Barr Specialty Chisels

[Phil Mueller]

I came across these while googling around. It appears they are more oriented toward timber framing, but they offer cabinet makers chisels they call “filler chisels” in a variety of sizes. Hand forged, hardened to 62. Anyone have any experience with these? Pricing is at the premium level. Thinking about giving one a try.

[Roger Nair]

Barr has been forging chisels, in commerce, for at least 30 years. For many years his tool have been part of the standard for timber and log workers. Barr is responsive to his customers and stands behind his wares. The choice is low risk in as far as quality is concerned. Suitability will rest on your judgment. Filler chisel refers to individual chisels sold, otherwise, in the past, bench chisels were sold in sets.

[Mike King]

Don't know about the chisels, but I have a scorp from him that I use in carving chair seats. It is an excellent tool!

Mike

[Izzy Camire]

I have a set of Barr bench/bevel edge chisels. They are the must rugged chisels I have.

[William Fretwell]

Have the timber frame chisels, an absolute delight to use; robust, pure quality. They keep an edge for ages despite levering. Sharpening is a little different with a rounded bevel. I did flatten the back of them somewhat. The steel shows no sign of darkening. The longer chisels are safer to use as the edge is further from where you hold the chisel!

[Warren Mickley]

I came across these while googling around. It appears they are more oriented toward timber framing, but they offer cabinet makers chisels they call “filler chisels” in a variety of sizes. Hand forged, hardened to 62. Anyone have any experience with these? Pricing is at the premium level. Thinking about giving one a try.

Barr offers the standard sizes only in sets. Then you can buy intermediate sizes individually to "fill out" the set. So he calls then filler chisels.

The framing chisels are nice, but it appears that he just takes this same design, shortens the handle and blade and calls it a cabinetmakers chisel. Chisels for cabinetmakers can be as long or longer than what he shows, but are a lot lighter with thinner handles. He should look at historical examples if he wants "timeless tools".

[Roger Nair]

Warren, Barr chisels are optimized for chopping and throwing chips across the room. Socket bench chisels have long precedent from American manufacturers. One model chisel will never have all the virtues of the perfect chisel for every need. Use what suits the task or best or better for the range of tasks. Since the Barr is a heavy chopper, it's position is at a far end of the bench chisel range.

[Tony Shea]

His tools are well regarded in the timber framing and woodworking community. They are all well designed tools with high quality steel that has been heat treated extremely well. I can honestly say that I have never heard a bad review of his tools. I have only used his scorp but do not own it. It was a joy to use. It all comes down to preference and what style of chisel you are looking for. I personally love my Lie Nielsen's and wouldn't trade them for something different.

[Phil Mueller]

Ahh, Tony, Tony, Tony. Who said anything about trade...I’d be adding :D

[Jessica de Boer]

They keep an edge for ages despite levering. Sharpening is a little different with a rounded bevel.
This is because a round bevel is very deceptive. For example, when you think a round bevel is let's say 30 degrees it could actually be 35 degrees or more at the tip of the blade.

[William Fretwell]

I still have my original tip angle at this point but it’s true the method of sharpening could increase the angle if you are not very careful. The rounded bevel helps to split off the chip. I’ve been pounding a 2 inch chisel peeling off 1/8” slices in large oak mortices, it’s quite the work out but still not lost the edge.
My Wood is Good mallet (the heavy one) fell apart, the wood plug and lead bits came out. When you epoxy them back in as should have been done to start make sure you line everything up perfectly then clamp the bejevus out of it to get the wood plug back in with several layers of cling film over it.

[Phil Mueller]

Oh my, William, thanks for the heads up. Didn’t even think about it. My mallet is full of #9 shot. Yep, just loose in there. If that thing comes apart it’s going to be quite the mess.

[Jim Koepke]

The shot is loose to give it a dead blow effect. As the mallet comes down the shot is 'weightless' and floating. When the mallet stops (hits its target), the lead all falls and finishes the blow.

jtk

[William Fretwell]

Nice idea Jim but the mass of the lead is still a small percentage so it won’t make a difference. My lead was big lumps and weird shapes that were a real pain to fit together to get back in!

[Tom M King]

I'm sure I'm not the beast that William is, but in a little defense of the 30 oz. Wood is Good mallet, on this job alone, I timed 15 hours straight, over a couple of days, with 2" chisel, and WiG mallet. Neither the mallet, chisel handle, or my elbow suffered any damage. All have seen many times this amount of usage before this. If that mallet falls apart, I'll just get another one.

The termites were nice enough to leave us a good 2" thickness of good wood on the inside, so after we rebuild these foundation walls, there will be nothing but original stuff to see inside the basement.
http://historic-house-restoration.com/images/stringplane.JPG

[Mark Rainey]

Tom, that it one impressive restoration you are undertaking...stone foundation? Dirt basement floor?

[Tom M King]

Yes. Stone foundation. All cut from glacial erratics, of which there are a fair number around where that 1798 house is. Right now, the Foundation that owns it is just staying ahead of it falling down. Those pictures were taken several years ago. The basement was dug sometime after the house was built, and it had almost all tumbled into the basement. More stones were picked up, and put under the house to hold it up, on top of the rubble, but it was losing the battle.

In 2011, I designed, and installed a waterproofing system that has since kept all water out. Some Floors had tumbled down to the ground, since standing water under it made it a smorgasbord for termites, and they took some of the main support beams.

House was built in 1798, and plays an important part in the history of the Methodist church. Average age of the Foundation members is probably mid-80's, and most don't even use the internet. They know little about raising money, and so far, have paid for what's been done out of their own pockets.

There are lots of pictures on my website showing what I've done there. So far, since they bought it buried in a Wisteria jungle in 2008, we're just barely staying ahead of it falling down, but it's remarkable enough to be worth saving.

edited to add: Here's an article about it in the current issue of the local LakeLife magazine starting on page 25:
https://view.flipdocs.com/?ID=10003598_503023#1