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View Full Version : Thinking about the lie nelson chisels



Cliff Rohrabacher
03-14-2009, 10:36 AM
I'm looking at their socket chisels.
I think I like the idea of the "fish tail" chisel.

I'm pretty sure their skew chisels are over priced based on nothing more remarkable than that they sell fewer of them. You can grind any chisel to be a skew and A2 steel is through hardening so, you'll never grind to soft metal.

I'm left with the question of which chisels to buy (not mortise). The kit of 5 in the leather pouch is lots more than the same five chisels ala carte. Same for the kit of 9.

What sizes chisels do you normally encounter in your work and which sixes do you not use??

As an aside:
I think I have nixed the lovely Australian hand made high speed steel (M2 Cryo dipped) chisels for $120.00 each. http://www.haroldandsaxon.com/index.htm
I actually think I like the look of the lie Nelson's better anyway ( so there ).

Ben Rafael
03-14-2009, 10:41 AM
I think skew chisels sell less because there is less demand for skew chisels in general.

David Keller NC
03-14-2009, 11:10 AM
Not sure I understand the comment about the skew chisels being over-priced. They are sold by pairs, and (for example), the 1/4" pair are $130, and the 1/4" bevel-edge chisels on which they're based are $55 each. So in effect you're paying an extra $10 each for the extra grinding step. Having made skew chisels out of straight ones myself, I'd gladly pay $10 for a precision skew grind instead of having to spend the 30-40 minutes each on a wet grinder to do it myself, or do it at high speed on a dry grinder with considerably less precision and the probablity of drawing the temper.

In regards to your other question, I have the 5 chisel set, and have not missed the intermediate sizes. I will, however, add the 1" bevel edge to the set in the near future - having a wide one for paring tenon shoulders is handy.

David Song
03-14-2009, 11:23 AM
I have and love my L&N's but if I was doing it over, I would compare it close to Blue Spruce and choose. However BS are $90 a piece and LN's are $55. I don't know...yet as to what makes BS roughly 40% more expensive.

Mike Cutler
03-14-2009, 12:34 PM
I'm looking at their socket chisels.

What sizes chisels do you normally encounter in your work and which sixes do you not use??

Cliff

I have the 9 chisel set,and I'm willing to bet that the 3/8" gets used the most followed by the 1/4" and then the 1/2". I have used the 3/4" to clean up dados, but not alot. The fractional sizes still have the plastisol on them. Point being, that unless you know you will need the fractional sizes, the 5 chisel set is more than adequate in my opinion.

Mine were given to me as a gift, so I also have the tool roll, but I've seen the tool rolls that Mike Henderson makes and they are pretty nice rolls. You definitely don't need the leather tool roll. Mike has a thread somewhere that shows his tool rolls made from canvas. Contact Mike, or google search it here if you're interested.

Ken Werner
03-14-2009, 3:05 PM
Cliff, I bought the set of 5 and made a wooden box to hold them. I found I missed 3/16" for some fine dovetail work, and bought it separately. I picked up a 1" wide Stanley 750, which completes the set quite nicely. Only problem is the box doesn't hold the extra 2 chisels....

I do use all of the above.

Gary Herrmann
03-14-2009, 4:30 PM
Nice job on the box Ken.

Mike Henderson
03-14-2009, 4:58 PM
I have the LN chisels but I bought them individually. As far as usage, I'd agree with Mike C. as to sizes but I occasionally use a 1/8". But any size you don't use a lot could be a "lesser" tool, such as one bought on eBay.

Regarding skews, unless you use a skew a lot, I'd recommend buying some inexpensive regular chisels and just grind them to a skew. My 1/4" skews, which are the ones I use when making dovetails, are Irwins which I bought for about $10 each. They may not hold an edge as well as other brands but they get so little use that sharpening them is not a problem. It is VERY easy to grind a skew, especially a narrow one, and if you don't like the angle, just re-grind it.

Mike C. mentioned tool rolls. I made a bunch of tool rolls from painters drop cloth. They work okay but the material is not stiff enough. I still use those painter's drop cloth rolls, but for my nice chisels and carving tools I now mostly use commercial tool rolls that I bought at Woodcraft. If you can find some nice stiff heavy cloth, it will make a good tool roll and they're very easy to make if you can handle a sewing machine. If you like to make your own handles, making your own rolls is good because you can make them deep enough to accommodate your tools with the custom handles (if you like long handles).

I also tried one leather roll but didn't like it. Anyone want to buy a leather tool roll cheap?

Mike

George Moore
03-14-2009, 5:12 PM
I took Mike's advice and bought the 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 and they do 90% of what I need chisels for. As was also stated I have a 1/8,3/4 and 1 inch in another brand for when I just happen to need them.

George

Cliff Rohrabacher
03-14-2009, 8:11 PM
Such superbly good replies.
!! mili grazi
And to think it only cost me $6.00 a year for the privilege of associating with folks with this level of experience and knowledge ~ ~ ~ who share~!!! .
Where else does your dollar go so far?