paring chisel

[Jacob]

I've always been a bit vague about the purpose of paring chisels - what do they do which other chisels can't?
I might have found an answer as I was trimming chamfers on the tops of 12no 4" square newel posts. I'd normally use a block plane but having recently put a 15º grind on some odd chisels I thought I'd give them a go. Very sharp - very clean cut easy to control, quite an improvement on a sharp chisel honed at 30º ish, or block plane, and fast.
Seems to be the way to go, for chamfers at least, but a longer blade would be good for control, and also for working with fixed workpieces which you can't just drop into a vice.
So I've ordered one (1"). Had to be a bloody Narex as they are the cheapest. This isn't another Narex promotion! £24 (inclusive!) via Amazon. Cheaper than ebay 2nd hand. A lot cheaper than our in-forum sales teams can do. I would have bought Crown for preference but not cheap enough.
So when it comes I'll do a side by side with my other options, doing the same job.

 

[AndyT]

Jacob was wondering about situations where the distinctive characteristics of a paring chisel are needed.
I believe that one situation where a paring chisel's extra length is practially essential is in making the big sloping cuts to open up the mouth of a wooden plane. I can't offer photographic evidence of English practice but these images

which come from this excellent photo set and are stills from a great Swiss video discussed before in this thread from last year, show how the extra length enables the user to bear down with considerable force, from the shoulder, and take out a long, straight cut.

Apparently it doesn't work without the flat cap. :wink:

 

[Jacob]

Nice one. Do you have to spend much time flattening the cap?

 

[RossJarvis]

Nice one. Do you have to spend much time flattening the cap?

:lol: :lol: :lol: (hammer) (hammer) :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[marcros]

i hate to ask, and I really do...

Do you plan to keep it at 15 degrees?

How was it ground to that angle- did you hollow grind so that the bevel to hone wasn't huge?

 

[Jacob]

i hate to ask, and I really do...

Do you plan to keep it at 15 degrees?

How was it ground to that angle- did you hollow grind so that the bevel to hone wasn't huge?

15º grind flat on belt sander. You couldn't hollow grind even if you wanted to. Freehand hone to slightly higher angle. No problemo.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Apparently it doesn't work without the flat cap. :wink:

It's also important to ensure that the flat cap is worn at the same angle at which the chisel is honed. :lol:

-----

The currently available Robert Sorby paring chisels are well worth considering should anybody be in the market. They're not cheap, but they are very thin and light to use, lovely boxwood handles, very fine side lands, and being made from a grade of spring steel, they have a slight flexibility that makes them very controllable, I find. I've not tried mine at 15 degree hone angle, but they do seem to hold up quite well at about 22 degrees or so (I grind at 20 degrees and hone just a bit higher).

Highly recommended.

 

[No skills]

Apparently it doesn't work without the flat cap. :wink:

It's also important to ensure that the flat cap is worn at the same angle at which the chisel is honed. :lol:

Is that what they are talking about when they say "stay set cap"?


#-o

 

[AndyT]

Is that what they are talking about when they say "stay set cap"?


#-o

:lol: :lol:

I wish I'd thought of that one!

 

[Jacob]

Narex chisel arrived. Looks well made and nicely finished but it's a fattun! Not the slender bendy thing I was hoping for. Should have gone for the Sorby perhaps.
Ground at 25º (I think) so will have to see if it will take 15º. Something tells me it won't and it might just be a mistake.

 

[G S Haydon]

Jacob, you might find the first edge chips, just hone past it, second hone should do it. I found chipping an issue on my narex mortice chisel after the first hone. And yes, the Narex is far from what most of us would think of as a paring chisel. Look forward to hearing you thoughts on it.

 

[condeesteso]

I'll admit to being very fond of paring chisels, use them quite a bit. I got a new Sorby a few years ago - sadly in my case v disappointed. Didn't think the steel was great, and as for the leather washer... who thought that was a good idea? I think at that time Sorby had got so caught up in turning tools they lost interest in their old roots. I have a couple of old finds that are both excellent. Never got one yet to reliably hold an edge lower than about 24 degrees. I tried 22 once and that was on a fine proper old Sorby... it sort of fell over (on end grain to be fair).

 

[mtr1]

The cheapest "paring chisel" is the one you make yourself, if you have an old planer knife hss. Just get whoever sharpens your planer knives to re-grind a bevel on the other side, grind a tang on yourself, jam a handle on and job done. I have two of these about 9" long, that I may use once every five years. Hope that helps those on a budget, they hold a sharp edge for quite some time also.

Ps

For what it's worth one of these tools was my grandfathers, and was his only long reach chisel. He didn't seem to need a paring chisel much after fifty odd years as a cabinet maker, me either it would seem as I haven't used mine in five odd years now. I can't, off hand, think of a use for one much.



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[Cheshirechappie]

Mark - Interesting! Granted, for furniture work, a paring chisel is one of those 'optional' tools in all but a very few circumstances, though I do like mine and use them for all sorts of things that I probably could do with a bench chisel. There again, I don't have any fancy 'super-smoothers' - I seem to manage with the LN smoother and scrapers. Different people, different ways I suppose - we all have our foibles. I like the idea of using cheap, available resources to make tools, but you're limited to the width of HSS planer knife available. At least with new or secondhand 'proper' ones, you've a fair choice of sizes.

Douglas - yes, I agree about the leather washers on the Sorbys - neither use nor ornament, but they don't seem to be actively detrimental. Perhaps I molly-coddle my parers a bit too much, but I've found edge retention to be perfectly acceptable. My chislels (a 3/8" and a 5/8") are of about early 1990s vintage, so not really old. I have a 1" Henry Taylor of about the same age which is a fat, heavy thing and not very flat on the back, so it doesn't get much use.

 

[Trafalgar]

Mark - Interesting! Granted, for furniture work, a paring chisel is one of those 'optional' tools in all but a very few circumstances, though I do like mine and use them for all sorts of things that I probably could do with a bench chisel. There again, I don't have any fancy 'super-smoothers' - I seem to manage with the LN smoother and scrapers. Different people, different ways I suppose - we all have our foibles. I like the idea of using cheap, available resources to make tools, but you're limited to the width of HSS planer knife available. At least with new or secondhand 'proper' ones, you've a fair choice of sizes.

Douglas - yes, I agree about the leather washers on the Sorbys - neither use nor ornament, but they don't seem to be actively detrimental. Perhaps I molly-coddle my parers a bit too much, but I've found edge retention to be perfectly acceptable. My chislels (a 3/8" and a 5/8") are of about early 1990s vintage, so not really old. I have a 1" Henry Taylor of about the same age which is a fat, heavy thing and not very flat on the back, so it doesn't get much use.

Makes perfect sense. I never understood the logic in having a stable of chisels all ground and honed identically. Other than for widths they're all the same. Boring. Live a little I say.

 

[Trafalgar]

I'll admit to being very fond of paring chisels, use them quite a bit. I got a new Sorby a few years ago - sadly in my case v disappointed. Didn't think the steel was great, and as for the leather washer... who thought that was a good idea? I think at that time Sorby had got so caught up in turning tools they lost interest in their old roots. I have a couple of old finds that are both excellent. Never got one yet to reliably hold an edge lower than about 24 degrees. I tried 22 once and that was on a fine proper old Sorby... it sort of fell over (on end grain to be fair).

Good observation. Paring chisels certainly don't need leather washers.

 

[Jacob]

Narex chisel arrived. Looks well made and nicely finished but it's a fattun! Not the slender bendy thing I was hoping for. Should have gone for the Sorby perhaps.
Ground at 25º (I think) so will have to see if it will take 15º. Something tells me it won't and it might just be a mistake.

OK it hones easily (not too hard) but it isn't flat, which means lifting the handle a gnats to remove the burr (the ruler trick without a ruler), or removing about 15mm from the end of the chisel, or putting an hour or so into flattening it.
So it's a dud in tooly terms. Could send it back I suppose but it'll be OK I expect I'll manage somehow!

PS it just took a tiny bit of "without the ruler" trickery to flatten the face end and remove the burr. Not lifting the handle more just putting more pressure towards the edge.
So I've changed my mind - it's passed the tests so far! Next is the 15º grind and hone.

 

[bugbear]

For what it's worth one of these tools was my grandfathers, and was his only long reach chisel. He didn't seem to need a paring chisel much after fifty odd years as a cabinet maker, me either it would seem as I haven't used mine in five odd years now. I can't, off hand, think of a use for one much.

By Max Burrough, speaking of the 1920's:

...no cut ever being made across the grain without a
preparatory V-groove. The long paring chisel was always on the bench
and in constant use, especially when making the V-grooves. The wood
was held either in the vise or against the turn-buttons that were
screwed to the far edge of the bench. The chisel was picked up and a
cut made freehand in the scribed shoulder line, the chisel turned
over in the hand so quickly that it was difficult to see, and then
the V formed - the waste peeling out in a continuous strip"

BugBear

 

[mtr1]

That's a fairly obscure use of a paring chisel though, isn't it? I think if you look long and hard enough through books you could find a better use for one, probably of more use to a pattern maker. Nothing wrong with using them of course, I just don't see a use for them myself.
I think the last time I used mine, was to clear some waste out from a deep mortice and it was invaluable for this. It would of been some time before that, that I would of picked it up. So one use in maybe ten years, I had them so used them, but a sharpened long screwdriver would of done the same job...though not as pretty to look at.

Could it be a regional thing? They don't turn up at car boots in my area very often, just a theory of course.


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[bugbear]

That's a fairly obscure use of a paring chisel though, isn't it?

Not according to Max Burrough - the phrase "constant use" is fairly unambiguous.

BugBear