Vintage Chisels for Dovetails?

[Stew Denton]

Hi All,

I am thinking about buying some vintage chisels for cutting dovetails. I am not wanting to buy new premium chisels, but rather want to restore vintage socket chisels. I like using vintage tools.

What width socket chisels do you use for cutting dovetails? I have a couple of vintage chisels that need to be restored, and that need handles, and that is what I intend to do.

The 3/8 has about 3" of blade left, and the 1/2" has about 2 1/2" inches of blade left. Is there a problem with these?

However, I know that for dovetails for items like blanket chests, etc., I will need larger chisels.

What do you use? I am thinking that chisels similar to the old Stanley 750s would be ideal.

What widths do you use?

Thanks and regards,

Stew

[Jim Koepke]

What width socket chisels do you use for cutting dovetails?

My dovetails are sized for the chisel. My preference is usually for longer chisels for paring dovetails.

In my projects some dovetails are small and use 1/4" chisels. Some of my projects use larger lumber and my 1" chisels are used.

My paring chisels are not the same as the chisels used when chopping dovetails. Over the past couple of years most of the waste has been removed with a fret saw instead of chopping.

My set of Buck Brothers socket chisels has all the sizes from 1/8" to 1" by 8ths. They all have low lands which makes them great for paring.

For most people a 1/4", 3/8" & 1/2" would fit most of their needs.

It is also helpful to have a couple of 1/4" chisels ground to a skew of ~30º.

jtk

[Rick Whitehead]

I tend to use small dovetails, so I have 1/4 inch and 3/8 inch vintage socket chisels with the sides ground for dovetails.
Note: if you grind the sides of the chisels all the way down to the bottom edge, the bottom corners of those chisels will be VERY sharp! Don't ask me how I know this.
I had to dull those corners by rubbing them on the stone a couple of times. That left a very small flat that didn't interfere with the corner of the dovetail.
Rick

[Derek Cohen]

Hi All,

I am thinking about buying some vintage chisels for cutting dovetails. I am not wanting to buy new premium chisels, but rather want to restore vintage socket chisels. I like using vintage tools.

What width socket chisels do you use for cutting dovetails? I have a couple of vintage chisels that need to be restored, and that need handles, and that is what I intend to do.

The 3/8 has about 3" of blade left, and the 1/2" has about 2 1/2" inches of blade left. Is there a problem with these?

However, I know that for dovetails for items like blanket chests, etc., I will need larger chisels.

What do you use? I am thinking that chisels similar to the old Stanley 750s would be ideal.

What widths do you use?

Thanks and regards,

Stew

Stew, I did this with ”vintage” Stanley 750 chisels (it seems somehow not right to refer to chisels made less than a 100 years ago as “vintage”).

These were collected over a few years with the focus on decent sized blades. I managed to find many quite cheaply as the handles were either gone or damaged (I looked for these especially). I think that these blades p, before the socket, are all about 4” in length.

In the end, my preference was for longer handles, which I turned. I also hollow ground the sides of the blades - taking a cue from Blue Spruce - to create fine lands, which make precision work easier.

With regard sizes, as you may be aware, the dovetails I make tend to be pointy and can be narrow. My smallest chisel is 1/8”, and for tails I mostly use this and 3/16” and 1/4”. For the pins, 1/2” and 3/4” are the most useful. For this set, I converted a 1/4” chisel into a 1/8” (the 1/8” bevel edged 750 is rare).

https://i.postimg.cc/ydMSsXqp/Chiselset2.jpg

https://i.postimg.cc/GmRRD8vT/Chiselset1.jpg

1/8”, 1/4”, 3/8”, 1/2”, 3/4, 1”.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Phil Mueller]

Along with the others, I tend to use 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2 the most. Just depends on the width of the base of the pins. Regarding length, I have a set of butt chisels that I find easier to use when chopping. These are about 2 1/2” long, so I don’t think you’ll have an issue chopping with your vintage chisels. I go to a longer paring chisel to clean and fine tune, but have used the butt chisels for that as well. I say go for it.

[ken hatch]

Hi All,

I am thinking about buying some vintage chisels for cutting dovetails. I am not wanting to buy new premium chisels, but rather want to restore vintage socket chisels. I like using vintage tools.

What width socket chisels do you use for cutting dovetails? I have a couple of vintage chisels that need to be restored, and that need handles, and that is what I intend to do.

The 3/8 has about 3" of blade left, and the 1/2" has about 2 1/2" inches of blade left. Is there a problem with these?

However, I know that for dovetails for items like blanket chests, etc., I will need larger chisels.

What do you use? I am thinking that chisels similar to the old Stanley 750s would be ideal.

What widths do you use?

Thanks and regards,

Stew

Stew,

I know you asked about socket chisels but pre-WWII tanged chisels are easy to find, such as Marples, Sorby, and Ward, and they tend to have better balance than socket chisels of the same size. It might be easier to re-handle a socket chisel but it isn't by much and I would bet it is easier to do a tang handle if you have to work without a lathe.

ken

[Mike Henderson]

Look for Swan and T. H. Witherby chisels. They're generally easy to find and good quality for their era.

Mike

[steven c newman]

Been using (vintage) Butcher...Buck Brothers( NOT from Home Depot ones) Witherby ( 1/2" bevel edge) A specially ground, 1/4" harbor freight chisel I bought new back in the 80s.

Couple of the Aldi's chisels see some use.

[Mark Gibney]

Derek, how did you hollow grind the sides of your chisel blades?

Did you make a jig to move the blade across the grinding wheel?

[Stew Denton]

Mike,
My 3/8" is a Swan. It is the only Swan I have, bought at a garage sale over 30 years ago I think. The 1/2 is Rich Co. also 30 years ago or so. Neither had a handle, and they were incredibly cheap I am sure. It may have been one of those deals about the time they were wanting to shut down the garage sale and I wanted to buy one item from a box, and they told me that I couldn't buy one item, I had to buy the whole box, but the whole box was the same price as the one item I actually wanted. It has been so long ago that I don't remember. It may have also been 3 or 4 of those old chisels for a practically give away price. I have 5 of them, and I think that they were all bought at the same time. I use the worst one to scrape grease or corrosions off when working on a car, and the other two are probably not going to get rehabbed for dovetails, one will be a paring chisel.

Stew

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Only you know what size dovetails you usually make. For the most part, 1/4" is narrow enough for anything that I do.

My first chisels were cheap black Stanley chisels that are pretty wide (3/8" is the smallest I think). These would be the black handled chisels. Made a box from scraps when I first started wood working. I hate the box I made, but have been too busy to make something better. Later I inherited some sweet hearts (red wooden handles) but the smallest is 1/4" for that set. When I need something wide, I use one of the other wide chisels in this group.

425053

I purchased a PM-V11 set that goes down to 1/8", which I like. I purchased a 3/16" sweet heart when I needed something narrower than the 1/4" that I had but before I had the PM-V11 chisels. Again, I should make new boxes and move things around, I simply have not done it. Probably never will because I always have projects to finish.
425055

Remember what I said up top that you should choose your chisels based on what you make? I made a couple of boxes to hold toothpicks in my shop (and a friend asked me to make one for her as well). Those are some tiny pins.
425056

I think that Lee Valley stopped selling their detail chisels.
425057

[Edwin Santos]

Another candidate for you to throw on your list for consideration would be Swedish E.A. Berg Eskilstuna chisels. They are vintage socket chisels, and the steel is highly regarded. Very thin profile, advantageous for dovetailing.

They are always on eBay, but I think you can find them in many of the places where vintage tools can be found.

[Rafael Herrera]

Stew, I'm also looking into forming a collection of chisels. I got some 750s for general work, but also discovered the lovely vintage tapered chisels made in England. They are a step up from the Stanleys. Names to look for are James Cam, James Howarth, Sorby, Marples, etc. If you want to buy some new ones, check out the Ashley Iles bench chisels, they're basically hand made. Rafael

[Derek Cohen]

Derek, how did you hollow grind the sides of your chisel blades?

Did you make a jig to move the blade across the grinding wheel?

Hi Mark

I have done this two ways, free hand across a grinding wheel, and using the Tormek holder across the wheel ...

https://i.postimg.cc/Fs9dnhk4/Soyouwanttomakeadovetailchisel-html-16c57648.jpg

See: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/Soyouwanttomakeadovetailchisel.html

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Andrew Seemann]

My main dovetail chisel is an old 1/2" Fulton, not exactly known as great chisel, but they are hit and miss, and I ended up with a good one. It actually was part of a lot of other things that I wanted, but this turned out to be the lucky find. It is shorter and has narrow sides. The rest of my vintage chisels are either Stanleys or no-names, all 750 style.

When I assembled my collection of vintage chisels, they were a little easier to find, and it was before collectors drove up the prices. If I was starting anew, I probably would consider some of the quality new chisels that are available today. My bias/preference though is for the prewar chisels, as they are a little easier to sharpen and tend to take a keener edge, though they do scarifice some edge retention for it. If I need to chop oak though, I tend to use my modern Two Cherries. The vintages usually get used for chopping in softer wood where they excel.

[Mark Gibney]

Thanks! Soon I'll have no excuse for my shoddy dovetails.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Thanks! Soon I'll have no excuse for my shoddy dovetails.



My poor work is related to my skill, or lack of it :-)

[Warren Mickley]

I use vintage chisels for dovetails. I use 19th century English chisels for their steel. It sharpens easily, takes a very fine edge, and is very durable. It is nice to have chisels from 1/8 to 1/2 by sixteenths, however 3/16 to 3/8 or maybe 7/16 are most useful. For cutting the narrow sockets for the pins, it is nice to have a size where you can cut the full width. When cutting the wider sockets in the pin board, we usually use two side by side passes so it is not so important to have a close match in size. Usually something like 3/4 and 1" are sufficient.

These are tang chisels. Socket chisels were traditionally used for carpentry and were generally quite a bit heavier than tang chisels. Ideally you want something that is rather thin at the bevel and tapers thicker toward the bolster.

For chisels that have seen a lot of wear, it is nice to put longer handles on them to bring total length up to around 10 inches or maybe a little more. And it is nice to have at least 5 1/2 inches of handle so you can put your hand comfortably on the handle and not worry about hitting your hand with a mallet.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

A nice three chisel set is up for sale in the classifieds right now,but they are not vintage. Lee Valley with O1. I will get this wrong, but I think it was a 1/4, 1/2, and a 1" chisel. You can buy them individually or as a set. Cheaper than new. I own nothing with O1 steel so I do not know what it is like to sharpen, but I like my PM-V11 bench chisels from Lee Valley.

[Derek Cohen]

The Veritas O1 chisels are excellent. Fine lands, fine edge, and flat, flat backs. They are the ones I generally take to wood shows when demonstrating joinery.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[steven c newman]

Vintage? Just because Veritas begins with a "V",eh? I prefer Witherbys or the old Buck Brothers.....maybe one from Butcher.....have one by New Haven Edge Tool Co. 1/4" Mortise chisel, though.