favorite chisel for dovetails?

[Mike Steinhilper]

I'm thinking about getting one of the Japanese style dovetail chisels. I've been using a regular western style chisel. Thoughts? What kind do you use and why?

[Mike Henderson]

To a very large degree, you don't need any special chisels for doing dovetails. Your regular bevel side chisels will generally work fine. If the edge is crumpling, try a higher bevel angle (like 30* instead of 25*).

For trimming the corners of a half blind dovetail, some people like a set of small skews, but you can make those yourself from some cheap 1/4" chisels (like Irwin).

Mike

[Sam Yerardi]

I use standard chisels but I modified a chisel to give a point with a sharpened edge on each side to clean up the joints. It's like a skew but in both directions. That way I can clean up on both sides (left and right). I saw it in an old woodworking book and it did help tremendously. Everyone has a different method. One of the things I love about woodworking.

[Mike Steinhilper]

so Sam, you made your own one of these?

[Marcus Ward]

I took a 1/4" harbor freight chisel, filed it into a diamond shape, pointed on top, and retempered it. Works absolutely killer for dovetails with tiny little pins. I've also got a 1/8" japanese chisel I use for when I'm feeling insane and want to frustrate myself with pins smaller than I can actually produce. Really anything works, just regrind something if it's not the shape you want.

[David DeCristoforo]

"...just regrind something if it's not the shape you want..."

That's the sprit! Love it.....

YM

[Sam Yerardi]

Mike, instead of a single flat edge perpendicular to the shaft, I ground mine to come to a point in the center:

L /\ R

On the left side is a bevel and on the right side is a bevel. They both come together at a sharp point in the middle.

[Wiley Horne]

Mike,

Are you chopping the waste or sawing it, on the tails board? I saw the waste, and so all of the chisel work on the tails board (and on the pins board if it's a through dovetail) is done with paring chisels. I like the Japanese paring chisels, which are generally 13" to 14" long (in the dovetailing widths). On drawer fronts, a half blind pins board, I use basically any 1/4" or so chisel to do the chopping part, and back to the paring chisels as I approach the two scribe lines.

The beauty of the Japanese paring chisel is that you can close one hand around the top of it, put that fist right under your jaw (or shoulder if you're real tall), and just lean on the chisel to make a very controlled cut.

For cleaning out the corners of half blind sockets in the pins board, I sometimes use a 3/8" fishtail. But more often than not, I grab a 3mm or 4.5mm chisel--whichever one is closest--and clean out the corrners with that. Any narrow chisel will do that job perfectly well.

Wiley

[Mike Steinhilper]

I saw out as much waste as I can, then pare so I guess paring chisel would be a nice option -- hence the name! I've never used one of those really long ones, but I can see how you get a lot of control with it. What kind of paring chisels do you use? What's your most used size?

[Wiley Horne]

Hi Mike,

Sometimes they're called 'paring slicks' or 'push chisels' in the catalogues. I happen to use Imai chisels mostly, but also have Tasai and Funahiro, which are great. Hida Tool carries Imai (Fujihiro brand plus a special line) and Funahiro. Hiraide America (www.japanesetools.com) carries Tasai. If you get sticker shock, check the Matsumura paring slicks (Japan Woodworker), which are excellent value IMO.

For dovetails, I like the narrow widths, because I tend to use smallish pins, so the final cut to the scribe line in the tails board will be a single chisel cut with the exact right width chisel. My most used paring chisels are 1/4 (6mm), 3/16 (4.5mm), and 5/16 (7.5mm). That's for dovetails. Each person's 'most used' will be a little different according to the size pins they prefer.

I'm kinda of a mind that everybody could use a larger paring slick also--my recommendation is a 36mm Funahiro. The Funahiro has very nice relief under the handle, which means you can get out in the middle of a board with it, if you want. Don't have to buy his most expensive line; his white steel chisels are great and easier to sharpen than the higher-end genju line which uses an alloy steel called superblue steel.

[end rant ]

Wiley

[harry strasil]

hope you don't mind a little humor, but a really sharp one works best.

[Billy Chambless]

hope you don't mind a little humor, but a really sharp one works best.

Great humor is often based on profound truth.

[Jim Nardi]

Got them in August for my birthday couldn't be happier with them. They seem to hold a edge longer than LN chisels. The size and balance are really perfect for tight control without my fingers aching after.

[Mike Steinhilper]

If you get sticker shock, check the Matsumura paring slicks (Japan Woodworker), which are excellent value IMO.

i not only got sticker shock, i died from it. been nice knowin y'all

[Mark Singer]

I think the best are the Blue Spruce chisels especially for fine small doves. But as stated , you can use any chisel. A small one is good for waste removal. A sharp