Sorby Paring chisels.

[paul cottingham]

I was considering buying a paring chisel or two. I would appreciate any or all opinions of the paring chisels made by Sorby that Lee Valley sells.
Thanks!

[george wilson]

The Sorby chisels that I have used were all much too soft. I had to re harden some of them. I have the impression that they may be among those makers who are intentionally making their chisels too soft to avoid lawsuits from broken bits of steel getting in user's eyes. Yet,some of the Sorby's I had to re harden were likely from the 1960's or 70's. Who knows?

You can always find old paring chisels on Ebay,or one of the antique tool sites.

Maybe someone else has better things to say about Sorbys. In the 19th.C.,they were good tool makers.

[Chris Vandiver]

George is correct, the vintage Sorby's are the way to go, by a long shot.

[John Coloccia]

FWIW, I've been very happy with my Taylor paring chisels. Mine are all sharpened to 25 degrees, so the edge is rather fragile to begin with, but I find that I can get them ridiculously sharp. If I abuse them, the edge will get damaged, but they're not meant for abuse. They're meant to take a sharp edge and do delicate, precise paring work...and they do it very well, IMHO.

[Chris Vandiver]

FWIW, I've been very happy with my Taylor paring chisels. Mine are all sharpened to 25 degrees, so the edge is rather fragile to begin with, but I find that I can get them ridiculously sharp. If I abuse them, the edge will get damaged, but they're not meant for abuse. They're meant to take a sharp edge and do delicate, precise paring work...and they do it very well, IMHO.

I have a few vintage cast steel paring chisels that the bevels are sharpened at 18-20 degress and the edges hold up great for paring. In this group are vintage Sorby's, Marples and Atkinson's. They were all made for this angle of attack.

[Tony Zaffuto]

Questions about the Sorby's comes up every few months or so, on every forum, and experience with them appears spotty at best. I have four (don't know why, but I do), in sizes 1/4", 3/8", 5/8" & 3/4" (if I remember correctly, I don't use them very often, anymore). The first one I bought (I do remember that!), was the 5/8" and after giving it a bit of a honing, took it to a white pine settee I was working on and the edge crumbled badly. I ground it back, maybe 1/8 to 3/16" and re-sharpened and honed (around 20 to 25 degrees), and the edge has held well ever since.

Would I buy Sorby's again? No, as they are way too high priced for what you get! There are well known tool dealers where you can pay retail vintage prices, get a far better chisel and still pay less money.

One of these days, when I sort through tools I've bought new, looking for what I will sell, these will be on that list. There are very few vintage tools I would sell, as I've generally searched those out and they are generally better, albeit not as shiny!

[Dave Anderson NH]

I agree on buying old chisels. All of my paring chisels are James Swan and ground with a 20 degree bevel which holds up well as long as I only use them for what they were designed for, paring. Other good brands are Pexco (Peck, Stowe, and Wilcox), Witherby, Buck Brothers, Charles Buck, and the antique Sorbys. There are lots of other fine brands and almost anything made before 1930 by either American or Britsish makers will likely do just fine. Do not be discouraged if the things are rusty, the edges are chipped, or the handles are either lacking or are toast. If you are willing to put in the work you can rehab and end up with great tools for a low price. Mine were a set of 12, 7 bevel edged and 5 firmer style. No two had the same style handles and there was some work to be done on the sockets in addition to flattening backs and rust removal. I turned my own handles, did all the rehab, and ended up with wonderful tools for a total of $85 for the box lot.

[paul cottingham]

Thanks for the input, everyone. I live near a lee valley so it is always my go to option. I should probably check around for used...any ideas on what is a reasonable price? I don't care about shiny, just good steel. One of the issues for me is that a lot of dealers won't ship to Canada, and if they do, duty and shipping often make prices astronomical.

[David Weaver]

I have gotten four very good vintage parers for about $20 each plus shipping on ebay, the types with an octagonal bolster. Each required a little bit of work, but not much. They were all thos. ibbonson and older buck brothers chisels (that say "cast steel" on their blades).

I have found chisels like that for as little as about $5 or $7 locally, but I've had to dig a little to find them.

[Jim Koepke]

Paul,

I love my old Buck Brother's chisels.

My biggest problem is finding 1/4 and 3/8" for paring. These seem to be in high demand and low supply. Often the case with something that has been used heavily from the time of making until it is no longer useable.

Even at close to $30 each with S&H it is less expensive than some of the decent new chisels on today's market.

jtk

[george wilson]

Even though I re hardened some Sorby chisels,and they DID get hard,I still had no way of knowing the grade of steel they were made of,or if it had a DECENT amount of carbon in it. Steel with .050 carbon WILL harden,but it has poor wear resistance,and won't stay sharp for long,or stand much abuse. It is at the bottom end of carbon steel that will harden. If the chisels were made of 1080 or even 1095 plain carbon steel,it would be a lot better.

I'd say,get brands that have a GOOD reputation,and cost money if you buy new. Old ones will very likely be better than new ones,but I can assure you from long experience,that every OLD tool is not necessarily a GOOD tool. Quality control in the old days was more iffy than it is today. Probably depended upon which day of the week the tool was made,and how much the maker had to drink that day,no joke.

[paul cottingham]

Thank you, George, you have stated my concerns much more eloquently than I can. I am not sure whether gamblling on old is better than gambling on new, especially when I can return new.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I had some old cast steel Marples that I loved. All great chisels. Needs some new handles. So when I found a similar vintage paring chisel by them, I picked it up. Great chisel, except there's one little little spot in the middle of the blade that chips away time I use it. Everytime, without fail. Same spot. usually within the first few strokes. On any wood. I carefully ground the thing back about a 1/4" on my grinder, taking care not to overheat anything. Been trying it again - same failure, it's just moved an 18th of an inch to the left.

So yeah, it can be hit or miss sometimes with the vintage stuff.

[Ryan Baker]

I agree that the new Sorbys are WAY too soft. It's disappointing that it is the only type of paring chisel carried by most of the vendors these days. There are some decent ones around if you look. As John said, I have been meaning to pick up a couple Taylors one of these days. Vintage is great too if you find something worth buying that doesn't have a collector price tag (which seems to be getting harder).

[paul cottingham]

So...borrowed a sorby paring chisel from a friend, sharpened it, put it to wood, and the edge totally failed. Ground it down to a new edge, tried again, and it failed. So....I guess I'm looking for vintage, or maybe lie-Nielsen with the paring handles.
Aggravating, but you guys did warn me. Any suggestions for good second-hand vendors? I already looked at Jim Bode, he has some nice offerings.
thanks again....

[Kenneth Speed]

Bear in mind that paring chisels aren't tool you'll use very frequently. I bought some Deifenbacher straight paring chisels a couple of years ago, they seem perfectly fine to me, hold a good edge and have ash handles that seem well shaped for paring chisels. They're made in the U.S.A and were much less expensive than the prestige brand chisels.

[paul cottingham]

So any opinions on the Henry Taylor crank neck paring chisels? LV carried them, and buying local is much easier for me....how is the edge retention on them? I am willing to use a cranked neck chisel for most of my paring needs, I think.

[Chris Vandiver]

So any opinions on the Henry Taylor crank neck paring chisels? LV carried them, and buying local is much easier for me....how is the edge retention on them? I am willing to use a cranked neck chisel for most of my paring needs, I think.

Crank necks are only good for paring horizontally. Straight chisels are a much better all around chisel.
Here are some nice looking vintage chisels; http://www.thebestthings.com/oldtools/graphics/ch120248.jpg They are located here; http://www.thebestthings.com/chisels.htm

Then there is this version of a paring chisel; http://www.toolsfromjapan.com/store/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=312_489_494_495&products_id=1386 Definitely good steel on these.

[James Owen]

If you are looking for traditional long-blade paring chisels, Henry Taylor still makes them. In my experience, very nice quality, properly heat-treated steel that takes a very sharp edge and holds it.....
You can buy them at Traditional Woodworker or at The Best Things.
Traditional Woodworker has a larger selection of HT chisels. The Best Things has a significantly better price on those that they carry.
I can recommend either company -- I've purchased several times from both, and both have great service.

[paul cottingham]

You know, I'm wondering if I am maybe making this more complicated than I strictly need to. I am thinking that maybe a good, high quality chisel with a flat back, and reasonably steep sides would work for most of my paring needs. I have the Narex chisels as my basic bench chisels. I may just buy a single 1" high quality chisel, and use it for paring. I figure if it at least 5" long, it would probably work pretty well as a parer....I am sure I am missing something here.
thanks again.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I think it depends on what you want to do with the chisel - I have a 40mm narex and a very long 1/2" wide witherby firmer ground at narrow bevels that get used for a lot of paring jobs, but for a lot of paring jobs, I really like a proper paring chisel with it's slightly flexible blade - my marples paring chisel has a handle canted slightly out of line with the blade, and combined with the flex of the blade, I can level something in the middle of a wide board even if the handle doesn't clear the wood. There are other times where even though I don't need it, the flex in the blade somehow makes things a little more easy to control.

[John Coloccia]

You know, I'm wondering if I am maybe making this more complicated than I strictly need to. I am thinking that maybe a good, high quality chisel with a flat back, and reasonably steep sides would work for most of my paring needs. I have the Narex chisels as my basic bench chisels. I may just buy a single 1" high quality chisel, and use it for paring. I figure if it at least 5" long, it would probably work pretty well as a parer....I am sure I am missing something here.
thanks again.

One point of a long chisel for paring is you can brace your hand against your body and use your weight for pressure. That's a very precise way to drive a chisel forward along a very specific path. With a long, thin blade, you can also guide the chisel almost like a pool cue and make some very precise, long, light cuts. You can also very precisely nail an angle, because large movements at the handle translate to small movements at the blade.

[paul cottingham]

That certainly makes sense. I guess it is off to the used sites I go....in the meantime, I can use my new veritas chisel for simple paring jobs.
thanks for the input everyone.

[Terry Beadle]

I think a 1 inch paring chisel ( if it's the only one you buy/get/have ) is too wide.

I recommend a 1/2 to 5/8 ths and if you can afford it, a 1/8 th and a 1/4 or 3/8 ths.

I like Blue Spruce over my old English paring chisels because it's super high quality. Certainly it does cost more than some great buy off the bay but it will work all day and probably only need a lite honing at the end. It's a 5/8 ths bought as a second...just a luck call when he had one.

I also have a high cost Japanese sword steel paring chisel at about 1/2 inch. It takes an incredible edge and very durable. I've only lite-ly honed it on green rouge applied to dead flat rock maple scrap after the initial sharpening years ago. Almost $200 in price so for me it's a once in a life time buy.

As far as most value for the buck, I've got an old carpenters chisel of Craftsman heritage that I use for a quick grab and it's set to 22 degrees, 3/4 inch wide, and some how ended up with really good steel. Nuggets are out there in the vintage chisels for sale, so go for it.

Enjoy the process.


“I won't be wronged. I won't be insulted. I won't be laid a-hand on. I don't do these things to other people, and I require the same from them.”
― John Wayne (http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/45481.John_Wayne)

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

See, for me, the things I use a paring chisel for, I like wide. I can use different parts of the blade, there's plenty of back to register off of, and I've got enough blade to both push and slice at the same time without running out of edge. My wider paring chisels also have a slight camber to the cutting edge at this point, which I find helpful sometimes.