Lee valley chisel question

[Gregory Mosher]

Hi folks. Making a simple walnut (first time working with walnut, excited) chisel rack, and was using one of my 1/2 inch chisels, it's the "bevel edged bench chisel by lee valley with that transparent green/yellow handle, with black collar that's made in Japan. here's the link.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/tools/hand-tools/chisels/bench/30028-lee-valley-bevel-edge-chisels

My issue is that I really, REALLY don't care for the handle. I can't see a tang in it, and i'm only guessing that it has a socket. does anyone know if I can cut the handle off, remove it etc and be able to re handle these? or if they're just set in this weird composite handle that I shouldn't play with?

PS: For affordable chisels, the steel in these LV chisels kick my narex's all over the place. little heavier feeling, but for literally less than 5$ difference, LV over Narex. takes and holds a better edge 2:1

Thanks folks!

[Jason Martin Winnipeg]

Lee Valley customer service can probably answer this question for you if you email them. They have a really good reputation for that.

[Desi Kovar]

Google “replacing chisel handle popular woodworking.” You should find an article from Popular Woodworking where the author shows the removal of those Lee Valley chisel handles.

[steven c newman]

Get a couple of these....and experiment with their handles...
425564

[Dave Zellers]

Those are my everyday chisels as well. I am slowly buying LV PMV11 as replacements. But they are solid performers.

Why would you be focused more on the handle over the edge?

[lowell holmes]

https://www.theunpluggedwoodshop.com/veritas-detail-chisels.html

You missed this set.

[Tyler Bancroft]

This is on my to-do list, as I also like the steel and am not wild about the handles. If you do replace them, I'd be interested in hearing how it went.

[Andrew Pitonyak]

https://www.theunpluggedwoodshop.com/veritas-detail-chisels.html

You missed this set.

I LOVE my set of these, but I don't think that they offer them anymore. Am I wrong and I just did not see them offered anymore?

[lowell holmes]

I suggest you contact Rob Lee at Lee Valley. If anyone knows how you can get a set, he does and I'm sure he will.

https://www.theunpluggedwoodshop.com/veritas-detail-chisels.html

[Derek Cohen]

Hi folks. Making a simple walnut (first time working with walnut, excited) chisel rack, and was using one of my 1/2 inch chisels, it's the "bevel edged bench chisel by lee valley with that transparent green/yellow handle, with black collar that's made in Japan. here's the link.

https://www.leevalley.com/en-ca/shop/tools/hand-tools/chisels/bench/30028-lee-valley-bevel-edge-chisels

My issue is that I really, REALLY don't care for the handle. I can't see a tang in it, and i'm only guessing that it has a socket. does anyone know if I can cut the handle off, remove it etc and be able to re handle these? or if they're just set in this weird composite handle that I shouldn't play with?

PS: For affordable chisels, the steel in these LV chisels kick my narex's all over the place. little heavier feeling, but for literally less than 5$ difference, LV over Narex. takes and holds a better edge 2:1

Thanks folks!

Hi Gregory

I'm 99% certain that there is a short tang inside the handle, located in the black section. It stands to reason because, firstly, a tang is easier and cheaper to mass produce than a socket. Secondly, this is how similar chisels, such as Irwin/Records/Stanley were/are made.

Here is a Stanley I re-handled. It originally had a black plastic handle ...

https://i.postimg.cc/WtRzvP7y/1a.jpg

The discolouring is from re-heat treating it ...

https://i.postimg.cc/KcCDzkq6/5.jpg

Note, I also reground the sides of this chisel to have minimal lands for dovetail work.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[David Carroll]

I have also re-handled several old chisels that started life with over-molded plastic handles. I generally hack-sawed off the handle, parallel to and close to the tang (not a tapered tang, but a cylindrical tang like the one Derek pictured). After the two big chunks are removed, you can pry off the rest of the plastic, or drive it off with a cold-chisel and some swearing.

My favorite chisel for dovetailing is an old K-Mart branded 1/2-inch chisel that I bought 40 years ago for my first carpentry job and later I re-handled it much like Derek's, except that I used some hickory from a broken hammer handle, not the fancy Australian flint-hard downunderwood. ;-)

To answer the question that Dave Zellers asked, "Why would you be focused more on the handle over the edge?" The edge I can sharpen, but I just don't like the feel of plastic handles on chisels. When I take the time to make a new handle, the tool becomes mine. It fits my hand, there's something of me invested into it. I get this little spark of satisfied joy every time I reach for it. I think, "I had a hand in making that and it's really nice!" instead of thinking, "Ugh, I really don't like the handle." It is subjective for sure, but that tiny amount of satisfaction multiplied over decades of regular use adds up to some significant happiness.

DC

[Dave Zellers]

To answer the question that Dave Zellers asked, "Why would you be focused more on the handle over the edge?" The edge I can sharpen, but I just don't like the feel of plastic handles on chisels. When I take the time to make a new handle, the tool becomes mine. It fits my hand, there's something of me invested into it. I get this little spark of satisfied joy every time I reach for it. I think, "I had a hand in making that and it's really nice!" instead of thinking, "Ugh, I really don't like the handle." It is subjective for sure, but that tiny amount of satisfaction multiplied over decades of regular use adds up to some significant happiness.

And I can certainly understand that. Right after I posted that I realized it was dumb and the obvious answer was yours.
I don't have the means (no lathe) to replace a handle so I tend to just accept what is there. And it is fine for me but making your own handles would totally be cool.

[Derek Cohen]

Dave, you do not need a lathe for handles. Tapered octagonal handles are easy to hand plane, nice to look at, and importantly comfortable to use.

Here is a vintage set ..

https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images4/1/1014/25/set-vintage-dastra-frank-mittermeier_1_017b1b41502abe4ed205f4a3da05e767.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Dave Zellers]

Dave, you do not need a lathe for handles. Tapered octagonal handles are easy to hand plane, nice to look at, and importantly comfortable to use.

Yes, I should explore that. Even shaping by hand.

[bill epstein]

Oh, the high cost of Neanderthalism in the 21st Century.

If I was looking for a new hobby today it wouldn't be, couldn't be, woodworking ;-}

$429 for 5 wood handled chisels? Yikes! I paid less than $40 for my 4 pc. set of Freud beveled in 1987 or so.

427247
427248

They take an edge, hold an edge, pare and tap without fault. The set is missing a 3/8" so a few years later I bought a Nooitgedagt Butt Chisel to fill in. Only cavil is the sides are a bit thick. The Freud are marked Cr-Va, the Nooitgedagt are unmarked; neither seem to care what steel they're made from. A 3/8" Sorby London Mortice of the same vintage rounds out my "collection".

I'm the guy that didn't want to buy a vise that didn't have a wooden handle so perish the thought of paying up for plastic these days.

[Jim Koepke]

$429 for 5 wood handled chisels? Yikes!

These are the ones my wife is shown before telling her about my great find of an old chisel on ebay.

It makes it easy to get her permission to 'act now' on that Buy It Now offer.

jtk

[David Bassett]

... $429 for 5 wood handled chisels? Yikes! ....

OK, I'm missing something. What makes those chisels that special?

(I can have five PM-V11 Veritas chisels for that. Five 0-1 Veritas chisels for $90 less. Same five from Ashley Iles for about $180. Four similar sized Two Cherries for $125. Or, eight (modern) Stanley Sweetheart 750's for $160. All new from well-known reputable WW retailers, except the Stanleys from Amazon, and without messing with any eBay uncertainty. By all accounts, if you're brave & knowledgeable, you can do substantially better in the used market.)