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9 February 2020 at 5:44 pm #648324
Hi YrHenSaer,
I think you have come from the same school of thought as I do. As when it comes to specific chisels I am a fan of older chisels and have also learnt my lesson from not being more fussy about the backs as there have been quite a few that I have sold on due to the backs being far to pitted and rounded to spend the time flattening. I myself only have a medium quality set of chisels (blue handled Marples pre Iwin) as one cost was a factor and well as my experience level as I believe there not point having the worlds best chisels if they are blunt or poorly sharpened. I have seen plenty of those when I used to make office furniture with that said those chisels did all the work I needed them to do and held a good edge.
The types of steels used in modern chisels and vintage chisels is a very interesting topic as I used to work for a company that sold knife making and tools steels for blacksmithing. From what I can tell is a lot of wood workers don’t fully understand of the difference between a high wear steel, high toughness and a high hardness steels and not to mention the variable effects of heat treatment on different alloys. We will always prefer vintage chisels because they are high harness high carbon steels such as 01, 1095, 52100 and similar as compared to high wear alloys like A2, W2 and CRV steels. Japanese chisels are still made of high hardness high carbon steels which is how they get scary on water stones. Cheaper tools companies will go for CRV steels as they are high toughness which is why they are often hard to flatten on stones however they are cheap and can makes up for the lower hardness level that one expects to find in the heat treating of cheaper mass produced chisels.
So I have come conclusion I will most likely end up hunting down some good vintage registered firmer chisels as you say handles can be re made edges reground and rust cleaned off but it quality forged blades they are hard to find in today’s mass market.
9 February 2020 at 4:59 pm #648320Hi Collin,
You have a very interesting point when you say that people who are not craftsmen are buying chisels. This is true and the market for them is much larger than for the folks who want high end chisels for fine furniture or heavy carpentry work. This said may people who buy chisels for “general woodwork” or renovation work would not even know the difference between a bevel edged chisel and a firmer chisels let alone a registered firmer or parring chisel. Oddly enough in most cases a heavy registered firmer would be better suit for the tasks they are using for like renovation or carpentry work. However when all that is on offer is cheap bevel edged chisels that’s what you buy in a big box store and so the manufactures keep producing. So education is the key here knowledge is power I am planing on writing an article or even a You Tube video with my thoughts on the topic at some point in the hope to educate others.
9 February 2020 at 4:34 pm #648316Hi Sandy,
Ok if you are referring to Japanese Chisels they have a hollow grind in the back so one does not have to flatten the whole back as a result the cutting edge which is flat is a lot more responsive and they are my preferred fine joinery chisels. As for western chisels not being ground dead flat it all comes down to cost and market demand the difference between a $24 chisel and $60 (pound if in the UK or Euro) chisel is quite a lot when you look at over all quality and finish not just flatness. I personally don’t mind doing the fine tuning on a chisels as I it allows me get it to the standard I need for any particular task.
9 February 2020 at 4:19 pm #648313Hi Sven,
I suspect that the difference between the two chisels comes down to a few factors one the steel alloy used second the hardening and tempering temps used and the quality of machining and manufacture which is a whole topic in an of its self. As you say the Lie Nielsen came out perfectly flat. as one would expect from a tool company that individually checks each product by hand.
9 February 2020 at 4:18 pm #648312Hi Sven,
I suspect that the difference between the two chisels comes down to a few factors one the steel alloy used second the hardening and tempering temps used and the quality of machining and manufacture which is a whole topic in an of its self. As you say the Lie Nielsen came out perfectly flat. as one would expect from a tool company that individually checks each product by hand.
7 February 2020 at 10:52 am #648025Hi Sven,
It would seem that other people have had the same experience regarding the flatness of Robert Sorby chisels so I will make a note of that as for some smaller tasks “absolute” precision in needed. Interestingly enough the Henry Taylor socket chisels they are listed as using a EN31 high carbon tool steel so they would be much harder to flatten simply due to the high abrasion resistance of the steel however this would make a very tough chisel that could take a beating. I will be sure to check out the WWMC videos on Robert Sorby chisels as I am aware Paul Sellers speaks highly of them.
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