Choosing Chisels

[Jacob]

....
Don't worry I'm still going to be building a nice collection of quality older Chisels

OK got that no need to shout!
I'd go for Ashley Iles if you must have new. :roll: Not a "set" though, just a few of the most important ones. If you get a set some will be redundant and some you need will be missing, but you won't know until you've been at it for a bit..

 

[Paul Chapman]

the outlay for granite block

You don't have to use a granite block, just something flat - some MDF would do. And if you have some abrasive paper knocking about in the shed, it wouldn't cost you much at all. Just a stop-gap method which you might find helpful until you have something better......

Cheers :ho2

Paul

 

[RogerP]

Wet 'n Dry used wet lasts MUCH longer

 

[James C]

I happen to have a large roll of wet n dry lying around at P120 so will give that a whirl. I also discovered a couple of sheets of float glass about 1/4" thick in the metal work cupboard at school yesterday so that will get some use.

If I get the AI I will end up with 4 I need for £100 so it would be tempting to get the set at £130 and get two extra.

I'm guessing this is how tool lust beings.

 

[nanowire]

I find a wide bevel edged chisel (30+ mm) very handy on many occasions . Other than that you obviously need chisels that are narrow enough to reach in to what ever you are doing but there is no need (as far as my limited experience tells) for precise fits, i.e. a smaller size usually works just fine. The exception would be for mortising chisels where a precise fit, up to 1/2" at least, is helpful. Also later, when the older quality chisels inevitably start to accumulate in the workshop, it can be nice to have some duplicates with different bevel angles for sizes you use often.

 

[Jacob]

I...

If I get the AI I will end up with 4 I need for £100 so it would be tempting to get the set at £130 and get two extra.

.....

"A set" is just a way the cunning barstewards trick you into buying more chisels than you really need.
Just say no! Buy some wood instead.

 

[Dee J]

"The issue is that I lack the equipment to regrind incorrect primary bevels."
There are so many grinding devices out there - new and s/h - for only a fraction of your chisel budget - with the capability of grinding the primary bevel. Wet, dry, motorised and human powered. My own favourite - a vertical axis treadle one like this picture I just found on google: http://www.davebudd.com/IA_knife_web_12.jpg cost £6 at a car-boot. Human power machines mean you can make mistakes slower that motorised machines! Just work slowly and keep the blade cool. Even a flat scythe-stone used wet will do the job.

Dee

 

[xy mosian]

"The issue is that I lack the equipment to regrind incorrect primary bevels."
There are so many grinding devices out there - new and s/h - for only a fraction of your chisel budget - with the capability of grinding the primary bevel. Wet, dry, motorised and human powered. My own favourite - a vertical axis treadle one like this picture I just found on google: http://www.davebudd.com/IA_knife_web_12.jpg cost £6 at a car-boot. Human power machines mean you can make mistakes slower that motorised machines! Just work slowly and keep the blade cool. Even a flat scythe-stone used wet will do the job.

Dee

Ah yes the Heyden Allball Treadle Grinder My first 'powered' grinder, porridge powered, apparantly built up around a recirculating ball steering rack. I still have it. My woodworking environment is not permanent and the fact that it is easily stacked away is great. I seem to think it was only £12 new.

xy

 

[Dee J]

[/quote]

Ah yes the Heyden Allball Treadle Grinder My first 'powered' grinder, porridge powered, apparantly built up around a recirculating ball steering rack. I still have it. My woodworking environment is not permanent and the fact that it is easily stacked away is great. I seem to think it was only £12 new.

xy[/quote]
Thanks - for naming it - never realised it was so complicated inside http://treadleit.info/Heyden%20Grinder a brilliant piece of kit.

Dee

 

[xy mosian]

Thanks for the link I hadn't seen that page before. I wrote to the manufacturers asking if they had other similar machines, sadly they didn't. They did say that the grinder was not aimed at woodworkers but farmers initially, to use where power was not available.

xy

 

[jimi43]

With a budget of £130 I could get over a hundred quality cast steel chisels from when men were men and steel didn't crumble, a Creusen grinder and a new set of Scary Sharp from WSH.....and still have enough left to have tea at the Ritz....

:mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Jim

 

[woodbloke]

With a budget of £130 I could get over a hundred quality cast steel chisels from when men were men and steel didn't crumble, a Creusen grinder and a new set of Scary Sharp from WSH.....and still have enough left to have tea at the Ritz....

:mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Jim

Now that Jim, is stretching the bounds of the budget just a smidge...'specially the last little bit. Tea at the Ritz :-k :-" Rob

 

[Harbo]

Nah somebody has a tea stall at the Kent car boot called Ritz!

Rod

 

[jimi43]

With a budget of £130 I could get over a hundred quality cast steel chisels from when men were men and steel didn't crumble, a Creusen grinder and a new set of Scary Sharp from WSH.....and still have enough left to have tea at the Ritz....

:mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Jim

Now that Jim, is stretching the bounds of the budget just a smidge...'specially the last little bit. Tea at the Ritz :-k :-" Rob

AH! Well apart from the "Tea at the Ritz...."....make that Lyons Corner House then....but this lot...no more than £50...(most of that being invested in the Oriental pair!)

Creusen grinder you know already....£20....

So not stretching anything really...you just have to shop around... :mrgreen:

Seriously though....if you go for the cleaner older stuff with nice boxwood and other hardwood handles and you don't get ones with too much pitting near the slicing end....you can get a few bargains.

Jim

 

[jimi43]

Nah somebody has a tea stall at the Kent car boot called Ritz!

Rod

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

=D>

 

[bobbybirds]

Don't buy anything made of A2 steel. Personally I use AI's which are quite fine for hand work and take a clout if necessary e.g dovetails but for serious malleting you would be better with something a bit heavier.

I personally have no issue with A2 steel chisels... I use a primary bevel of 30 degrees with a micro-bevel a few degrees steeper and I beat he living tar chopping in hard maple, oak etc and have no issues with crumbling. I sharpen using using waterstones in 1000/4000/8000 grits and strop on horsehide with green compound every now and again while working...

 

[woodbloke]

I personally have no issue with A2 steel chisels... I use a primary bevel of 30 degrees with a micro-bevel a few degrees steeper and I beat he living tar chopping in hard maple, oak etc and have no issues with crumbling. I sharpen using using waterstones in 1000/4000/8000 grits and strop on horsehide with green compound every now and again while working...

The edge won't crumble at a few degrees over 30 (say 33 or even 35deg) but try them with a working honed bevel of 30 (as you would with a normal 01 chisel) and you'll see a different result...the edge will crumble - Rob

 

[bobbybirds]

I personally have no issue with A2 steel chisels... I use a primary bevel of 30 degrees with a micro-bevel a few degrees steeper and I beat he living tar chopping in hard maple, oak etc and have no issues with crumbling. I sharpen using using waterstones in 1000/4000/8000 grits and strop on horsehide with green compound every now and again while working...

The edge won't crumble at a few degrees over 30 (say 33 or even 35deg) but try them with a working honed bevel of 30 (as you would with a normal 01 chisel) and you'll see a different result...the edge will crumble - Rob

Oh for sure the will if you don't use a steep enough bevel, hence why I micro bevel a bit further. I find the edge retention excellent on my A2's and now find I sharpen less often than with my older O1's. To each their own of course...

 

[Alf]

I personally have no issue with A2 steel chisels... I use a primary bevel of 30 degrees with a micro-bevel a few degrees steeper and I beat he living tar chopping in hard maple, oak etc and have no issues with crumbling. I sharpen using using waterstones in 1000/4000/8000 grits and strop on horsehide with green compound every now and again while working...

The edge won't crumble at a few degrees over 30 (say 33 or even 35deg) but try them with a working honed bevel of 30 (as you would with a normal 01 chisel) and you'll see a different result...the edge will crumble - Rob

Yus, but Rob, that's like complaining that a highly figured timber tears out when your plane iron is set to deal with straight-grained pine. You want a lower bevel angle, you don't willingly choose A2 - but complaining about it only holding an edge with a higher angle is akin to objecting to the fact a pig's tail curls. (And I'm painfully aware I've made this point before, so I apologise to those who took it on board the first time.) Now, if you'd been complaining about it when certain manufacturers were offering nothing but A2 and claiming it was the solution to life the universe and everything, then yeah, I agree that's a legitimate point.

You know, s'funny but despite complaining about A2 as a choice for chisels (a lot), I never had any troubles with my LN A2s either. Really only bought the O1s 'cos I'd been nagging about them for so long, it would have been churlish not to. That's my story and I'm sticking to it... (And yes, I am a registered chisel addict. And a socket chisel addict, a tanged chisel addict, a paring chisel addict, a don't-think-I-have-that-chisel-in-that-size addict etc etc)

Anyway, to the OP - any chance of being able to get any of these chisels in your hot little hands before you buy? Because we can discuss this 'til we're all blue in the face, but the greatest chisel in the world is no good if it doesn't suit you.

 

[Jacob]

.....but the greatest chisel in the world is no good if it doesn't suit you.

It's more a question of suiting the chisel to the work.
If it'll do the work it should suit you too, or you are in the wrong game!
They aren't made to measure, or in colours to match your hair/eyes/wallpaper etc. it's not as though you are marrying the things. :roll: