chopping a mortise

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  • neil grayson
    19 March 2019 at 7:16 pm #555616

    HI,

    Not sure if this is in the right forum or not but I can but try.

    OK so I am slightly younger than Paul and the last real woodwork I did was at school a long time ago. I actually love it and now I am retired getting back into it.

    I am building a Paul Sellers workbench and I am finding that as I chop the mortises the chisel ( Lidl prepared the Paul Sellers way) twists on me no matter how tightly I grip it.

    Is it just me? Am I weak or could it be that the chisel bevel is slightly off and that’s the cause?

    Any one else been through this or got any suggestions?
    Neil

    neil grayson
    19 March 2019 at 9:17 pm #555617

    Please ignore this. Although I searched for previous entries on mortises on the forum I found none. When I googled it tooke me to a page on this forum. Go Figure.

    Anyway I have my answer.

    Sven-Olof Jansson
    19 March 2019 at 9:48 pm #555618

    With or without a honing guide, a skew bevel or edge easily occurs. You have probably noticed that as the edge is hammered down the bevel pushes the iron along the mortice breaking the “chop” free. A skew bevel will inevitably twist the chisel during that push, no matter what.

    Being at best an acceptably mediocre woodworker, I find mortising easier with a guide and a flat side mortise chisel that required no preparation before use. Won’t work for mortices >½” though.

    /Sven-Olof

    PS
    Sorry Neil, didn’t see your 2nd message before hitting submint

    • This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by Sven-Olof Jansson. Reason: Addition
    Benoît Van Noten
    21 March 2019 at 10:49 am #555632

    If the chisel is not sharp enough, it will follow the path of least resistance. Pine in particular is far from isotropic.

    deanbecker
    21 March 2019 at 1:58 pm #555633

    Take smaller bites. They are easier to resist if they twist

    neil grayson
    21 March 2019 at 5:51 pm #555635

    Many thanks for the replies.

    I will be checking all of them to try to better understand my technique.

    Benoît Van Noten
    23 March 2019 at 3:11 pm #555660

    “smaller bites”
    That is a more practical answer than mine.
    P. S. has an excellent video where he is chopping mortises behind a glass.
    Capital video in my opinion.

    Mic van Reijen
    29 March 2019 at 4:52 pm #555704

    When I googled it tooke me to a page on this forum. Go Figure.

    Anyway I have my answer.

    Out of interest, what page did you find?

    Mic

    neil grayson
    30 March 2019 at 9:23 pm #555707

    Sorry for the late reply. I had to find it again.

    Here you go.

    What causes chisels to twist when chopping mortises?

    Neil

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