Let down by Axminster Tools

[paulrbarnard]

I'm in the middle of a birthday present build for my wife. She is especially fond of very fine dovetails so I have gone overboard on that and cutting pins that are only 4 to 5mm wide at the wide end. Unfortunately I don't have a chisel small enough to par out the waste. I looked at Axminster Tools and they advertised an Axminster Rider 3mm Bevel edged chisel. Just what I need! I ordered and paid for fast delivery as I only have a couple of weekends to go and the chisel just arrived. It is 3mm but not bevel edged. It's a firmer/mortice chisel. It even has a leather shock washer between the handle and the blade. It is completely unsuitable for paring out dovetails. Even more annoying is that I have both a 3mm firmer and a 3mm morticing chisel.

I've raised a ticket with their support so I will wait to see how they deal with this but not being able to correctly identify a bevel edged chisel is fairly poor

 

[JefL]

My original (1970s) set of Marples blue chip chisels came with the 1/8” chisel with no bevels, the chisel is just too narrow to have them at the size it is made (to match the rest of the set).
Axminter’s illustration of the Rider 3mm “bevel edged” chisel clearly shows no bevels, it looks exactly like my 1/8” blue chip.

Jef

 

[JefL]

Ashley Iles bevel edge chisel does have bevels in 3mm. They also do a dedicated dovetail chisel in 3mm that appears to be rounded rather than bevelled.
Both however are 3 times the price of a Rider

Jef

 

[Hornbeam]

I have a Robert Sorby 1/8th and and Ashley Isles 1/16th. Both have bevelled edges

 

[paulrbarnard]

My original (1970s) set of Marples blue chip chisels came with the 1/8” chisel with no bevels, the chisel is just too narrow to have them at the size it is made (to match the rest of the set).
Axminter’s illustration of the Rider 3mm “bevel edged” chisel clearly shows no bevels, it looks exactly like my 1/8” blue chip.

Jef

I didn't look closely at the pictures, I ordered on my iphone... I have looked now on my computer and see that the specific picture of the 3mm has square edges. Every other picture of the Rider Bevel Edge Chisels show bevel edges, even the four additional images you see when looking at the 3mm.

 

[eribaMotters]

Two points:-
- If it says bevel edge then it should be a bevel edge, so it has been incorrectly sold
- Can you not grind a bevel on the sides of one of your existing firmer or mortice chisels. I did this some years ago when I was cutting fine dovetails.

Colin

 

[adidat]

Maybe change the title of this post to,

"I purchased the wrong tool after seeing a picture of it. Hold on whilst I throw my teddies out the pram. And make a big fuss over nothing"

on a forum that has hundreds of post describing axminster's excellent customer service.

Adidat

 

[baldkev]

I would go with colin and run it across a bench grinder. A bit of a shame, but at least you'll be up and running quickly....

 

[mikej460]

Maybe change the title of this post to,

"I purchased the wrong tool after seeing a picture of it. Hold on whilst I throw my teddies out the pram. And make a big fuss over nothing"

on a forum that has hundreds of post describing axminster's excellent customer service.

Adidat

That's a bit harsh, I agree that a bevel edge should be a bevel edge not a bevelled firmer. I fell into this trap many years ago with Axminster they should describe it correctly as the photos aren't clear enough.

 

[D_W]

There won't be that many of that size that are finely ground. The cross section becomes so small that the chisels are flexible without side support and can't be easily ground by a machine. Just grind the sides just enough to get the relief you need.

(Looks like I should've read the responses first)

 

[Keith Cocker]

I'm in the middle of a birthday present build for my wife. She is especially fond of very fine dovetails so I have gone overboard on that and cutting pins that are only 4 to 5mm wide at the wide end. Unfortunately I don't have a chisel small enough to par out the waste. I looked at Axminster Tools and they advertised an Axminster Rider 3mm Bevel edged chisel. Just what I need! I ordered and paid for fast delivery as I only have a couple of weekends to go and the chisel just arrived. It is 3mm but not bevel edged. It's a firmer/mortice chisel. It even has a leather shock washer between the handle and the blade. It is completely unsuitable for paring out dovetails. Even more annoying is that I have both a 3mm firmer and a 3mm morticing chisel.

I've raised a ticket with their support so I will wait to see how they deal with this but not being able to correctly identify a bevel edged chisel is fairly poor

I have placed dozens and dozens of orders with Axminster. I can only remember one time they made a mistake. A quick call to them and it was put right straight away with no fuss.

 

[Gary_S]

I have never been let down by Axminster. The customer service is always very good.

 

[martin.pearson]

I've had mostly good but one bad experience so, unfortunately, I can't say their Customer service is excellent as I would like to be able to. at one time I would have automatically recommended them but I don't anymore.

 

[Argus]

Meanwhile, back to the OP's original Axy-grump.....

I recall that Lie-Nielsen offer (offered?) a 1/8" bevel edge chisel. It does have a bevel of sorts to qualify for that description, and it's exactly 1/8 inch wide, but the cross-section is more of a Firmer-chisel shape with some of the sides relieved. It is quite a chunky chisel - it has to be to avoid the inevitable flexing of the thinner sides. I have a full set of those given to me when I did a favour for an old friend and it is the single chisel in that clutch of blades that remained unused.

I'm reminded of a quip in one of Jim Kingshott's dovetail making videos (a few years ago now..... Kingshott was pre-Paul Sellers video-maker), where he said, with a grin and a tongue in the cheek, that the old timers made the smallest, tightest dovetails, by "putting the saw in the slot and wigglin' it about a bit".

https://www.kingshott.info/jim-kingshott

 

[Adam W.]

"putting the saw in the slot and wigglin' it about a bit".

https://www.kingshott.info/jim-kingshott

I shall remember that one, thanks

 

[Cabinetman]

Presumably the timber that is having these very fine dovetails cut into it, is in itself not very thick so you will only need to grind a very small portion of the chisel anyway.

 

[paulrbarnard]

Meanwhile, back to the OP's original Axy-grump.....

I recall that Lie-Nielsen offer (offered?) a 1/8" bevel edge chisel. It does have a bevel of sorts to qualify for that description, and it's exactly 1/8 inch wide, but the cross-section is more of a Firmer-chisel shape with some of the sides relieved. It is quite a chunky chisel - it has to be to avoid the inevitable flexing of the thinner sides. I have a full set of those given to me when I did a favour for an old friend and it is the single chisel in that clutch of blades that remained unused.

I'm reminded of a quip in one of Jim Kingshott's dovetail making videos (a few years ago now..... Kingshott was pre-Paul Sellers video-maker), where he said, with a grin and a tongue in the cheek, that the old timers made the smallest, tightest dovetails, by "putting the saw in the slot and wigglin' it about a bit".

https://www.kingshott.info/jim-kingshott

I've done that with softwoods but this is a bit of hard maple so no deforming as the pins and tails go together. I'm a bit peeved by it all because i could have left the boards a tad thicker (slimed for aesthetics) and my existing chisels would have been fine.

 

[paulrbarnard]

Presumably the timber that is having these very fine dovetails cut into it, is in itself not very thick so you will only need to grind a very small portion of the chisel anyway.

Yes grinding would be simple enough and it wouldn't need much side relief.

 

[LJM]

Yes grinding would be simple enough and it wouldn't need much side relief.

If you’d rather not grind that new one, I’m about to put a bunch of chisels up for sale, including a nice 1/8 one. It would need grinding too, but less of a loss if anything goes wrong! PM if you’re interested in my chisel.

 

[powertools]

I'm in the middle of a birthday present build for my wife. She is especially fond of very fine dovetails so I have gone overboard on that and cutting pins that are only 4 to 5mm wide at the wide end. Unfortunately I don't have a chisel small enough to par out the waste. I looked at Axminster Tools and they advertised an Axminster Rider 3mm Bevel edged chisel. Just what I need! I ordered and paid for fast delivery as I only have a couple of weekends to go and the chisel just arrived. It is 3mm but not bevel edged. It's a firmer/mortice chisel. It even has a leather shock washer between the handle and the blade. It is completely unsuitable for paring out dovetails. Even more annoying is that I have both a 3mm firmer and a 3mm morticing chisel.

I've raised a ticket with their support so I will wait to see how they deal with this but not being able to correctly identify a bevel edged chisel is fairly poor

Trust me if your wife has an upcoming birthday very fine dovetails will not be at the top of her wish list.