Page 3 of 6 FirstFirst 123456 LastLast
Results 31 to 45 of 84

Thread: There is a "new" manufactor of high end forged chisels from the north.

  1. #31
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Denmark
    Posts
    395
    A few hours ago I finally got a reply from them on messenger. He writes that they buy round stock Hitachi blue steel and laminate it to spring steel in own forge. So I guess I was wrong regarding rikizai wich of course is a good thing.

  2. #32
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Tokyo, Japan
    Posts
    1,550
    Quote Originally Posted by Lasse Hilbrandt View Post
    A few hours ago I finally got a reply from them on messenger. He writes that they buy round stock Hitachi blue steel and laminate it to spring steel in own forge. So I guess I was wrong regarding rikizai wich of course is a good thing.
    Round stock? Wow. What a steaming pile of fly-blown .... nonsense.

  3. #33
    Join Date
    Dec 2015
    Location
    Denmark
    Posts
    395
    This is a copy of his reply

    We buy only blue steel round stock from Japan Hitatchi Metals Ltd. We do the forging and lamination by ourselves. The core layer is Blue Steel and the top layer is Spring Steel.

    We are also developing the Damascus version of these chisels. They will be forged and look the same style as this axe head:

    http://northmen.com/en/products/axes...heart-damascus

    Thank you for contacting us and feel free to ask if you have any other questions!

    Sincerely,
    Jacob

  4. #34
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    So Cal
    Posts
    3,739
    I think they are cool looking and you guys are being chisel buzz killers.
    Aj

  5. #35
    I remember conversations just like this from the early 1980's, a manufacturer called Bridge City Tools..... A tool that's only keeps it's worth if you never take it out of the box.

  6. #36
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    Longview WA
    Posts
    27,347
    Blog Entries
    1
    I think he will sell lots of them.
    Do you think many will ever be used?

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  7. #37
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Tokyo, Japan
    Posts
    1,550
    Quote Originally Posted by Lasse Hilbrandt View Post
    This is a copy of his reply

    We buy only blue steel round stock from Japan Hitatchi Metals Ltd. We do the forging and lamination by ourselves. The core layer is Blue Steel and the top layer is Spring Steel.

    We are also developing the Damascus version of these chisels. They will be forged and look the same style as this axe head:

    http://northmen.com/en/products/axes...heart-damascus

    Thank you for contacting us and feel free to ask if you have any other questions!

    Sincerely,
    Jacob
    I never doubted you when you wrote that they had responded to you.

    The "steaming pile" comment was about the idea of buying, shipping, importing, and transporting overland round stock, and then hammering it thin enough to make an effective laminate, and then laminating that to spring steel! Spring steel! LOL.

    It can be done. It will be time-consuming and wasteful. Everyone else in the world buys steel to be laminated in strips, not round bar. And then they laminate it to mild steel or low-carbon steel, but never spring steel.

    The finished product will gain little of the benefits that come with lamination. It will not even be traditional (European or Japanese).

  8. #38
    Join Date
    Jul 2015
    Location
    Broadview Heights, OH
    Posts
    711
    Stanley,

    The reason is probably so when you wear through the lamination by only sharpening the back as some here espouse, you will still end up with a usable chisel. In the industry I work in, we call this mistake proofing!


  9. #39
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Tokyo, Japan
    Posts
    1,550
    Quote Originally Posted by Pete Taran View Post
    Stanley,

    The reason is probably so when you wear through the lamination by only sharpening the back as some here espouse, you will still end up with a usable chisel. In the industry I work in, we call this mistake proofing!

    Genius! We have the answer!

  10. #40
    Join Date
    Aug 2007
    Location
    Dickinson, Texas
    Posts
    7,655
    Blog Entries
    1
    How difficult is it to relate to most of us cannot and would not spend $1200 for chisels. The chisels belongs in a museum, not a workshop.
    My chisels get hit with mallets.

    On the matter of mallets, I have two, one is like the Grizzly mallet and the other a large maple mallet I purchased at a Paul Sellers workshop 20 years ago.
    Last edited by lowell holmes; 07-30-2017 at 11:55 AM.

  11. #41
    Join Date
    Apr 2010
    Location
    Tokyo, Japan
    Posts
    1,550
    Oh yea. I forget to call your attention to the way the handle is fitted to the socket. You will notice that there is no gap between the flat upper rim of the socket and the handle. This neat presentation will no doubt appeal to the uninformed, but the gap is traditionally provided in socket chisels for a reason. Alternately, especially in large socket chisels, the handle isn't stepped down, but just transitions smoothly into a truncated cone.

    Anyone that has worn out a socket chisel's handle can tell you what will happen to a stepped handle after a while as the handle's cone wears with use and is gradually driven further into the socket. Very ugly. Once again, not a professional tool. I predict massive sales.

  12. #42
    Quote Originally Posted by Stanley Covington View Post
    I predict massive sales.
    +1 to this.

    No comment on the quality of the product they make, I've never handled any of it.

    But these guys are marketing masters, and they've made a ton of money selling axes and bush knives to people who've never been further than 100m from a paved road. I've been seeing their (undeniably beautifully shot) "making of" videos for years, and if I recall correctly, at one point they had a years long wait list to buy anything from them.

  13. #43
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Perth, Australia
    Posts
    9,469
    Quote Originally Posted by Stanley Covington View Post
    I never doubted you when you wrote that they had responded to you.

    The "steaming pile" comment was about the idea of buying, shipping, importing, and transporting overland round stock, and then hammering it thin enough to make an effective laminate, and then laminating that to spring steel! Spring steel! LOL.

    It can be done. It will be time-consuming and wasteful. Everyone else in the world buys steel to be laminated in strips, not round bar. And then they laminate it to mild steel or low-carbon steel, but never spring steel.

    The finished product will gain little of the benefits that come with lamination. It will not even be traditional (European or Japanese).
    The blue steel on spring steel is probably why I could not find the lamination line, even with the chrone dioxide compound buffing that is a special sharpening treatment ...



    I did love the bit about steel that "will hold a fine edge with no persistent burr".

    Hooey.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  14. #44
    Join Date
    Feb 2004
    Location
    Perth, Australia
    Posts
    9,469
    If a chisel is made by a blacksmith, how are side bevels added?

    I would assume that they are ground. I do not think that they can be hammered in. Grinding on all the Japanese chisels I have are smooth with clean lines. These chisels look rough as guts. As Stanley noted, the sockets and handles are incorrectly joined. I assume that this is all a deliberate "look".

    Regards from Perth

    Derek

  15. #45
    Join Date
    Aug 2010
    Location
    USA
    Posts
    5,582
    Quote Originally Posted by Derek Cohen View Post
    If a chisel is made by a blacksmith, how are side bevels added?

    I would assume that they are ground. I do not think that they can be hammered in. Grinding on all the Japanese chisels I have are smooth with clean lines. These chisels look rough as guts. As Stanley noted, the sockets and handles are incorrectly joined. I assume that this is all a deliberate "look".

    Regards from Perth

    Derek
    Why exactly do you find them to the be incorrectly joined? They look to be well produced. What is the preferred joinery and why?

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •