Japanese mortise chisel skewed?

[Aaron Rosenthal]

I got a pair of used Japanese mortise chisels used, quite cheap but both of them have the cutting edge skewed. Is this an error on the part of the previous owner?
I assumed that like my bench chisels, the cutting bevel should be square to the sides.
Am I wrong?

[Jim Koepke]

Is the bevel flat, hollow or convex?

Approximately how many degrees are the chisels skewed Aaron?

It could just be a case of sloppy sharpening by a previous owner.

One of my mortise chisels came with a bevel that was lightly skewed with the bevel sloped to one side. This seemed to cause it to twist in the cut until the bevel was corrected.

jtk

[Derek Cohen]

Aaron, unless a chisel is intended for a slicing action on the push stroke, all should have a squared blade. Since these came used, I imagine that the previous owned was either cross-eyed, careless or both. Grind and hone them square, otherwise they will not cut straight.

A pair of Fujikawa (6mm and 9mm) ...

https://i.postimg.cc/ncNrsg2d/Fujikawa1.jpg

Fujikawa began making mortice chisels a long while back, specialising in this type of chisel. They now offer a wider range. I ground/honed these (single bevel) to 30 degrees, where they seem fine to date. You can go higher (say 35 degrees) if you need.

Regards from Perth

Derek