Chisel handles II

[greg Forster]

In Harlan's thread on handles for socket chisels there was a question about handle length for paring chisels. It's a good question. Are there basic charateristics for handles on paring chisels vs. handles for bench
chisels(hit with a mallet)?

[Frank Drew]

Greg,

If you plan to give the chisel a good solid whack, as you might when chopping out mortises, then it helps to reinforce the handle up at the receiving end, and iron or steel hoops are one way to do that. But carving tools are often hit with mallets -- tapped might be more accurate -- and they're most often un-reinforced, at least all that I've seen.

And some woods can take a pounding better than others.

[Joel Moskowitz]

English mortise chisels which get whacked really really hard are not hooped at the top.

The only reason for adding a hoop at the top of a chisel is if you are going to use a steel hammer on it. Otherwise the hoop adds nothing and will damage a wooden mallet more than a regular handle will.

[David Weaver]

Some experimentation might be in order.

Find an old chisel that's a socket chisel. If it has a short handle in it already, all the better.

cut a dovetail or a joint you need to pare and find something you need to hit with a mallet. Grip the chisel at the cutting edge for the mallet work, same as you would doing dovetails or whatever. Then use the short handled chisel and pare some things with it, working as close to the line as possible and trying to stop where you want to stop, and keep the cut level where you want it to be level.

Do the same thing with the long handle.

You'll probably come up with this:
* it's easier to control the direction when paring with a long chisel handle. You can also keep your back hand close to your body without having the work you're paring straight under your nose.
* it's not very easy to use a chisel with a really long handle for close malleting work because of what it does to the balance of the chisel. It's a lot harder to go from marking line to marking line with a chisel with bad balance.

[Frank Drew]

Joel,

Fair enough; I use hooped Japanese chisels and a steel hammer. You can put much more into it, IMO, with a steel hammer. And in years and years of use, the whacked ends of my chisels mushroomed over by maybe 1/16" or so, if that.

[Frank Drew]

Grip the chisel at the cutting edge for the mallet work, same as you would doing dovetails or whatever.
If you mean hold the chisel down near the cutting edge when striking with a mallet or hammer, that seems awkward; I hold a chisel, well, just about all tools really, by the handle. For a better grip.

[Mike Henderson]

I don't like hooped chisel handles because they're not comfortable in my hand when I'm pushing the chisel. I generally don't really wallop my chisels so the ends don't get beat up - and I use a wooden mallet. For mortises, I have dedicated mortise chisels (which don't have hoops).

I have a set of Japanese chisels and I re-handled them because I didn't like the hooped handles.

For length, I like the handle to be a bit longer than the commercial handles, in general. For small chisels, like 1/8", I use a shorter handle.

That's one advantage of making your own handles - you can experiment to see what feels best to you. And if you do beat up the handle, you can just make a new one.

Mike

[David Weaver]

Heavy ones yes (mortise chisels, etc), but for light mallet work where you want to hit right on a mark or follow it with a chisel not as wide as the mark, it's faster to hold near the cutting edge.

Doesn't really matter how you do it if the results are good, though.

[george wilson]

Don't forget,those English style mortising chisel handles are quite large in diameter,much bigger than regular handles. They have rounded tops,and the combination makes them able to be pounded on without breaking. Better hoop if the handles are normal size,IF you are going to be really pounding on them.

[Terry Beadle]

I have changed from the "bigger hammer" techniques that I used when I started out using mortise chisels and bench chisels. I've changed to light taps precisely aligned. This is because of David Charlesworth's video on using chisels for furnature making.

Therefore, I recommend you don't adapt your handles to handle ( pun intended ) heavy blows. You don't gain much by big wacks in comparison to better mortices, square, sized correctly, and flat bottomed in the case of blind mortices. IMO

I'd size them for balance over brute force. Better control = better joints.

[Frank Drew]

Don't forget,those English style mortising chisel handles are quite large in diameter,much bigger than regular handles. They have rounded tops,and the combination makes them able to be pounded on without breaking. Better hoop if the handles are normal size,IF you are going to be really pounding on them.

George, in some photos of woodworking shops from the 19th century you often see very fat chisel handles (almost tennis racquet fat), which seem like they'd be easier to grip firmly.