Chisel question

[Pam Niedermayer]

Six or seven years ago while making the transition to hand tools which became largely a transition to Japanese hand tools with some exceptions such as plough planes, I managed to win a couple of auctions of sets of chisels, piles of old laminated chisels of all sorts, Bucks, Witherbys, Swans, Herrings, Addises, and the like. As it turned out I got them for an average of $3 per chisel, thus combining cheap and excellent.

Pam

[Mike Moore]

For my 2 cents if you can’t afford LN’s by the blue marlpes. But more important is the work and it is work to put a good edge of a chisel. When I receive a new tool it will take up to an hour to have an edge that I consider workable. I finish with a 8000g stone then hit it with the leather and flex yellow compound. True a blue will have to be touched up more often but when you have spent the time on the tool when you unwrapped it then keeping them sharp is easy.
For years all I had were a set of 5 craftsman irons. Heck they worked for me just fine if I kept a stone in my pocket. Now I have LN’s but seem to use old ones I have picked up over the years more than the Lie’s.
Old Iron’s, I look for old mortise chisels. Mortise chisels are not the same animal as your bench irons. Mortise chisels are made to be wacked on with mallets the steel has to absorb this shock. The Old chisels were made by forge welding a high carbon tool steel lamination on the cutting edge, this steel was extremely hard and brittle, by adding the softer steel to the blade the tool steel could take the shocking mallet blows without chipping. As far as I know the Japanese are the only ones doing this now.

[jonathan snyder]

I have a few that are no names but it's a waist of time putting an edge on them. They chip with each use.

Billy, What angle are you sharpening at? If around 25 degrees, try a 30 degree bevel. Steepening the bevel may reduce chipping.

I have the AI butt chisels, which I like to use for certain things as they are very controllable. I also have a nice collection of long Witherby paring chisels, which I would not trade for anything!

Buy one or two chisels of different brands or styles and see which you like. Check out Tools for Working Wood (Joel) for the AI chisels. If you think you might like to try the AI's, buy one from Joel, he will let you try it and return it if you don't like it. If you do like it buy a few more form him.

Jonathan

[Marcus Ward]

Now, I haven't tried the marples, but every other modern chisel (cheaper) that I try I am very disappointed by. I've got a small set of witherby firmers and bench chisels that are awesome at holding an edge. If it's my choice I'd scour and buy old rather than new.

[Mike Cutler]

I have a set of L-N's, a set of Sorby Sash chisel, a set of Hirsch's, a set of Crown's, a bunch of flea market specials, a really terrible set of craftsman's from the 70's( Awful, just awful. It would be insulting to the paint can to use them to pry the top off) and two Marples 3/8" and 1/2".

I like the Marples, I really do. I actually prefer them over the L-N's, that is strictly a matter of ergonomics though.( Or a fear of wrecking one of the L-N's. ) Once I get a set of longer handles for the L-N's Those will move to the top of the list easily. They are very,very nice chisels. Worth the $$$$ in my opinion.
I don't like the Crown's. Something is just not right with them. They are difficult to sharpen and don't seem to hold an edge very long. They feel "off" in my hands also.
The Robert Sorby Sash's are excellent for their intended purpose. I use them quite a bit when doing M&T's.
I haven't used the Hirsch's much though.
Any quality steel chisel can be used effectively. Balance, ergononics, and a general overall "feel" are subjective, and very individual.

[glenn bradley]

Despite the romance of old arn, newer metals can be made superior. I have set of Marples that are my daily users. They are good general purpose chisels but there are certainly better. There are good and bad in the newer steels but generally the newer technology is a benefit. It is interesting to read reviews such as you state where controlled tests are done. Price is not always the factor here.

[Billy Dodd]

It doesn't seem hard to find one that has a good feel but to get one that you don't have to carry a whetstone around with you all the time is different. I mostly use oak around here and it seems to be tough on chisels.

Jonathon, I set my chisels with a main angle of 25 degrees then tip it to 27and a half degrees. I think that's how to explain it.

I have a set of marples on order to see how they work. If I could find a 3/4 inch chisel (that was perfect for me) it would be worth a lot but alot of trial and error gets expensive.