Koyamaichi chisels from Lee Valley

[Hilton Ralphs]

I see that Lee Valley are now selling the pairing, cranked-neck and fishtail chisels from Koyamaichi.

At first glance they appear to be about $10 more than what you can buy them for from Stu over @ toolsfromjapan.

LV also appears to only offer the 14 degree (1:4) dovetail angle fishtails and in sizes of 6mm and 12mm as opposed to 9mm and 15mm from TFJ who offer the 1:6, 1:8 and 14 degree dovetail chisels.

Anyway...........

[Tony Shea]

I'd love to have the crank necked chisels some day but they look like a nightmare to sharpen.

[Hilton Ralphs]

I'd love to have the crank necked chisels some day but they look like a nightmare to sharpen.

Yeah, Rob Lee will have to come up with a new accessory to his honing jig.

[David Weaver]

If you're a die-hard LV type or have a local store, that's fine. If you're indifferent about where you buy, those sales mean a lot to stu. He's a one-man operation with a wife and two kids (and his prices are cheap any time the exchange rate is favorable), and until he came along, we didn't have any really good places to go for a combination of mid-grade and high end stuff (I still remember when he was sending around bits and pieces of stuff before he ever had a store). It was pretty much iyoroi from anyone buying from harima enterprises, with a little more selection from hida and JWW. None of those are uniformly good and cheap.

That's not to be confused with saying "don't buy anything from LV", just an exception in this case for someone who has tried to provide everything we asked for (I begged stu to pick up koyamaichi chisels long ago when LV had the dovetail chisels they carry, but couldn't find koyamaichi stuff anywhere else), and always done it cheaply (even though stu and I fight all the time about trivial stuff).

I would never make a general comment not to patronize LV, though, it would make me a hypocrite if I had some sort of temporary stroke and said something like that.

[Bruce Mack]

I agree with David. Stu has a good selection of Koyamaichi. I bought one from him. Delivery to Minnesota was fast and the price was good. He sells many other nice things. If we patronize him he will stay in business, a good resource for Japanese tools.

[Mike Holbrook]

LV also just released the PM-V11 Butt Chisels, which Stu obviously does not carry. I have my eye on the 2" Butt Chisel for marking...

[Lloyd Robins]

I wonder how PM-V11 chisels would go over in Japan. Maybe Stu could be LV's agent. :)

[David Weaver]

I wonder how PM-V11 chisels would go over in Japan. Maybe Stu could be LV's agent. :)

Well, the Ultimate Warrior did finally reconcile with the WWE, at least long enough for both to make a few more bucks...so maybe someday (admittedly, I haven't watched the WWF since I was a school kid and the Ultimate Warrior was a wrestler). It took about 15 years, though.

Stu does have some PM chisels already, though, but they are much different than LV's.

[Chris Hachet]

Who did woodcraft just acquire...I thought someone said that they acquired Tools from Japan....

[Curt Putnam]

This sets up a total conflict: Both Stu and Rob are great people to deal with.

[David Weaver]

Who did woodcraft just acquire...I thought someone said that they acquired Tools from Japan....

Japan Woodworker.

[Chris Hachet]

This sets up a total conflict: Both Stu and Rob are great people to deal with.....ahhh....and I thought I was done buying tools for a bit...been checking the Tools from Japan website...anyone know if I can sell a kidney on ebay?

[Steve Friedman]

....ahhh....and I thought I was done buying tools for a bit...been checking the Tools from Japan website...anyone know if I can sell a kidney on ebay?
Convert the currency to dollars - a kidney will get you quite a few tools.

Steve

[Gary Muto]

If you're a die-hard LV type or have a local store, that's fine. If you're indifferent about where you buy, those sales mean a lot to stu. He's a one-man operation with a wife and two kids (and his prices are cheap any time the exchange rate is favorable), and until he came along, we didn't have any really good places to go for a combination of mid-grade and high end stuff (I still remember when he was sending around bits and pieces of stuff before he ever had a store). It was pretty much iyoroi from anyone buying from harima enterprises, with a little more selection from hida and JWW.

I see that Stu also offers the paring chisels with the triangular section as well as beveled edge. It seems that they would be more handy for paring. Is there a downside to that style?

His fishtails are large than what LV sells. I would suppose with a 3mm or 6mm parer that a fishtail would be a specialized tool that isn't really needed... well any more than any of this stuff is NEEDED.

Any thoughts??

[Jack Curtis]

I see that Stu also offers the paring chisels with the triangular section as well as beveled edge. It seems that they would be more handy for paring. Is there a downside to that style?

Which "they" are you talking about, shinogi or regular? Both work for paring.


His fishtails are large than what LV sells. I would suppose with a 3mm or 6mm parer that a fishtail would be a specialized tool that isn't really needed... well any more than any of this stuff is NEEDED.

Not true, when they're needed they're needed to get into corners on an angle, and there are no size constraints.

[David Weaver]

When you say beveled edge, presume you mean the usu nomi type that have a flat on the top? I'd prefer those types vs. the shinogi nomi (that come to a point) because they are much easier on your thumb.

[Gary Muto]

When you say beveled edge, presume you mean the usu nomi type that have a flat on the top? I'd prefer those types vs. the shinogi nomi (that come to a point) because they are much easier on your thumb.

when I say bevel edged I mean the nomi type with the cross section of the chisel is flat on top with beveled sides (trapezoid). I'm sorry I don't know the japanese terms, I'm still learning.

To Jack's question, by "they", I meant that the shinogi nomi chisels with a triangular cross section would/could be more versatile for paring. I was wondering what the downsides are such as; the triangle section might be taller and/or harder to sharpen for example.

David, thanks for your comment. I haven't thought about how the Shinogi nomi might concentrate the stress on one's digits,

I'm still mostly a power tool user, so please forgive my lack of knowledge.

[David Weaver]

I wouldn't worry too much about needing to know specific names, I just brought it up because it gives a cross reference. Once you get the chisels you want, you never need to worry about what they're called after that.

In terms of the fishtails, i'm not sure of much about them, I've always taken spare western chisels and ground them into skews.