A few hours ago I finally got a reply from them on messenger. He writes that they buy round stock Hitachi blue steel and laminate it to spring steel in own forge. So I guess I was wrong regarding rikizai wich of course is a good thing.
A few hours ago I finally got a reply from them on messenger. He writes that they buy round stock Hitachi blue steel and laminate it to spring steel in own forge. So I guess I was wrong regarding rikizai wich of course is a good thing.
This is a copy of his reply
We buy only blue steel round stock from Japan Hitatchi Metals Ltd. We do the forging and lamination by ourselves. The core layer is Blue Steel and the top layer is Spring Steel.
We are also developing the Damascus version of these chisels. They will be forged and look the same style as this axe head:
http://northmen.com/en/products/axes...heart-damascus
Thank you for contacting us and feel free to ask if you have any other questions!
Sincerely,
Jacob
I think they are cool looking and you guys are being chisel buzz killers.
Aj
I remember conversations just like this from the early 1980's, a manufacturer called Bridge City Tools..... A tool that's only keeps it's worth if you never take it out of the box.
Do you think many will ever be used?I think he will sell lots of them.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
I never doubted you when you wrote that they had responded to you.
The "steaming pile" comment was about the idea of buying, shipping, importing, and transporting overland round stock, and then hammering it thin enough to make an effective laminate, and then laminating that to spring steel! Spring steel! LOL.
It can be done. It will be time-consuming and wasteful. Everyone else in the world buys steel to be laminated in strips, not round bar. And then they laminate it to mild steel or low-carbon steel, but never spring steel.
The finished product will gain little of the benefits that come with lamination. It will not even be traditional (European or Japanese).
Stanley,
The reason is probably so when you wear through the lamination by only sharpening the back as some here espouse, you will still end up with a usable chisel. In the industry I work in, we call this mistake proofing!
How difficult is it to relate to most of us cannot and would not spend $1200 for chisels. The chisels belongs in a museum, not a workshop.
My chisels get hit with mallets.
On the matter of mallets, I have two, one is like the Grizzly mallet and the other a large maple mallet I purchased at a Paul Sellers workshop 20 years ago.
Last edited by lowell holmes; 07-30-2017 at 11:55 AM.
Oh yea. I forget to call your attention to the way the handle is fitted to the socket. You will notice that there is no gap between the flat upper rim of the socket and the handle. This neat presentation will no doubt appeal to the uninformed, but the gap is traditionally provided in socket chisels for a reason. Alternately, especially in large socket chisels, the handle isn't stepped down, but just transitions smoothly into a truncated cone.
Anyone that has worn out a socket chisel's handle can tell you what will happen to a stepped handle after a while as the handle's cone wears with use and is gradually driven further into the socket. Very ugly. Once again, not a professional tool. I predict massive sales.
+1 to this.
No comment on the quality of the product they make, I've never handled any of it.
But these guys are marketing masters, and they've made a ton of money selling axes and bush knives to people who've never been further than 100m from a paved road. I've been seeing their (undeniably beautifully shot) "making of" videos for years, and if I recall correctly, at one point they had a years long wait list to buy anything from them.
The blue steel on spring steel is probably why I could not find the lamination line, even with the chrone dioxide compound buffing that is a special sharpening treatment ...
I did love the bit about steel that "will hold a fine edge with no persistent burr".
Hooey.
Regards from Perth
Derek
If a chisel is made by a blacksmith, how are side bevels added?
I would assume that they are ground. I do not think that they can be hammered in. Grinding on all the Japanese chisels I have are smooth with clean lines. These chisels look rough as guts. As Stanley noted, the sockets and handles are incorrectly joined. I assume that this is all a deliberate "look".
Regards from Perth
Derek