Chisel sharpening

[D_W]

I'd rather have a chisel with a belly to remove things like dowel nubs, etc, anyway, and the issue of diving that charlie mentioned is a real problem, though less so in "real" paring chisels that flex (no clue why).

I flatten the backs of my chisels and double bevel carving tools (which I'm sure that I do less of than Charlie -carving - but carving will definitely make your paring better, even if you're a bad carver).

As a point of interest, there are some japanese makers who intentionally belly their chisels so that you sharpen only the last fraction of an inch, and the rest stays out of contact with the cut. I had a set like that years ago. It bothered me at first because I was a beginner and didn't understand, but it actually gives you more control in the cut rather than less.

I flatten the chisels now only because it's easy and i have the means to do it quickly. But I don't go to a mirror polish 3 inches up the chisel before I use the chisel itself, that's a complete waste of time, and the mirror polish just gives the chisel grip on whatever it's against, anyway.

 

[David C]

Good chisels like those from Ashley Iles have backs which are ground slightly hollow in length.

This makes polish at the edge easy to achieve. Without any signs of bevel or belly.

David Charlesworth

 

[Jacob]

.... "real" paring chisels that flex (no clue why). ....

Paring chisels are long. That is their essential feature. They would be cumbersome and over heavy if made like a bench chisel. They are only for paring - no mallets involved, so being slender and slightly bendy no prob. Also they are likely to be used one handed - fitting doors etc and need to be light. They are long because it gives a slender 'aspect ratio' so you can get them in close, say of you were trimming the edge of a door in situ. Also the length means you can pare the whole width of say a wide tenon. I've got a couple - one Narex which is a bit heavy and thick. The other is an old one which is very slender, but otherwise very similar.
They must have been well used as there are a lot of them about - most often worn too short, but too light for heavy use. Slightly useless, but would do for trimming your dowels if you couldn't find a block plane.
I had a worn out 1 1/4" one which I used as a putty knife for years.

 

[Jacob]

Good chisels like those from Ashley Iles have backs which are ground slightly hollow in length.

This makes polish at the edge easy to achieve. Without any signs of bevel or belly.

David Charlesworth

There you go then!
Quite a lot of bad ones ditto - I got a cheapo Axminster set and they are slightly hollow too and only needed a very quick hone to get going.
Hi Dave hope you are well.

 

[Jacob]

I also just revisited the destroying a set of Blue Spruce chisels thread I'd forgotten it. :lol:
I see that the OP had been following Lie Nelson and R Cosman videos. I guess that's where the rot set in - smart salesman giving out really bad advice.
No advice at all is probably a safer option - these things are not rocket science and you soon find out how to do things if you are having to actually use the tools.

 

[D_W]

.... "real" paring chisels that flex (no clue why). ....

Paring chisels are long. That is their essential feature. They would be cumbersome and over heavy if made like a bench chisel. They are only for paring - no mallets involved, so being slender and slightly bendy no prob. Also they are likely to be used one handed - fitting doors etc and need to be light. They are long because it gives a slender 'aspect ratio' so you can get them in close, say of you were trimming the edge of a door in situ. Also the length means you can pare the whole width of say a wide tenon. I've got a couple - one Narex which is a bit heavy and thick. The other is an old one which is very slender, but otherwise very similar.
They must have been well used as there are a lot of them about - most often worn too short, but too light for heavy use. Slightly useless, but would do for trimming your dowels if you couldn't find a block plane.
I had a worn out 1 1/4" one which I used as a putty knife for years.

I was sitting on something that a toolmaker told me about parers. A learned toolmaker, not someone who just makes tools on a cnc machine now. He said that the older paring chisels were thin so that they would have spring in the cut. The spring makes them better at staying in a level cut.

Whether or not all modern thin paring chisels (1900+) have the right spring, I don't know, but I did have a set of the narex parers when they came out. They were like tire irons and they didn't work nearly as well as a set of vintage marples parers, so I broke down and spent the (not very considerable) money to get chisels from your side of the ocean and sold the narex parers to someone else for a slight loss.

On this side of the ocean, some of the dealers who go to auctions over there will bring back parers and call them $100 chisels, or $75, etc. But there are a lot of listings over there for a third or so of that for very nice chisels, and none have failed to arrive yet, so there's no point at all in buying them here. There are american parers (of old) once in a great while, but thin millwork type chisels (long socket design) are far more common than forged bolster and tang.

 

[nabs]

yes I read that somewhere too, and that they were generally made long enough so you could push them with your shoulder which makes them easier to steer (apparently!).