DIY skew chisels?

[Eric The Viking]

If you're thinking of lapped dovetails, you've got three options, really.

1) A fishtail chisel - grind from something like a 3/8" firmer, or buy new.

2) A pair of skews, left and right. Grind from cheap 1/4" firmers or b/e chisels - or buy new.

3) Use a small (1/8") b/e or firmer to clean out the last of the waste in the socket corners. You end up with a slight cut into the backwall of the socket, but that'll not show once the joint is assembled.

Option 3 is probably the cheapest (since you'll more than likely already have a 1/8" chisel), the other two are 'neater' - but is neatness really necessary in this case?

There are other uses for skew chisels, but not many. I won't bother repeating, since a thread giving details has already been linked to.

Actually I don't presently have a comprehensive set of chisels, and 1/4" bevelled is the smallest. I ought to get a 1/8", but I've managed to get by until recently when, as you guessed, it's caught me out.

I'll find some cheap (or s/h) 1/4" chisels and grind to skew, and yes, I ought to get a 1/8" one, too.

I have a general rule now that I buy stuff when I need it and I don't try to build up sets of things. Experience has shown madness lies in the latter direction, and certainly a lot of wasted money.

I think 50% of my router cutters are unused, but those are pretty much all rubbish oddments from sets. The ones I've bought individually do get used, e.g. decent rebaters, surface trim, mitre lock, and some of the simple but high quality moulding cutters (roundovers, ogees, etc.).

Chisels: all are used a lot. I know skews are 'problem solvers' and there are other ways of getting there, but they're fast and precise, which is what I want.

E.