really big chisels

[Zach England]

I was organizing some tools last night and I came across some Ashley Iles 1 1/2 and 2 inch wide bevel-edge chisels. I have no idea why I bought them and do not remember doing so. Do they have any practical use on furniture-scale work?

[Jeff Bartley]

Fending off robbers? No, seriously, large mortise cleanup, paring tenons, putting that slight undercut on a tenon shoulder. I find I rarely use chisels this size these days. A few years ago while involved in the cutting of timberframe houses those Ashley Iles would have been too small for some of the deep mortises we cut! I never owned one myself but several coworkers used the Barr chisels---it actually surprises me that the Barr tools aren't discussed more frequently here.

[David Weaver]

I'd figure their practical use is probably limited to looking nice in a picture when you go to sell the set of chisels.

I have them, too, and I don't know which set you have, but in the AI boxwood london patterned handle set, they are incredibly large heavy chisels.

[Mike Holbrook]

I started out with small chisels and now I am filling in larger sizes. I hate this answer but...I suppose it depends on the work you do. I am about to remove some plane bodies routed into boards (plane making kits) and could use them for several things, large mortises, hand grooves/rabbits... I would even like to have some larger chisels to do doorjambs and shave doors...

[Prashun Patel]

"slick" chisels are traditionally used on timber framing and log construction. I think it'd be a real luxury using one of those for tuning larger M&T's. Thinking of selling?

[Jonathan McCullough]

I use big chisels like that all the time. It's like a pocket knife, with a really long handle coming out the side, so you can whittle with a lot of control. You can skew the blade to make fine cuts along the length of the blade. You can pare end grain or what have you; the length of the blade is handy because it stays sharp for a longer amount of time. If one part of the blade gets dull, you can just move a half inch down and use that part of it. I like them, but I can understand why people might think a chisel like that is unwieldy or it just doesn't suit them. They're sort of like the chef's cleaver of the chisel world--they're good for big jobs but can be wielded with sufficient finesse that some people use them almost exclusively, like a Chinese chef would use a cleaver.

[lowell holmes]

I use them to pare chair seats. They are good for m&t joints and lap joints on outside peojects.

I cut paint rags by twisting the rag into a tight twist and cutting the rag with a chisel. It works quicker than dull sissors.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Excellent for defining the shoulders on mortises - "snaps" right into the scored marking knife/layout line - few taps and you're good to go - nice, clean, continuous shoulder cut at the surface. Takes too much "whack" to cut the entire mortise face [for me, at least], so for that I go to narrower chisels, but for defining the cut, they are the cat's PJs.

Having said that - I kept my 1-1/2", but sold off the 1-1/4", 1-3/4" and 2" Matsumuras, because I simply was not using them very often. They now live in remote SD with Leigh B. :D But - he got one heckuva deal............

[David Weaver]

Oh yeah, you could also use them in the "nicest putty knife on the block" contest, and maybe to do some window glazing work.

:p

[george wilson]

A World War 2 Japanese Army carpenter's tool kit was pared to the minimum. The plane had no blade. The largest chisel was inserted to make the plane iron. You could try that with a 2" chisel for fun.

Then,you could mutter far Eastern wisdoms while planing with it,at least.:)

[Dave Anderson NH]

I have a set of 7 James Swan paring chisels that I rehabbed a coule of years ago and they go up to 2". I find the larger sizes are extremely useful for shaping convex curves and they are often used in place of either a spokeshave or a drawknife. I've often use larger paring chisels to do some of the major shaping on cabriole legs. The uses are limited only by your ability to sharpen and your creativity.

[Jim Koepke]

My 2" chisel doesn't get a lot of use, but when it does, it is the best tool for the job.

My 1-1/4" chisels get used quite often for paring and chopping tasks.

While making a dovetail joint on an adirondack chair's arm to leg junction during the past few days, the only chisel used was my short 1-1/4" bevel edged chisel.

jtk

[Nixon Roger]

As others have said, they work great for the final tune on tenon cheeks and shoulders and mortise walls. I keep a 2" with a 20º bevel just for things like that. Use both hands on the blade and your chin or belly to provide the push and you can get very fine control.

[Pam Niedermayer]

...Use both hands on the blade and your chin or belly to provide the push and you can get very fine control.

Or use it bevel down for even more control.

Pam

[Bruce Haugen]

I have two 2" chisels, one Berg over a foot long and darn near big enough to be a slick and the other a short handled Berg lite. A good friend gave me the short Berg as a joke, and now I find it to be one of the handiest tools on my bench. It is always on the bench because I always use it - paring, marking, trimming tenon shoulders and cheeks.

[george wilson]

I am not sure why,but a "gunmaker's chisel" is a very short 2" wide chisel. I have one. I don't think the parallel part of the blade is over 2 1/2" long,and it isn't a worn out chisel.

[Mark Wyatt]

Someone please help me out with the terminology for slick vs. chisel. In the picture below is a 1" Marples Blue Chip chisel. Next to it is 7" long by 2" wide vintage ....? When does a chisel become a slick?

[Bruce Haugen]

A slick has a much larger handle, sometimes a couple feet long, often with a large knob on the end to push with your shoulder. The blade can also be several inches wide. It's a big tool.

[Zach England]

I thought a slip had edges perpendicular to the face--that is not beveled. Am I incorrect?

[Jim Koepke]

I am not sure if there is an actual point where a tool stops being a chisel and starts being a slick.

My 2" chisel is definitely a bevel edged chisel and not a slick.

From what I have seen called slicks, it seems they were meant for things like removing bark off of logs or smoothing a large piece of timber. They also look like they would be useful when timber framing or building with logs.

Most of what is listed as a slick on ebay and other sites have somewhat rounded edges and top.

A few slicks I have seen listed have the handle at an angle.

My own thoughts on the slick is that its name comes from what it was used for and how it was used.

Kind of like how paring and mortise chisels have been named.

It is hard to describe, but I know one when I see it?

jtk