The following is a set of circa 1960s Marples Boxwood Firmer Chisels that I use regular in my workshop. Would I trade these in to purchase a set of Veritas PMV-11 Chisels. Not a chance. Their beautifully designed, they hold and retain an excellent edge, and can be re-sharpened with my choice of oil or water stones.
Last edited by Stewie Simpson; 12-03-2017 at 9:04 AM.
Please don't misconstrue my intention. I am seriously interested in any dvanced chiselling techniques that would add to the existing body of knowledge and practice.
Many skilled chisel users including David Charlesworth, Jeff Miller, Paul Sellers and Ian Kirby have contributed in this area in the form of articles and/or videos (before them, Hayward and Kingshott). We should welcome any instructional contributions from Warren if he has the time. I never stop learning.
Simon
Yes, that's accurate. However, like I said I don't often use this for the baseline, only for exceptional circumstances.
Bumbling forward into the unknown.
My process is as follows:
- Mark it (well duh)
- Make an initial cut with the saw
- Use that Ron Bontz half blind tool to "finish the cut" on the sides to the base line all the way back.
- Use a regular chisel to deepen the mark at the lower base line (so not into the end grain).
- use the mortise chisel to chop down into the end grain. Because I deepened the mark first, the wood brakes. I initially take a very thin cut. I can really use any chisel for the first cut.
- Sometimes I repeat step 4 at this point.
- Use the mortise chisel in the end grain again, working my way back towards the line, but I do not hit the line. This is very fast, and because of the mortise chisel geometry, it is very fast and quickly removes material.
- I then finish it off with regular chisels cleaning up the sides and bottom. This includes the final pairing to the back line pushing down into the end grain.
Do you tip the handle of the chisel back to match the bevel angle? Then you are striking the handle with your mallet at ~30 degree angle to the work. I don't see why this would be beneficial. It actually seems counterintuitive to me. My past use of 'riding the bevel' is for situations such as lateral chopping at the bottom corners of a mortise where the bevel can slide along the bottom. Can't do that any other way.
No, not usually. I'd like not to fixate on the baseline as I mentioned I don't often use this for baselines, except in rare circumstance. I use it to chop the waste. Basically I hold the chisel as I normally would and the chisel functions to push the waste out of the joint. If you always chop down with the back toward the baseline then the chisel is being driven into the wood and supported by the short grain. If you face the bevel toward the baseline then the chisel is driving through the short grain and it's being supported by the end grain.
Bumbling forward into the unknown.
Thanks for clarifying because that was lost on me while I was imagining what you meant about riding the bevel differently. I was trying to remember you doing strange things on your videos and didn't see such nonsense. Now it makes sense that you are just facing the bevel toward the baseline or away from it and using the resulting leverage to your advantage. I do that all the time in an effort to reduce the work required by my non-expert technique.
sometimes I am slow.... well often I am slow, so I am going to repeat what I think I just read....
(Q) For this discussion, does it matter if I am trying to (1) push into end grain (like when I am clearing my half blind dovetails) or (2) cut through long grain fibers. I assume the later (2) cutting long grain.
(Q) for this discussion, we are always cutting near an edge, so when I bang that chisel into the wood, something will be pushed or leveraged out. In other words, it is irrelevant if I am establishing a base line and and am creating an initial mark or deepening an existing mark that does not cause wood to be pushed out.