Regular Mortice Chisel or Bevel Edged for your Mortices

UKworkshop.co.uk

Help Support UKworkshop.co.uk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

John15

Established Member
Joined
27 Jun 2013
Messages
1,624
Reaction score
39
Location
Near Oxford
Up until recently I have chopped my mortices (mostly 6 - 10mm) using the conventional thick sectioned mortice chisel, but on my current project I have changed to a bevel edged chisel a la Paul Sellers method. I have to say that I find the bevel edged chisel works just as well as long as I take care not to let it twist.
What do other members use?

John
 
i dont chop many, but my preferred tool is a pig sticker mortice chisel when i do.
 
I don't have a mortice chisel so have always used a bevel-edged chisel. However I was just cutting a mortice this morning and happened to have 2 chisels of the appropriate (10mm) width and one of these had bevel edges and the other had straight sides. I used them both and I think I prefer the straight-sided one. I assume it would be even better if it were thicker so I may well keep my eyes out for some real mortice chisels. Even so, I don't think the style of chisel is particularly important. I just use whatever I have that is the correct size.
 
NickN":3ubu529h said:
An interesting comparison, some may say biased to his preference but interesting nevertheless.
I always thought it was to show that you can use bevel-edged if you don't have mortise chisels, and get pretty good at them... but motise chisels have been around long enough that I assume they're easier in general terms.
 
I've chopped hundreds and hundreds of mortises in the last couple of years, all with bevel edged chisels. I've never known any difference, and couldn't see why I'd want to buy mortise chisels when the bevel edged ones did the job so easily.
 
Mortice chisels are the shape they are for a reason - they're easy to keep square in mortices and stronger when levering. You could probaby cut a mortice with a darning needle if your life depended on it, but that doesn't alter the reason mortice chisels are what they are.
 
Old english oval bolstered chisels if they fit. If the mortises are tiny, then a smaller and thinner chisel (a non-beveled firmer if I have one in the right size).

My mortises are always neater with a proper mortise chisel, but I don't have anything as fat-ended as the tent stake paul used in that video.

I don't know if Paul is friends with Ray Iles, but this is what he had to say about the Iles mortise chisels:

>"The best chisel I have ever used." - Paul Sellers<
 
D_W":14t2ninf said:
I don't know if Paul is friends with Ray Iles, but this is what he had to say about the Iles mortise chisels:
>"The best chisel I have ever used." - Paul Sellers<
Isn't that what he said about the blue-handled Marples ones? :lol:
 
To be fair to Paul, he does make the distinction between large scale work on hard woods (gates, big doors) and delicate work on mild timber (furniture making).

The 1970s Marples chisels he mentions, like their contemporary Stanley equivalent, are a lot thicker and made of more robust steel than pre-war bevel edge chisels which taper down to nearly zero along their sides, so it's no surprise to see it demonstrated that they are robust enough for the job.

So it's good information for someone starting out or just wanting the bare minimum of tools.

But for me, now that I have pretty well covered the range of light, medium and heavy chisels for all ordinary sizes bar timber framing and shipbuilding, I will continue to use a mortice chisel whenever I can.

If the mortice is too short to accommodate a deep mortice chisel, I would use a sash mortice chisel, a registered chisel, or possibly a firmer.

On a side note, I'm sure I remember at school that we were set the task of cutting narrow mortices in softwood without using a mallet. I think the chisel would have been an ordinary Sheffield made firmer chisel with a wooden handle, kept properly sharp by our teacher. I think it was a genuine exercise in understanding how the chisel penetrates and cuts the fibres into free space and wasn't just an excuse to keep the noise down! :)
 
Used firmer chisels for the cot, which had a lot of mortices including some on curved surfaces. Ordered a set of pigstickers (I say "ordered a set", but I really mean "I found a box of railway spikes being sold as mortice chisels on ebay") and I'm finally getting to use them on a project I'm diving into as soon as xmas is over (only took nine months to get to them), but honestly, you guys need to stop fibbing about those things, they're not woodworking tools, they're a cross between a bludgeon and a mining tool - I can't even hold the half-inch one, my hands won't go round it and I have somewhat large hands. The half-inch one I have weighs more than my heaviest mallet.

Never used bevel-edged chisels for one, they seem to be more likely to twist if you didn't sharpen them square at the tip. And I more think of them for paring than chopping if that makes any sense.
 
I have only ever used bevel edged chisels for mortising, it works fine, I like them and probably won't bother with mortise chisels, you only get the occasional time when it might twist, all it takes is an immediate correction.
 
If you think of how much fibres are cut on each blow its probably before the side bevel starts, unless you are going crazy with a BFO mallet (Big F&*k Off)

Pete
 
thetyreman":ystsjszh said:
I have only ever used bevel edged chisels for mortising, it works fine, I like them and probably won't bother with mortise chisels, you only get the occasional time when it might twist, all it takes is an immediate correction.

Hello,

You might try a mortice chisel after Christmas. :wink:

Mike.
 
In short I use both, it all depends on what chisel I have available to me at the time. I did all the mortices on my bench with a bevel edged chisel (no drilling) because I didn't have an appropriate sized mortice chisel at the time. I do prefer using mortice chisels though as I don't need to worry about levering and bending the chisel. I personally don't mile pig sticker chisels they just seem wrong in my hand, I much prefer sash mortice chisels.

matt
 
Racers":1hz6ed8p said:
If you think of how much fibres are cut on each blow its probably before the side bevel starts, unless you are going crazy with a BFO mallet (Big F&*k Off)

Pete
"Going crazy with a BFO mallet" is how you do mortices by hand - or would have done in the old days when that's how you'd be earning a living with a lot to do in the shortest possible time.
If you had a race a proper mortice chisel properly used would be very much faster than a bevel edged chisel. Bevel edge chisels wouldn't survive the pressure; OK for chaps in sheds but not for real work!
 
Jacob":2egpof3w said:
Racers":2egpof3w said:
If you think of how much fibres are cut on each blow its probably before the side bevel starts, unless you are going crazy with a BFO mallet (Big F&*k Off)

Pete
"Going crazy with a BFO mallet" is how you do mortices by hand - or would have done in the old days when that's how you'd be earning a living with a lot to do in the shortest possible time.
If you had a race a proper mortice chisel properly used would be very much faster than a bevel edged chisel. Bevel edge chisels wouldn't survive the pressure; OK for chaps in sheds but not for real work!

Thank god those days have passed...


Pete
 
Racers":1vnoq9hd said:
Jacob":1vnoq9hd said:
Racers":1vnoq9hd said:
If you think of how much fibres are cut on each blow its probably before the side bevel starts, unless you are going crazy with a BFO mallet (Big F&*k Off)

Pete
"Going crazy with a BFO mallet" is how you do mortices by hand - or would have done in the old days when that's how you'd be earning a living with a lot to do in the shortest possible time.
If you had a race a proper mortice chisel properly used would be very much faster than a bevel edged chisel. Bevel edge chisels wouldn't survive the pressure; OK for chaps in sheds but not for real work!

Thank god those days have passed...


Pete
Well yes.
But if you want to cut mortices by hand it will still be much quicker and easier with a proper mortice chisel and a big mallet.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top