Mixing imperial and metric sizes
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- This topic has 6 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 9 years, 8 months ago by sbare.
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1 September 2014 at 2:28 pm #63132
Perhaps…I don’t have much experience in this matter, but I do know that when dealing with very tight tolerances on some joinery that a small difference can lead to gaps. I would imagine in some cases it wouldn’t be a concern at all, and in others it would be a problem. But…
Lee Valley also stocks Narex chisels in imperial sizes, for a very reasonable price. They also have a free shipping promotion going right now if you spend more than $40 U.S.
1 September 2014 at 2:49 pm #63133You will be much happier in the long run if your chisel widths match the width of cutters in your plow plane. The router plane won’t cause you too many issues. There are a lot of operations where you need your chisels to be the same size as your plowed grooves.
If you can get them matched I would think that would be the thing to do. I can’t help but recall this issue coming up before, possibly here, but the verdict for that user was that yes a matched set would have been preferred over metric chisel, imp cutters with the other tools.
1 September 2014 at 2:55 pm #63138It makes things much easier if your tools match exactly. Speaking from recent experience!
I made a frame & panel bottom for a box a few months ago. The ply for the panel was 9mm (although actually closer to 8mm in most places), my plow plane was 5/16″ (a touch under 8mm), and my chisel was exactly 8mm.
I ploughed the grooves, then chopped the mortises which meant they were slightly wider than the groove and I found it a fiddle to maintain accuracy because the chisel was resting on around 0.1mm of wood. When I tried to chop, as I was working with pine it just pushed the wood to one side! I also had to increase the width of the groove for the haunch. I also had to plane a bit off the edges of the ply to get it to fit into the grooves.
It turned out well but was a pain getting it done. Having matching tools would have helped me in this case.
George.
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