1/10" Mortise chisel

[Nicholas Lingg]

Just got back from my local Woodcraft. I found these on sale http://www.woodcraft.com/product/12G11/irwin-blue-chip-chisel-18.aspx . If you have access to a surface grinder these have parallel sides and can be ground down to make 1/10" for plane making.

[Frederick Skelly]

Thanks for the tip Nick!

[Jim Koepke]

I have a European chisel that measures in at 3mm. That is just a hair bigger than 1/10".

jtk

[Nicholas Lingg]

3mm is .118" compared 1/10 .100"

[Frederick Skelly]

3mm is .118" compared 1/10 .100"

Hi again, Nick.
Maybe I'm having a bad day, but I think that's what Jim said, isn't it? Just a hair over 1/10th?

Regards,
Fred

[Mike Henderson]

Let me ask - what do you use a 1/10" chisel for in plane making? I've made some planes but haven't seen a need for a 1/10" chisel. But maybe I missed something important.

Or maybe it's for making some special type of plane.

Mike

[David Carroll]

Hi, I believe that LN still sells a 1/10-inch mortise chisel specifically for plane making. Larry Williams of Clark and Williams (I forget what their name is now) talked them into making them. Occasionally I make small frames and so I bought one. It comes in handy sometimes.

David C.

[Steve Voigt]

A 1/10 mortise chisel is desirable if you are making side escapement planes (e.g. moulding planes) with the thin, 18th c.-style irons sold by Lie-Nielsen. After you saw the escapement, you reach through the mouth to chip out the waste. The LN irons are 1/8" at the thick end, so you need something smaller to reach through the initial mouth opening without fouling it up.

Most of the 19th c.-style moulding irons that you find in the secondhand market are more like 5/32" thick. If you're using a vintage iron like this, you don't need the special chisel--a 1/8" will work.

If I were looking for a chisel to grind down, I don't think the Irwins would be my choice. I would look for a secondhand chisel.

Another option is to make a chisel out of an old (tailed) jointer knife. I had some old 3/32" knives and made several good user tools, including the mortise chisel below.

341669

341670

[Clarke Cooper]

While an old thread, I thought I would pass along: Two Cherries makes a 2mm chisel that can serve in the stead of an LN if they aren't available (they haven't had some in their store for a while now): (Tools For Working Wood: https://toolsforworkingwood.com/store/item/EE-500-15.XX?searchterm=two%20cherries) also can be found a number of other locations, Rockler has them as well, I just tossed the link for TFWW because I like the availability of tools here in the states that one can't get easily otherwise, like the Ashley Isles lines (which there isn't a 1/10 or 2MM equiv that I am aware of)

[Mike Henderson]

Quite a few years ago, I got a 2.5mm Hirsch chisel from Lee Valley. It was special order.

That's very close to 1/10 since there are 25.4mm in an inch. About 0.0984"

Mike

[Scott Winners]

While this old thread is bumped anyway, I do have the 1/10 LN mortise chisel and I like it. I keep it wrapped up in factory packaging, in the factory box, in a drawer with other stuff on top of the box - so the tool stays in like new condition between uses. Every once in a while I get into a bind, ( like when I needed to plow a groove in the edge of board that was already nailed onto the back of a carcass).

The 1/10 is in my head scratching drawer, the drawer of tools I open when I I am scratching my head trying to figure out how to fix whatever problem.