Swan-Neck Chisels (LV Robert Taylor) Yes or No?

[allen long]

Quick Question for everyone:

Looking at maybe getting the Robert Taylor Swan Neck Chisels from LV. Any thoughts as far as usefulness? Haven't had a need specifically for mortises, but they look like they might come in handy once in a great while.

Opinions pro and con appreciated

Many Kind Regards . . . Allen

[David Weaver]

I didn't look at LV's page, but is it Henry Taylor or Robert Sorby? I've never had the urge to use one in a mortise, but I do keep an old dud bench chisel around to dig stuff out of mortises. Doing more than just pulling the chips out (e.g., scraping the bottom of the mortise) isn't something I like to spend time doing mortising.

[Jim Koepke]

The Swan Neck Chisel or sometimes called a Lock Mortise chisel can be a handy addition if you do a lot of hardware mortising. It really isn't needed for joinery mortising.

In joinery mortising the mortise is usually deeper than the tenon. A lock mortise is usually cut only as deep as the lock casing. The Swan Neck shape allows it to take shavings from the bottom of a mortise.

I have a small one that comes in handy enough to have me considering buying a larger one if it comes along.

jtk

[Jim Matthews]

I've got a couple different sizes of Swan-Neck chisels that came in lots.

They've never been honed, or used in my shop.
It doesn't appear the original owners used them either.

I'm not entirely sure what they're for - my mortises are all slightly deeper than the mating tenons.
I have a router for smaller "surface" work, like fitting hinges.

With a really sharp 3/8" chisel, I get 90% of what I need done - no widdling required.

I'm not clear on what one (or more) of these can do for you that a basic chisel won't.

But whadda I know?