Mallets and Chisels
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17 February 2017 at 10:52 pm #309309
Having chisels of various brands, and after close to two hours to get a 2” Robert Sorby Standard chisel flat, I carried out a small investigation on any correlation between price relative time to flatten and deviation from nominal width.
I included 6 chisels of various widths (please see attached photo). For all except the 1st (leftmost one) flatness was first checked on an 8 000 grit diamond stone, just in case any of the chisels would be flat from start. Flattening was then carried out on 600 and 1 200 diamond stones, A little was also done with the 8 000 one.
The idea was to have number one as reference, but it turned out to be an utter outlier, so the 2nd from left had to substitute. It took 15 minutes to get its 40 mm (1 9/16”) blade flat.
To adjust for differences in widths the remaining chisels were at most flattened to their widths / 40 mm * 15 minutes, The sizes of the chisels were measured with a calliper, and deviations of less than 0.1 mm (1/256”) were accepted as the chisel having nominal size. Compensation for variation in hardness in steel was for the simple reason that I don’t know how not done.
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1) Robert Sorby Standard chisel 1½” inch (£50): 50 minutes after having resorted all the way to a 220 grit stone, and still there is a dent just above the edge. It was off by 3/128” (0.6mm)2) Hultafors All Metal 40 mm (1 9/16”) (£18): 15 minutes and to dimension. This is a tool that largely is in pursuit of a purpose. Being one piece of a steel going all the way to the top, the impact of a mallet blow is transferred directly to the edge, which – at the 25 degree bevel – immediately breaks on anything but soft construction spruce. However, its shape makes it good for pairing away glue. It’s also good for making knife walls.
3) C.I. Fall 14mm (35/64”) (£7): This chisel was given 5 minutes which is a little more than what it should have been allotted. A minute or two more would have flattened the last remnant above the edge. It’s size was what it said. It’s a very nice chisel, quick to take a very sharp edge that does not last very long.
4) Bahco 424: 18 mm (also stamped as ¾”) (£15): After 7 minutes this chisel was very close to flat. There is just a small imperfection proximal to the edge. It was dead 18 mm wide, which actually is a bit from ¾”. The bevel of this chisel is quite undecided. The proximal part is at 25 degrees, but then the terminal 2 – 3 mm are at 30 degrees. While not the most comfortable one, it is still a chisel. More narrow ones have been good enough for mortising not that small amount of red oak.
5) Robert Sorby Gilt Edge, Rosewood 1” (£40): The allowed 9 minutes rendered this one very close to flat. It is 1/100” below its stated width, but I asked the company to find me one that was as close to 25 mm as possible. A delight too look at, hold in one’s hand, and despite being quite thin it sustains the mallet well (The coffee table project establishes that, I think).
6) Lie-Nielsen 5/16” (7.93 mm) bevel edge chisel (£55): Flat from the start, to dimension, and superb to work with.That these chisels came out short just proximal to the edge can of course be due to me certainly not being the most skilled one, but I would like think it is how the chisels were flattened during manufacturing. Except for the Lie-Nielsen, they all showed grind marks as if flattening was done by pressing them to the flat surface of a grinder; and that is exactly what I believe takes place. The worker puts the chisel to grinder and, perhaps, uses his/her fingers to press down. On a dry grinder, that will result in the centre of the edge being most exposed to pressure and heat.
The somewhat less than favourable results by what possibly should be Sheffield’s top of the line, is a bit depressing for someone who believes in buying “made in GB”; but a pair of duplicate (by mistake) 5/16” Robert Sorby Sash Mortice Chisels which deviated by 0.3 mm from each other, do seem to support the notion by Mr. P. Sellers in a blog item from 2014, that there is room for improvement on precision.
/sojAttachments:
You must be logged in to view attached files.18 February 2017 at 8:53 am #309324Hi Mark,
I get the anxiety, I went through it myself about a year ago. The thing is you’ll probably make some mistakes, some will be obvious and some not so much, but in those mistakes are where you learn most about your tools.
One of the first things I did was attempt to recut teeth on a saw I bought at a car boot, I had never even sharpened a saw! Needless to say it didn’t go that well, but not all together awful either. What it did show me was that with a bit of practice I was able to do something that I really never thought possible.
These tools are quite forgiving providing you put the work in. Sharpen your chisel or plane iron out of square? It’ll take a while but you can correct it by hand and you’ll get A LOT of practice! Cut your saw teeth badly? File them off again and have another go. Although maybe do that on the 50p junker from the car boot and not your nice Disston!
I think that’s a big part of the reason why Paul advocates cheap but good tools, especially for new woodworkers, you can make a bit of a mess of it and not feel too bad!
By the way, I recently got a set of the Ashley Iles chisels as a birthday gift, they’re lovely. I already had a set of the Aldi/Lidl chisels which again allowed me to make a bit of a mess of it and not feel too bad. They’ve been very good chisels, and will continue to be.
Anyway try not to overthink it, enjoy the process, cock ups and all.
Rob.
Thanks for the advice Rob
I suffer from anxiety and I tend to take my personal failures badly because I am my own worst critic.
This entire woodworking project I’m undertaking is for therapeutic reasons and that’s why I am trying to remember to tell myself that it’s ok to make mistakes. The minute I start getting stressed and anxious, that’s the minute I forget this is for fun.
18 February 2017 at 9:32 am #309327Ah ok, well I didn’t go through that anxiety then! Maybe find some cheap old tools at your local car boot this weekend and practice, it’ll give you the confidence to work on your nice stuff and you’ll probably end up with some decent extra tools as well. You’ll never have enough! 🙂
18 February 2017 at 12:27 pm #309330Hej Mark,
Rob is spot on: these tools are forgiving.
Patience and a marker (or Engineer’s Blue) help me to at times get lucky; and the more I practice, the luckier I become.
/soj -
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