Five Chisels

[Derek Cohen]

I could live with the high bevel angle A2 requires because most of my chisels end up sharpened somewhere around 30 degrees anyway, but why. When you add in the sharpening needs of using a grinder and usually water stones to finish. It is just too much hassle for too little or no return. That's the real deal killer for me.

Hi Ken

That is a relevant comment.

There are many different sharpening methods, and each person to their own. My only comment about sharpening chisels (or any other blade) is that everything needs to be considered as a system. This means that one needs to match steel type to media to sharpening strategy to woodworker personality.

Our needs are likely different, and this is pertinent. You like the ease of sharpening O1 ... and I like the ease of sharpening as well. In my case, the harder, more abrasion resistant steels offer me more work time. To make these steels sharpen easily and quickly, I hollow grind and hone on the hollow. This strategy is efficient for me, and levels the playing field. It is as easy for me to hone A2 and PM-V11 as you hone O1. The harder steels are not for those who prefer to use media that are unmatched to their requirements.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Patrick Chase]

I'm going to reveal myself to be the clueless amateur I am: I like the Veritas chisels a lot.

Yes, the handles are a pain to replace due to the hybrid socket/tang construction, but I like the ergonomics as-is. I prefer shorter handles (though not as short as the 750 or the stock L-N handles), and I find that the shape enables a very comfortable "low grip" with thumb and forefingers curled around the socket. I personally tend to hold the chisel fairly low for control when using a mallet, so Warren's point about having room for a high grip while chopping isn't a factor for me (though note that this is entirely subjective).

As an engineer I agree with Warren's take that the blade is thicker than it needs to be, particularly close to the tip. The loads that the tool experiences down there simply don't justify this much mass. With that said I don't find this to be much of a limitation the vast majority of the time, and I have other thinner tools at hand to handle cases where it does become a concern.

The point I'm really making is that there's a LOT of subjectivity here, and no tool is going to be ideal for everybody. That's why it's a good thing we don't live in a centrally planned economy :-).

I just can't abide A2 paring chisels though. I run my parers as low as 20 deg tip angle for fine/light work, and I think that moderately hard O1/HCS is the best choice for that. The "low-alloy Cr-Mn" steel in the Narex parers does OK IMO but isn't ideal. Derek is right that overly hard HCS (a.k.a. White) is also problematic in that application due to it's "chippiness", and that's one reason why I prefer western chisels for light hand-powered paring work.