Turning a file into a paring chisel

[Tyler Bancroft]

I've been having trouble finding paring chisels to my liking, so I'm considering trying to make my own. I lack anywhere to perform a proper heat-treat, so I'm thinking about taking a file, throwing it in the oven at 425 for a couple of hours to temper it, and then shaping once it cools. Has anyone tried anything like this? My metalworking skills are nonexistent.

[Jim Koepke]

Tyler, you may live near another member with a few spare chisels or a list of local secondhand/antique/junk shops to search for your needs.

If you are in the Portland, Oregon area my sources of local vendors might be of help.

Another solution might be to modify the chisels you have already found. A few members here have ground square sided chisels into bevel edged chisels for their own use.

My choice for paring chisels is old Buck Brothers socket chisels.

This image is over ten years old:

465155

A lot have been added since then.

If you are in the area you would be welcome to a test drive.

jtk

[Tim Best]

Tyler,

Check out the “red” forum. David W has been experimenting for a couple months on this process. While I have no intention of making chisels from files, his posts are rather intriguing and informative.

[Tyler Bancroft]

Tyler, you may live near another member with a few spare chisels or a list of local secondhand/antique/junk shops to search for your needs.

If you are in the Portland, Oregon area my sources of local vendors might be of help.

Another solution might be to modify the chisels you have already found. A few members here have ground square sided chisels into bevel edged chisels for their own use.

My choice for paring chisels is old Buck Brothers socket chisels.

This image is over ten years old:

465155

A lot have been added since then.

If you are in the area you would be welcome to a test drive.

jtk

That's very kind of you, Jim, thanks – alas, I'm on the opposite side of the continent (and in a different country), so it'd be a bit of a walk!

[lowell holmes]

I suspect Rob Lee can provide what you are looking for. Check Lee Valley Tools.

[steven c newman]

Last big lot of screwdrivers I bought at a garage sale......there was a handled Triangular File, that the previous owner had ground the end.....so NOW it works as a Dovetail chisel..
465175
The $2 buys all box. Hammer was too far gone to rehab...there was 2 NEW Nicholson Smooth Mill files....and right beside that plastic handled screwdriver, is the file/chisel....
465177
I sharpened the edge, and put it to work on tails...
465178Even cleaned up nicely....was made by The Lutz File Co.
465179
End profile.....

[Rafael Herrera]

I've been having trouble finding paring chisels to my liking, so I'm considering trying to make my own. I lack anywhere to perform a proper heat-treat, so I'm thinking about taking a file, throwing it in the oven at 425 for a couple of hours to temper it, and then shaping once it cools. Has anyone tried anything like this? My metalworking skills are nonexistent.

David Weaver used old files to make tanged octagonal bolstered bench chisels and parers recently. You can see his posts at the woodcentral forum and youtube posts.

He made me a set, here are a few of the chisels and a vintage Sorby parer for comparison. The handles are made of applewood. The details of the bolster are shown as well as the lands.

465183465184465185

If you go for this project, it's not difficult to grind tool steel to shape the side bevels. David posted about pimping cheap Harbor Freight chisels into decent dovetailing chisels. This is one of my attempts on my HF set. The one in the background is an unmodified chisel, the one in foreground has been ground to shape. The chisel was ground without annealing the steel.

465186

Rafael

[Tom Bussey]

The files have already been tempered. Steel when it is quenched whether it is water, oil or air quenched is to hard and brittle to be of any use so it all needs to be tempered back down on the Rockwell C scale to a lower Rockwell. A file comes in at about 62-63 Rockwell. It will snap if any prying is done. You can try it but I do not know how you will ever get it flat to get the edge you need for paring. You can not hurt it by putting it in the oven but I wouldn't go over 400. I do not know what steel they are mad of but probably AISI or above. Alloyed steel gets pricey in a hurry.

[Jim Koepke]

It amazes me how people will often complain about the time it takes to bring a vintage chisel up to a useable standard using the labor to justify the cost of a new chisel. IMO if one has more money than time this makes sense. If one has more time than money, it makes sense to do a bit of work to save one's money.

Then others will have a grand old time tempering an old file, grinding it for a few hours, then redo the heating to harden in hopes of creating their personal gold standard of chisels.

If you can flatten the back of an old file, you can flatten the back of a rusty yard sale chisel.

jtk

[Tyler Bancroft]

It amazes me how people will often complain about the time it takes to bring a vintage chisel up to a useable standard using the labor to justify the cost of a new chisel. IMO if one has more money than time this makes sense. If one has more time than money, it makes sense to do a bit of work to save one's money.

Then others will have a grand old time tempering an old file, grinding it for a few hours, then redo the heating to harden in hopes of creating their personal gold standard of chisels.

If you can flatten the back of an old file, you can flatten the back of a rusty yard sale chisel.

jtk


In my case, I've been looking for a reason to do a bit of metalworking, and thought this might be a reasonable project – although apparently it will be substantially more problematic than simply buying a piece of O1 and having at it.

[Jim Koepke]

In my case, I've been looking for a reason to do a bit of metalworking, and thought this might be a reasonable project – although apparently it will be substantially more problematic than simply buying a piece of O1 and having at it.

Actually buying a piece of O1 and having at it might be a good way to get into a bit of metalworking. It would be even easier if you have a material supplier in your area. My area is not only blessed with being near a few big cities but it also has a bit of industry to support material supply houses.

The hardest part may be finding some fire brick to build yourself a small heat treating furnace.

Otherwise you can buy your O1 in the form of old junk chisels off of ebay or other sites.

You could even place a WTB (Want To Buy) ad in the Sawmill Creek Classifieds. Someone may have some pieces of O1 or old chisels for sell.

Have fun with it and surely folks here would like to see what happens.

jtk

[Tyler Bancroft]

Actually buying a piece of O1 and having at it might be a good way to get into a bit of metalworking. It would be even easier if you have a material supplier in your area. My area is not only blessed with being near a few big cities but it also has a bit of industry to support material supply houses.

The hardest part may be finding some fire brick to build yourself a small heat treating furnace.

Otherwise you can buy your O1 in the form of old junk chisels off of ebay or other sites.

You could even place a WTB (Want To Buy) ad in the Sawmill Creek Classifieds. Someone may have some pieces of O1 or old chisels for sell.

Have fun with it and surely folks here would like to see what happens.

jtk

You can actually get precision-ground O1, A2, and D2 at a reasonable price from Amazon, believe it or not. Also Metal Pros in Ottawa. It sure beats hunting around at scrapyards.

[Jim Koepke]

But scrapyards can be so much fun! :D

jtk

[Tyler Bancroft]

But scrapyards can be so much fun! :D

jtk

I did get a tetanus booster recently, I suppose I could put it to good use. ;) But there's not a ton of options around here, unfortunately.

[John C Cox]

The issue with doing your own heat treatment is dealing with warpage. Keeping chisels straight through the quench is a beast.

Files have teeth, and grinding those teeth off is an absolute nightmare. Once you do, they can take quite an edge, but even then, they don't have the beautiful lines of a good paring chisel. .

I spent way more time on this than I care to admit. The short answer is: Just go buy a quality paring chisel. It's true that few people make/sell new ones.

The Narex borders what used to be called a "Millwright's chisel." It's long and heavy, not thin, but the upside is that you can go buy one online.

Then there's Blue Spruce. These have amazing lines, are nice and thin, and have teeny lands if that sort of thing interests you.

I think Sorby still sells a paring chisel, but I'm not sure.

Then, there's vintage, which is hard to find and even more expensive than Blue Spruce.

Best of luck on your quest.

[Rafael Herrera]

The files must be annealed, not tempered, prior to grinding to reprofile them. The chisels that David made, shown above, didn't take hours each to make, I belive it took about one hour per chisel. He's posted the whole process in his YouTube channel.

This is a very feasible project and one could learn a lot from it, if one is so inclined.

[John C Cox]

If you're curious and want to try to make a high quality paring chisel out of a file in an hour, go for it. Set the clock and post your progress.

I already tried.