Mythical L-N chisels not so mythical

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Alf,

No sooner the word than the blow - I just ordered some (many thanks indeed for the "heads-up"). I shall keep you posted as to delivery - I expect it will be after the 20,000 folk or so who put their order down two or three years ago.
 
Crikey Chris, you don't hang about do you? I thought you had those famous MIB* Jennings chisels? Must be living in some kind of chisel black hole... :lol: Oh, and by the way, I'm as jealous as hell. I've been drooling over these for two years now :roll:

Cheers, Alf

*No, not Men In Black peeps, Mint In Box :wink:
 
Alf,
When you get to my age, you realise that things have to be done soon or you may not get a chance to do them at all!

I love my Jennings chisels and use them a tremendous amount but like you love planes, I love chisels and have long since given up trying to justify them - besides, they take up less room than planes and cost less - sometimes!
My%20Chisels.jpg
 
waterhead37":2vdf8euo said:
like you love planes, I love chisels
I wouldn't say I love them, I just say that to get them to go home with me... :lol: I think suggesting I'm purely plane fixated is unfair btw. I like all tools :wink: I blame Tom L-N; if only he hadn't handed that ruddy chisel to me to look at last year I could probably have honestly told myself I wasn't interested. :evil: As it is, I'm hopelessly hooked :roll:

Cheers, Alf

P.S. You didn't have to go and post that pic now, did you? :p
 
Here was the first resonse from LN

"Dear Woodworker,

Thank you for your order. It will be processed immediately.
If for any reason we cannot ship it right away (such as a tool being
out of stock) we will notify you.

Please review your order. If there are any errors, or if you wish to
make changes, simply reply to this message (please include your
contact information) or call toll-free at 1-800-327-2520."


But here is the second email from LN so the chisels may still be mythical -

"Chris,

Thank you for your order. We are starting production on the chisels soon
and still have alot of backorders to fill. Your order should ship within
the next month or two and I will email you as soon as your order is sent.

Thanks again,

Jennifer"



I am not holding my breath!
 
Those LN's look very tasty, but am I allowed to ask a heretical question like, "are they three times better than a set of Hirsch's?", or is this no place for talk like that? :wink:
 
Chiba,

Define "better". :wink: They'll both cut wood. But then so will "7 + an oilstone, yours for a tenner" chisels. I suppose it's avoiding the pain involved in getting them to do it that you're mainly paying for. Not just sharpening or flattening the backs, but also comfort in actual use. Yep, people often argue that handles and balance and such aren't important, but then there are also people who say using hand planes is a waste of time. If you don't know what you're missing, then yep, you're right, it's not going to make any difference to you. Once you have felt the difference, or seen the surface left by a well-tuned plane, it's very hard to go back (DAMHIKT). :roll: It's not for nothing that L-N have been handing them to people to hold at shows for the last year or so; they know once you've got the feel of them it's very hard to go back to other chisels. :lol:

One other thing that I think people might be getting for that extra cash is consistency. How many times have you read someone say such-and-such a chisel holds its edge brilliantly, and isn't the handle great? And then along comes someone else who says they're useless; the edge was like cheese and the handle wasn't fitted straight. (Heck, I've done it myself). Now I've tended to put that down to the personal experience of the individual in the past, but that doesn't always work. I think you get more inconsistency in the quality of supposedly identical chisels then we'd like to believe (I think Sorby suffers from this problem quite a bit, for instance). Now unless L-N have had a total turnaround in their ethos, I reckon their chisels will be consistently well finished, heat treated, ground etc etc. So you, and your bank account, will know what you've paid :shock: but you'll also be confident in what you're getting for it.

But whether they're 3 times better is entirely down to the individual to my mind; for lots of people the answer will be no, but others will consider them worth every extra penny. The beauty of woodworking is that we can have such diverse viewpoints about the tools, but we all still have the actual woodworking in common. :D

Oh, and this is absolutely no place for such heresy. Didn't you get the memo? :roll: :lol:

Cheers, Alf
 
Believe me, I know where you're coming from. My other hobby is photography, and I've been all the way down that oft discussed slippery slope with lenses, cameras, tripods, etc, etc. With photo toys I found that once I'd hit the technological bottom, I found a (steeper) slope that led back up to a very different place. Now I have pretty much no technology, but am a far better photographer than I was before. See, I worry about that happening with woodwork too. Spend a pile of money on getting the best, but eventually having a revelatory moment and realising I should have spent far less time worrying about the tools and more time using them. It's very hard to say that now though, with all those beautiful tools still left to buy. I mean, I haven't even got a drawknife yet! :) To me it seems like those LN chisels are a grade better than the Hirsch's, but unless I become a lot better at woodwork sadly I'll never notice the difference.

Maybe this waffle is also because I just got back from my bamboo making class, where my 70+ year old sensei proved yet again that bamboo art is all in the mind and hands, and the only tool necessary is an ancient pocket knife... :oops:
 
Chiba,

I don't think it is a case of "what sort of chisel do I need to make furniture like Hepplewhite or Chippendale" but rather the pleasure of owning and using a fine tool. Perhaps a bit like using a Nikon SLR versus a Kodak box Brownie - to borrow your photographic analogy.

Great photos have been taken with both and Cartier Bresson would have taken a better picture with a Kodak than I will every take with a Nikon- but I will still enjoy fondling my Nikon and Cartier Bresson would have taken even better pictures if he had had one.
 
Im off to New England (amongst other places) later this year and I will have just enough time to visit L-N at thier factory in Maine, so along with a couple of planes, I think a set of chisels will be bought, repackaged and mailed home in brown paper.

I got some marples chisels from a guy who worked for record in sheffield and although they are nice - you spend more time sharpening the damn things than using them.

I agree that there has to be a rightness of how they feel, mine have plastic handles and a collegue had a set of 3 cherries chisles and they felt just beautifully balanced in the hand.
 
Saw this:-

Subject: From the horse's mouth
Posted By: Ellis Walentine [email protected]
Date: Friday, 26 March 2004, at 11:04 a.m.
In Response To: Lie-Nielsen Chisels *LINK* (Matt in Iowa)

I just got off the phone with Tom L-N and he confirms that the first chisels are shipping today. I'll be seeing the production models tomorrow in Saratoga.

Hope to see some of you there.

Ellis
 
I just want to stick my four pennorth in. I used to worry about chisels because my skill at the sharpening stone was extremely suspect. Now I have a Tormek sharpening kit and my chisels are always sharper that sharp, better that I've ever had them - even when they were new maybe.
BTW, I have no connection with Tormek apart from thinking it's a bit costly.

docusk
 
waterhead37":2tzfm7my said:
Saw this:-

I'll be seeing the production models tomorrow in Saratoga.

Hope to see some of you there.

Ellis

Hey, you Brits remeber that time we beat you guys at Saratoga? Sorry, I love history and just couldn't help it :lol:
 
Ryan Cathey":2yvtjdjh said:
Hey, you Brits remeber that time we beat you guys at Saratoga? Sorry, I love history and just couldn't help it :lol:

Hush, Ryan, when we remind them about that, they get picky about our spelling! ;)
-Andy
 
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