Woodcraft Japanese Chisels

[Allan Froehlich]

Hello Creekers!

I have been playing around with the idea of replacing my Irwin/Marples chisels with a set of Japanese chisels. I still have the October 2008 Fine Woodworking and I noticed that that the set from Woodcraft was not included in the test.

Does anyone know anything about these chisels?

[Don C Peterson]

I have a couple of them and they are fine. I'm more partial towards vintage western chisels now. I still use the Japanese chisels but reach more often for the old Pexto, Union, and Stanley chisels I have.

[Mike Henderson]

I would say give them a try. Every woodworker should try Japanese chisels just to see if they like working with them. If you find you don't like them, you can probably get most of your money back by selling them here or on eBay.

I have a set that I re-handled to get rid of the hoops. I use them occasionally and find that they work about the same as my western chisels.

[I didn't find the original handles to be comfortable.]

Mike

[Allan Froehlich]

I bought a 12mm Japanese chisel from woodcraft and I am going to see how it works. I chose the 12mm because it was the size closest to 1/2 inch, which is the chisel I use the most.

If this works well, I might eventually buy the complete set.

[Allan Froehlich]

UPDATE!!!

I have mixed feelings about the 12mm Japanese chisel I bought from Woodcraft. When I first sharpened it, the chisel would slice through the end grain of maple easier than scissors through posterboard. I was very excited when this happened and I immediately thought about ordering a complete set.

Earlier today, I was putting some chamfers on a small piece of mahogany. The resulting surface was not smooth at all. I inspected the chisel and found that the cutting edge was full of small nicks.

I am going to give the chisel the benefit of the doubt and assume that there could have been some unintensional contact with a metal object. Then again, I also made a point of taking extra good care of a chisel that cost more than my complete Irwin set.

I'm going to sharpen and hone it again and give another update in a few weeks.

[John Keeton]

Alan, it may have been the surface layer was not good and some other metal needs to be exposed. When I first got a set of Pfeils I had, they were like that. My first experience was not good, but after honing a small layer of metal away, they held an edge very well.

[Salem Ganzhorn]

I have no first hand experience but have heard that the failure mechanism for Japanese style chisels can be different than western chisels. I cannot remember exactly where I read it but the review was a nice controlled comparison between many different chisels. The Japanese held up about the best but when it failed it rolled over and crumpled instead of gradually getting duller.

[Casey Gooding]

From my experience with Japanese chisels there are a few issues that need to be addressed. First, the bevel on them is intended to work Japanese softwoods. The majority of work in Japan is done in softwoods. The bevel on Japanese chisels tends to come somewhere around 25 degrees. Try raising the bevel to 30 degrees. That should help with edge retention.
Also, The steel that Japanese chisels are made of it very hard. While they tend to keep their initial edge a bit longer than Western chisels, when they do start to fail, they do so very quickly. This includes chipping, which can happen at a spectacular rate.

[Harry Goodwin]

I have a set of the aforementioned chisels and basically like them for what they are but was really dissaappointed that these great skillful folks did not grind, file, finish in any way the sides of the blades. Bought some more expensive ones from farther west from a famous distributor and still had to clean up the edges. I know a chisel only cuts on the tip but it only took a few minutes. Even our less appreciated western chisels wouldn't even consider ignoring the sides. Harry

[Pam Niedermayer]

My first set of bench chisels was the set from Woodcraft. They were OK, but as I added more and more specialty Japanese chisels I found myself using the bench chisels less and less often. At this point I never use them or any bench chisels, maybe just a couple of the real small ones from time to time. So if anyone wants a full set, just yell and send money. :)

Pam

[David Gendron]

Pam, for the benefit of the OP, what are your most use chisels? And on what kind of wood?

[Frank Drew]

As with Western chisels, there's a huge qualitative spread among Japanese chisels. I've never used Woodcraft's chisels, but my good quality Japanese chisels have seen tons of work, both at the bench and on the job (timber framing mostly in oak), and I never had trouble with the edges breaking down (keep an old Craftsman or Stanley chisel around for opening beer bottles and the like :D.)

All chisels give their best work with frequent resharpenings, of course.

[Allan Froehlich]

I curious as to what you think of hollow grinding and microbevels on Japanese chisels. I read in a previous post that there should be no microbevel on Japanese chisels; relying instead on a flat grind.

[Pam Niedermayer]

Pam, for the benefit of the OP, what are your most use chisels? And on what kind of wood?

Japanese mortising and paring chisels, on hard and soft woods.

And what does "OP" mean?

Allan, I never hollow grind anything unless I'm establishing a new edge after repair and have to use a vertical grinder for speed. Nor do I ever use microbevels.

Pam

[Tom Henderson2]

Japanese mortising and paring chisels, on hard and soft woods.

And what does "OP" mean?

Allan, I never hollow grind anything unless I'm establishing a new edge after repair and have to use a vertical grinder for speed. Nor do I ever use microbevels.

Pam

OP == "Original Poster" meaning whoever started the thread.

[David Gendron]

OP stand for original poster I think!

[Foras Noir]

Love the full set. Use them daily.

Learn to use cheap waterstones. Avoid all gizmos.

Hollow grind them first. Practice sharpening, a bunch ....

Don't make deep chops. Take smaller, almost paring cuts.

[Lex Boegen]

And what does "OP" mean?


Pam

"OP" refers to the "original poster" (the first person that starts a thread on a forum).

EDIT: Sorry for the redundant reply. I didn't see the other replies when I posted.

[Pam Niedermayer]

Thanks, all, for the "OP" definition, clears up a lot of previously cryptic messages. :)

Pam

[David Gendron]

And three time with that;)

[Rob Young]

Japanese mortising and paring chisels, on hard and soft woods.

And what does "OP" mean?

Allan, I never hollow grind anything unless I'm establishing a new edge after repair and have to use a vertical grinder for speed. Nor do I ever use microbevels.

Pam

OP = Original Poster, i.e. the person who started the thread.