LN chsiels

[Bob Marino]

I had bought a set of LN socket chisels a few months back. I have not had much of a chance to use them in that time, but tonight I took them out of the drawer, from the leather roll, and every Hornbeam handle had loosened off - all 5 of em'. The tools are in my heated basement. No biggie to put a bit of epoxy in there, but was wondering if anyone else had the same experience?

Bob

[Roy Wall]

That doe's seem a little odd....

I don't have the chisels.....are they as good as others have made them out to be??

[Mark Singer]

Bob,
Mine have been great! If you call LN they really stand behind stuff!

[Matthew Dworman]

Hi Bob,
DO NOT EPOXY THEM!!! The have probably loosened because they have not seen any use to "Seat them" into their handles and being in the basement (even heated) in winter in New Jersey can be a very DRY thing. Certainly call LN, but first, get a piece of scrap wood and take a wooden mallet and pretend like you are gonna chop some mortises. This should seat handles into the sockets and I think you'll be just fine.
If you epoxy them, you will have a very very very dificult time replacing the hande should you (or your children or whowever will inherit these one day) slpit or crack the handle and need to replace it.

[Steve Wargo]

Mathew's Correct. Socket chisels should never be epoxied, or glued, or anything like that to it's handle. It's the taper and length of the socket that make the handle stay attached, not any kind of adhesive. They are supposed to be that way so the handle can be repaired.

[Bob Marino]

[QUOTE=Matthew Dworman]Hi Bob,
DO NOT EPOXY THEM!!! The have probably loosened because they have not seen any use to "Seat them" into their handles and being in the basement (even heated) in winter in New Jersey can be a very DRY thing.

Matthew,

That was my thought, but the chisels were in their leather roll, in a drawer. The basement is a full living area and not too dry, but I also have a Japanese chisel with a hoop and that didn't get loose.
I do suspect a good whack with a mallet would solve the problem, but I will check with LN also.



Mark,

I am sure LN will stand behind their product. No worries there. I was just curious because all of them are loose and wondered if anyone else had experienced the same thing.

Bob

[Brent Smith]

Bob,
I got my LNs a couple of months ago.When I opened the box and unwrapped the leather roll 3 of the handles fell out,the other 2 were loose in the roll.It seems that as good as their chisels are,LN has a problem seating the handles in the factory.For the price I would have expected my tools to come in one piece.Just so you know it's not just the hornbeam,my handles are rosewood.
Brent

[Byron Trantham]

Good grief guys, how do you buy "expensive tools" and let them sit in a drawer? :D

[Robert Tarr]

Bob,

Nothing unusual about a loose chisel handle on a never/rarely used chisel of this style. When my LN chisels showed up, they were all loose. I have also had the great luck of getting a few almost new Stanely 750's (the same chisel the LN are modeled from) and they were loose as well. The best way to seat all of these chisels to to take your biggest mallet and place your chisel cross grain in a piece of wood and whack the crud out of it. Your chisel handle should now be set. Should you even need to remove the handle, grab the chisel by the shank and give the handle a slight tap with a mallet (or if you are me, just lightly rap it on your bench.)

Everything is fine and you are just one mallet blow from having a chisel in working order.

Take care,

Robert