crank neck chisel brand?

[Howard Pollack]

Folks-
I want to purchase a crank neck chisel. Diefenbacher has one of its own brand, but I have no ideas as to quality. Has anyone used Diefenbacher tools, if so, what do you think of them. Also, does anyone have another brand to suggest? Thanks.
-Howard

[John Schreiber]

I've seen these in catalogs, but I'm not sure what they are for. I always just turn the chisel over and register the bottom of the mortice against the chisel's bevel. I know this is less than perfect, but at the bottom of a mortice there's little need for perfection.

If I'm missing something, let me know the secret.

Now skew chisels are a different matter. When I have some time I'm going to take some of my old garage sale chisels and make them into occasional use skew chisels.

[Dave Anderson NH]

These are available form several of the standard sources. Woodcraft carries the Crown brand which I have a couple of . As with all Crown Tools, I inspect them very carefully as their quality control isn't always up to snuff. They work well in cleaning out the bottom of long dados and making them level and do the same on rabbets. I believe that Two Cherries also makes them and also has them in a version which is both quite small and skewed. One of my complaints about Crown is that they poslish up their chisels so heavily that they dub over the back of the cutting edge and you end up grinding again to establish the bevel without a dub. You also need to check out the backs which aren't always anyway near flat. I own several otheir chisels, but each time I bought one I took a straight edge to Woodcraft with me and picked out the flattest of the lot. There's lots of variation. Don't fret though, once they are fettled they hold an edge well.

[Steven Wilson]

I have a couple of the Diefenbacher crank neck chisels and they're quite good; they tune up nicely and relatively quickly, hold an edge well, and perform well. I don't use them all of the time but they are very nice to have when you need them

[Ted Shrader]

Howard -

I have a set (right and left) of Crown cranked neck chisels. Seem to work OK. Hold a decent edge. Like any other edge tool, they require sharpening prior to use to be really effective.

Ted

[Terry Quiram]

I own some Buck Bros made in the 1950s. They are great, but I don't know if they are available now.

Terry

[Chris Knight]

I have three by Henry Taylor - not sure if they are available in the USA but they seem pretty good.