Making a pairing chisel

[Cody Cantrell]

I read a post the other day that mentioned How they made pairing chisels out of planer blades at Williamsburg. This got me thinking... I have some 18" planer knives that are trashed but could still be useful so I kept them. They are high speed steel, which is very brittle, I would like to anneal the tang but the annealing process is seems very drawn out and I wouldnt be able to do just the tang. My plan is to heat the tang to cherry red and then slowly cool it in a bucket of wood ashes overnight. Is there a problem with this or any dangers involved? Thanks for any help I may post this over in the metalworking forum as well but I know there are some very smart people hangin out here.

Cody

[george wilson]

I guess I posted that they did that. No,you cannot anneal HSS with anything you have on hand. It it TEMPERED at red,1000º heat!! You'd just be reaching tempering heat. HSS is tricky to work. What they did was just grind a long V shape(about 2" long) on the end of the blade,and fit that into a recess in the handle. Where the blade emerges from the handle,it is already full width. Not the prettiest chisels ever made,but made from free HSS on hand by the guys in the shop,who were proud of how long they could make them!! It will make a good,useful chisel,but not for beating on.

A PARING chisel is not for use with mallets anyway.

[Cody Cantrell]

George I modeled my tang after a file, It is filleted were it meets the blade I know this is a week spot but since I wont be beating on it shouldnt it be okay?

[Zach Dillinger]

Speaking on a file, I made a paring chisel out of an old file I had. This was some time ago, and I did little more than grind the teeth off and grind a bevel after heating it up a bit (not enough to anneal, but enough to take some of the toughness out). It works well. Ugly, but it works well. I'll dig it out and snap a pic if anyone is interested.

[Cody Cantrell]

Would love to see it Zach

[Zach Dillinger]

You got it Cody. I'll take a few, and some good photos of my plow, with a scale, for you to work from if you still want to make a plow.

[Cody Cantrell]

I would greatly appreciate that

[Cody Cantrell]

What angle should I sharpen this at? Will HSS hold up at a 20 degree bevel or should I go steeper?

[Cody Cantrell]

About finished with it. I modeled it after the Blue Spruce chisels on the other thread. Apparently it is not technically a pairing but I think it will still work. I have to set the blade, maybe do some more polishing on it and grind my primary bevel. I am going to grind the primary at 20 degrees since I havent been told differently.
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[george wilson]

Looks very neat,Cody. Just be careful to not beat on ,or TWIST with that slender tang. You should be o.k..

[Chris Griggs]

That's beautiful work Cody. Whats the handle made of? Is it walnut? Its so polished it looks almost purple. Very nice indeed. I really enjoy this tool build threads. Thanks for sharing.

[Cody Cantrell]

The blade is an old 18" planer blade that finished out to 3/4" by 7" , the handle is Honduras rosewood and the ferrule is a 3/4" PEX plug that I turned down and milled a slot in.

[george wilson]

Notice the way Blue Spruce chisels are made-they have wide tangs that are keyed into slots in the ferrules so that the wide tangs will fit. Not as pretty as yours,but made to not get broken by ham handed users and sent back.

[Cody Cantrell]

George,
The picture that I was using as a model had a narrow tang on a 3/4" chisel that went into a slot milled into the ferrule, can you clarify what you mean by keyed slot? Thanks George I always enjoy reading comments I just need some clarification.