right sweep