Is this normal for a chisel?

[Gary Daniel]

I bought this set of Greenlee chisels at an estate sale a few years back. I just recently got around to cleaning them up and noticed that the back is not flat. All the chisels have a curve to them as seen in the attached photos. My question is, is this normal? Were they manufactured this way or were they bent somehow? I only show the curve on two of the chisels, but they are all this way with pretty much the same bend. This makes it a little more difficult to flatten the back. Should I just flatten the last inch or so to sharpen them?

Thanks

[Noah Wagener]

here is thread:http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&ved=0CCYQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.sawmillcreek.org%2Fshowthread .php%3F162007-Japanese-chisel-out-of-flat&ei=9S72UrumIISMyAGgnoHwDQ&usg=AFQjCNEcw5z88hIQH9HSpO2IUniVAeaWnA&bvm=bv.60983673,d.aWc

but i do not think it is about chisels that are that out of flat.

[george wilson]

Those chisels were made curved so that their handles would clear the wood when using them to "plane" or pear along a flat surface. I have some like that. They are meant to be used as is.

[Gary Daniel]

Thanks guys.

[David Weaver]

There will probably be times you appreciate that you have those chisels with the slight crank. They won't affect your ability to use them in the vertical at all (dovetails, mortises, whatever).

[Noah Wagener]

David,

The Koyamaichi paring chisels that Lee Valley carries have a gentle bend like that. Do you know if it is in the shank or is the blade itself slightly convex like the Nishikis you were discussing in the above thread? And do you know if Stu's and Lee Valley's are the same?

[Jim Koepke]

Interesting how these things all work out.

Many of my Witherby chisels and a few others seem to have a little curvature.

My Buck Brothers chisels and some other brands seem to be straight as the proverbial arrow.

The real kicker would be to find some advertising from the day that touted this "advantage."

jtk

[Jeff Heath]

I have a full set of Greenlee bench chisels and butt chisels. The steel quality is excellent, and they really hold an edge. I had a lot of work to do to get the backs flat, and the bevels square to the edge, but once done, they are terrific users.

Enjoy.

[David Weaver]

David,

The Koyamaichi paring chisels that Lee Valley carries have a gentle bend like that. Do you know if it is in the shank or is the blade itself slightly convex like the Nishikis you were discussing in the above thread? And do you know if Stu's and Lee Valley's are the same?

I think the ones that are cranked are miyanaga. The koyamaichi dovetail chisels that I got from them (the lower priced set of the two) have very flat backs.

I've had a couple of chisels that have the entire blade slightly convex, though, like you're thinking. When you prepare a chisel like that, you only prepare a half inch or so of the backs because the rest of the back is never intended to be in the cut, anyway. They also work fine. Whether or not the miyanagas are like that, I don't know. I'm sure they are good chisels either way.

I'd imagine stu's KI dovetail chisels are the same as LVs. I haven't looked at stu's site in a while, but I can't imagine he's allowed to list the dovetail chisels since LV has had them so long. I could be wrong, though. Stu had KI's parers for quite a while, but that didn't keep KI from allowing LV to list them.