Best vintage Chisels

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I should say, the idea of leaving the chisel untempered also came from bill - I didn't modify what he suggested. A bigger chisel with a radius and long handle can be used to do fairly significant endgrain material removal like this and if you have a machine grinder, it can be refreshed in a matter of 20 seconds. The radius allows you to pick and choose bias to cut middle, left or right to get up against corners.

It's so dandy it's bonkers, and I never would've guessed it - leaving steel untempered is generally bad policy, but it's great policy in this case - no wire edge, just a crisp aggressive corner).
 
A very good option when something is too hard to pare accurately. Great for plane beds and adjusting anything end grain, even back into the grain (sometimes difficult to pare).

Doesn't require a good chisel, either - just a chisel. I didn't watch the video as I scabbed this off of a CD of photos that Bill and his Mrs. used to sell (a lovely thing for them to do - sharing things they didn't really need to share), but even better is the technique if a chisel is rehardened and left basically untempered. It'll hold the corner a little better and grind crisply. Even relatively junky chisels will be bullet hard without tempering.
A couple of summers ago Bil n Sarah came down to Bristol to see a patternmakers tool chest of mine, and I found them to be two of the nicest people one could care to meet.
Bill brought a collection of his hand made mitre planes, and Sarah brought a collection of her hand made cakes.:love: I've loved them both from that day to this.
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Hi, Adam, I've just trolled you on Instagram.:love: I've never even heard of Hookes' Hyperbolic Cosine Catenary. before... thanks for the education.:LOL:
Actually it's a bit of rope hanging between two nails, but don't tell anybody that.

There's more anorack vaulting theory to come, complete with lots of nerding out with circular work when I get the timber out.
 
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Actually it's a bit of rope hanging between two nails, but don't tell anybody that.

There's more anorack vaulting theory to come, complete with lots of nerding out with circular work when I get the timber out.
But it's special rope and magic nails.
 
String has been top tool for straight lines or layout of circles, complex curves, from the stone age (we guess) right up to aircraft engineering, ship building and steel fabrication lay-out, until very recently. Chalk string even better as it makes its own marks.
Marvellous stuff!
 
The jury is still out on this little S.J. Addis Junior chisel of mine; some say it's a drawer lock chisel and some say that it's owner adapted.
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The jury is still out on this little S.J. Addis Junior chisel of mine; some say it's a drawer lock chisel and some say that it's owner adapted.
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I`m as far from an expert in these things as its possible to get but looking at the curved makers mark I would say owner adapted. My real question is how the f*** do you use the thing. Apologies in advance to anyone offended by my colourful language.
 
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I`m as far from an expert in these things as its possible to get but looking at the curved makers mark I would say owner adapted. My real question is how the f*** do you you the thing. Apologies in advance to anyone offended by my colourful language.

Same - I can't imagine the maker would mark the curve.

Nobody with a beat up anvil with yucky corners would've been able to complete the shaping of that chisel as nicely , though, and it's possible that the factory would've made that type that way - make the straight chisel first, then heat and hammer to final shape (though I think they'd have been too proud to allow the stamp to get stretched like that).

We're all guessing until a former addis factory smith pops out of the ground and tells us what's up.
 
I believe these two ultra thin mortice chisels were made out of industrial bandsaw blades but I could be wrong.
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Interesting. Would they work as mortice chisels - without a bolster and all that bashing?
Thin ones down to 1/8" seem quite common but do have a bolster just like their big brothers.
 
Interesting. Would they work as mortice chisels - without a bolster and all that bashing?
Thin ones down to 1/8" seem quite common but do have a bolster just like their big brothers.
Hi, Jacob, I've never tried using them so your guess is as good as mine on that one.
 
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