New LN Chisels

[Rob Luter]

I unpacked my new LN chisels when I got back in town on Thursday night. I didn't get a chance to lap the backs and hone the edges until yesterday. The quality of edge I'm able to get is amazing. I did a few test cuts and am convinced I've never really used a sharp chisel until now. I was able to accurately pare back endgrain to a baseline using only hand pressure. My Blue Chips will do that on Pine, but this was White Oak for crying out loud. Time for another dovetailed box so I can get the whole experience.

[gary Zimmel]

Congrats on the new set of chisels Rob.

Can't beat buying good quality tools...

[Rick Erickson]

Great pick-up Rob. I can only concur. They are awesome tools.

[Ben Rafael]

Did the backs need lapping? Or are just finicky like me?

[Rob Luter]

Did the backs need lapping? Or are just finicky like me?

Compared to my Blue Chips,the LN were already lapped. I'm kind of particular though and thought they should look like optical grade mirrors. It took all of 5 minutes each.

[Doug Shepard]

Congratulations. Compared to my Blue Chips the LNs get and stay way sharper. Be careful of the back edges though, They're just as sharp.

[Rob Luter]

Be careful of the back edges though, They're just as sharp.

I noticed. No blood, but it was close :eek:

[Danny Burns]

The nice thing about top notch tools, is that you only buy them, only once.

Glad to hear that you are happy with your LN chisels!!!

[Ben Rafael]

The nice thing about top notch tools, is that you only buy them only once.

Glad to hear that you are happy with your LN chisels!!!

And once is enough!

[Mark Roderick]

I had the same experience with my first LN chisel. Just immediately superior to any chisel I had ever used, taking and holding a sharp edge. Over time I intend to replace all my other chisels with LNs.

[Rob Luter]

I kept my Blue Chips and flea market beaters for rough work. I'll reserve the LN for more precise stuff. I have an old 1" Stanley Everlasting and a 1 1/2" Buck Brothers Socket Chisel that both really work well. Even still I see myself expanding my LN size range plus adding a mortise chisel or two.

[Chris Padilla]

What? No pics to back up this "claim"??? Where are the pic police these days? sheesh.....

;)

[Rob Luter]

OK, now it's for real.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=112204

[John Keeton]

Rob, those Irwins looked really nice until you put the LNs next to them:D

[Cliff Polubinsky]

Rob,

I'll see your Lie-Nielsens and raise you a Lee Valley
http://sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=106377

I agree, nice chisels.

Cliff

[Mike Brady]

One thing to keep in mind with the way you have yor chisels stored: be careful in dry weather when pulling them from your rack. The wood handle may be loose and grabbing the chisel by the handle might leave the steel plummeting to the floor. Your whole life will flash through mind when this happens. I always grasp my L-N chisels by the steel shank when removing them from storage.

[Rob Luter]

One thing to keep in mind with the way you have yor chisels stored: be careful in dry weather when pulling them from your rack. The wood handle may be loose and grabbing the chisel by the handle might leave the steel plummeting to the floor. Your whole life will flash through mind when this happens. I always grasp my L-N chisels by the steel shank when removing them from storage.

I hold on to the steel as well. I've had an Exacto knife roll off a table and bury itself in the top of my foot. Not fun, but at least it was so sharp it didn't hurt much. I'd hate to have a chisel fall away from the handle and shear off a toe :eek:

[David Keller NC]

Rob - A comment about the handles coming loose in the sockets. L-N gives some info on gluing the handles in if you prefer with epoxy.

However, I got an idea from the way that infills in cast British planes like Norris were done - they were primarily just glued in, with hide glue no less. I didn't like the idea of permanently gluing in the handles in case I wanted to replace one or two later on, so I tried this - it does indeed work, and is easily reversible with a little hot water. The inside of my sockets were just rough enough from the milling operation to provide some grip for the hot hide glue, though I may in the future rough it up a bit more with some 220 grit sandpaper.

[george wilson]

David,you'll probably just SMOOTH up the sockets with 220. If I wanted to rough them up,I'd take a smallish ball shaped rotary file,or if the tangs were hardened,a ball grinding point,and go around the insides of the tangs making little grooves.

The trouble with Hide glue is that it doesn't take shock at all.I'd think it might pop loose if used inside a tang chisel socket. If you really wanted to use hide glue,try mixing in some glycerine. Put a few drops into a half cup of glue. Stir it in well. See IF it dries,and if it does dry,does it stay flexible. Keep experimenting with adding more glycerine till you get a glue that dries,but remains flexible enough to take shocks.

Hide glue will dry with some glycerine in it. It's a question of finding out the optimum amount to add for this purpose. Old timers used to use glycerine when they needed a flexible bond.

[Rob Luter]

Like George suggested, I scratched up the handles (rather than the sockets) a bit with some fine paper and then seated them with a firm whack. I have a few other socket style chisels and have never had a problem once the handles were seated properly. They've been solid as a rock so far. In the event they get loose I'll try a little flexible adhesive. I've got a number of things that should work just fine. I want to stay away from epoxy or anything that would prevent me from getting the handles off if I want to.

[David Keller NC]

Thanks, George, I'll give the glycerine a try if necessary. So far, the hide glue has held quite well. It may well be that it just provided a means of filling any empty space between the handle and the socket. I do have quite a number of different flexible glues at hand, but most of these are not easily reversible, so that's why I used the hide glue.

My guess would be that rubber cement would work pretty well - while it won't bond to metal, it would provide a rubber coating on the wood that's space-filling, and it has a high friction coefficient, which may be just enough to keep the handles firmly seated but still be fairly easy to take off if necessary.

[George Moore]

Just a small dab of marine sealant works great and is easily reversible.

George

[Rob Luter]

I've thought of using silicone caulk as well. Hopefully I won't have to deal with it.

[JohnMorgan of Lititz]

Congrats on the purchase, Rob. Glad to hear you are happy w/ them. I too have the Irwin's and decided to pick up a 5/8" LN chisel while up at the LN showroom this past weekend. (Ahhh...to be in the showroom with that man tools...) and 10% off too!

I didn't lap the back and sharpen yet. Did you add a secondary bevel at 35' ? The primary is at 30 I believe...which is steeper than the Irwin's 25.

I've been wondering if that isn't the Irwin's main problem...shallow primary bevel. The LN is just sooo balanced compared to Irwins though. I can't wait to chop some dovetails on my end table project.

[Rob Luter]

My primary bevel came in at about 31 degrees from the factory. I set the secondary at about 33. I use a LV Mark II Honing Guide and it has a nice feature that lets you dial in a micro bevel.

I set my Irwins at 35 degrees and that seemed to help a bit with edge retention. I use them mostly for coarse work now. At least these are the Sheffield versions. I understand the Chinese versions don't hold up as well.

I agree with you on the balance of these chisels. The review in FWW that spoke of superior ergonomics was spot on.

[JohnMorgan of Lititz]

My primary bevel came in at about 31 degrees from the factory. I set the secondary at about 33. I use a LV Mark II Honing Guide and it has a nice feature that lets you dial in a micro bevel.

I set my Irwins at 35 degrees and that seemed to help a bit with edge retention. I use them mostly for coarse work now. At least these are the Sheffield versions. I understand the Chinese versions don't hold up as well.

I agree with you on the balance of these chisels. The review in FWW that spoke of superior ergonomics was spot on.

I use the same jig...that 2' micro bevel is handy and accurate...love it. My irwin's are the sheffield's as well. I will have to take some saturday and work a couple over at 30 or 35 to see how well it helps.

I still can't get over the balance of the LN and how much easier it is to hold precisely on a line, etc. So much nicer to work with.

[Tom Henderson2]

One more comment about handle retention....

A recent thread about this subject suggested that dusting the handle with rosin provides enough stickem to minimize the handle looseness issue. Rosin can be purchased at sporting goods stores (pitchers/batters use it). The chalk that gymnasts use on their hands may also do the trick.

-TH

[george wilson]

You can also tap a pine tree about this time of year for some rosin.I've done it in violin varnish experiments. Music store violin rosin will also work,but some rosin formulas have some wax in them. I'd buy the cheapest rosin they have.