New(?) Pfeil Chisels

[Sam Babbage]

I was in my local woodworking store the other day and they had a range of Pfeil bench chisels that I hadn't seen before. They weren't the chisels with the roughish grinding and hooped beech handles, instead they had the quality grinding of Pfeil carving tools and quite lovely tapered octagonal handles. While I have a set of LN bench chisels, they were so nice I am tempted to grab a couple of them and grind them into low angle parers.

The only reference to them I could find online was at Woodcraft, but at my local store they were single chisels, not sets.

http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2081076/27384/PFEIL-Swiss-Made-Cabinetmakers-Bench-Chisels--6-piece.aspx

Has anyone tried these yet?

PS: Sorry if I am off my rocker and these are old news that have escaped under my radar!

[Stephen Cherry]

I have a set and they are OK. One gripe though is that the backs were no where near being flat. And they were not cheap. If I had it to do again, I would have saved myself all the effort and spent more for the Lie Nielsons.

After many, many hours of doing something that could have been done in minutes by the manufacturer, they are pretty good.

[george wilson]

I have a set,and haven't actually used them. I'm slowly replacing their horrible handles. I think they will be just fine,though. I love their carving tools,and the steel should be the same.

[James White]

George,

Is this the actual set you have.
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2081076/27384/PFEIL-Swiss-Made-Cabinetmakers-Bench-Chisels--6-piece.aspx

Or do you have the ones with the hoops on them.
http://www.woodcraft.com/Product/2000300/22625/pfeil-Swiss-made-Chisel-Boxed-Set-6-piece.aspx

James

[Tri Hoang]

I have a set,and haven't actually used them. I'm slowly replacing their horrible handles. I think they will be just fine,though. I love their carving tools,and the steel should be the same.

I replaced a handle on a Pfeil bench chisel once and found the word "MHG" on its tang - the same stuff that Hartville Tool is selling for much less. I wonder if you've seen something similar.

[Bruce Haugen]

pretty much off topic, but way back in USMC infantry training, I was cleaning my M-16. I took the stock off and found "Made by Mattel" stamped inside the stock, which I guess made sense since they were a major producer of plastic stuff. I found it pretty funny, but no one else seemed to get the joke.

[David Weaver]

Bruce, I wasn't in the armed forces, but I, too, had a mattel M-16. When you pulled the trigger, it clicked multiple times. I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

No doubt yours was *much* cooler, but at about 6 or 7 years old, i pulled the trigger on mine until the noisemaker in it quit.

I doubt the parts on mine were shared with yours :)

[Bruce Haugen]

David,
It sounds as if they functioned pretty much along the same lines - you keep pulling the trigger until the noisemaker quit. Then just stick in a new clip :D

[george wilson]

My Pfiels have the ugly hooped handles.

[Rob Young]

I recently received a set of the "new" style handle Pfiel bench chisels (Thanks again T!) and so far, I like them. They do feel different in my hand than the blue handled Marples I'm used to. But on the plus side, the steel is much better. :)

I found the backs on my set of 6 to be quite flat. They were reasonably sharp but after a quick hollow grind and touch up on the stones all of them could pare endgrain cherry and some kind of pine-ish softwood with no trouble at all. Since then I've used them just a few times to experiment with and start getting the feel.

Besides the better steel than my Marples, the beveled sides are more refined. Still not as skinny down the corner as A-I or LN but way better than most others I've seen.

One other positive comment, the tool roll they came in is way nicer than my ghetto roll made from an old pair of blue jeans.