Corner 90 degree Mortise Chisel

[Greg Parrish]

Any suggestions on a good quality 90-degree chisel that I might actually find in stock somewhere? LN is out of stock and Veritas doesn't make one. I'm looking for something around 3/8 or 1/2 in size.

So far, I've found that Rockler lists the Two Cherries version, although I can't tell if it's in stock. Regardless, and as much as I love my Two Cherries bevel/firmer chisel, the only review on Rockler for the 90-degree chisel is that it isn't square. Not sure if that was a bad individual item, or if they just don't make them square.

Another one that I found that may be in stock is an Ashley Iles 3/8 corner chisel.

Found one of the 3/8 Robert Sorby corner chisels in stock.

One other option I found is a 10mm Narex corner chisel. Not sure how it would compare against the Ashley Iles regarding quality of the steel.

Anyone know of any others to check out that I may find in stock somewhere?

Thanks,
Greg

[Rob Luter]

Lee Valley has Sorby Corner Chisels on their website.

[Greg Parrish]

Lee Valley has Sorby Corner Chisels on their website.

Thanks Rob. Saw those but wasn't sure how they compared quality wise. Also they are not in stock at the moment for 3/8". Mostly wanting to avoid something that others have had issue with or found to be lessor quality than other options I guess.

[Derek Cohen]

Any suggestions on a good quality 90-degree chisel that I might actually find in stock somewhere? LN is out of stock and Veritas doesn't make one. I'm looking for something around 3/8 or 1/2 in size.

So far, I've found that Rockler lists the Two Cherries version, although I can't tell if it's in stock. Regardless, and as much as I love my Two Cherries bevel/firmer chisel, the only review on Rockler for the 90-degree chisel is that it isn't square. Not sure if that was a bad individual item, or if they just don't make them square.

The other one that I found that may be in stock is an Ashley Iles 3/8 corner chisel. I honestly tried their bench chisels before before getting my current LN chisels and I didn't like them. Mostly I didn't like the feel and balance. That said, for a single use corner chisel, that probably isn't as big of a deal.

One other option I found is a 10mm Narex corner chisel. Not sure how it would compare against the Ashley Iles regarding quality of the steel.

Anyone know of any others to check out that I may find in stock somewhere?

Thanks,
Greg

Hi Greg

An alternative to a corner chisel - and one I much prefer - is a hollow mortice chisel. Remove the drill bit ...

https://i.postimg.cc/2r0g17x0/28.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

https://i.postimg.cc/Mz44DZNR/29.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

You will find this easier to sharpen, and also easier to square the end of a mortice .... I''m assuming that is what you want it for. Much cheaper as well.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Greg Parrish]

Derek, that's exactly what I'm wanting it for. I'm building a workbench now and I'm rounding my tenons for the mortises on the cross brace rails, but for the leg vise crisscross, I'd like to nicely square the corners after removing the material with my router. Ironically, I just found another hand chisel in stock which is the 3/8 Robert Sorby that Rob mentions above.

I'm thinking I want at least one of the hand chisels, but I'll also look for the hollow mortise chisels you mention. Any preference on brand for the hollow mortise? As well, any thoughts on which hand chisel of the ones I've found would be best?


Hi Greg

An alternative to a corner chisel - and one I much prefer - is a hollow mortice chisel. Remove the drill bit ...

You will find this easier to sharpen, and also easier to square the end of a mortice .... I''m assuming that is what you want it for. Much cheaper as well.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Derek Cohen]

Greg, I simply purchased three hollow mortice chisels locally. They were on the cheap end of the scale as I just wanted to try them out. But they worked so well, they have stayed.

I have been using a Domino to rout mortices (not to use with dominos, but as wide as needed). It is even better than a router in this regard. So I wound up with 6, 8, and 10mm sizes.

To sharpen, you use a diamond cone in a drill. Quick and easy.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Greg Parrish]

Interesting. Thanks for that feedback Derek. In my case, I'd be looking for an imperial sized one for now, but could see the metric sized for use with my domino as well. Thanks again.


Greg, I simply purchased three hollow mortice chisels locally. They were on the cheap end of the scale as I just wanted to try them out. But they worked so well, they have stayed.

I have been using a Domino to rout mortices (not to use with dominos, but as wide as needed). It is even better than a router in this regard. So I wound up with 6, 8, and 10mm sizes.

To sharpen, you use a diamond cone in a drill. Quick and easy.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jim Koepke]

Greg, I too have lusted after a corner chisel. Having not found one I have had to rely on my ability to cut square ends on my mortises.

Sometimes the old flame calls to me when one is seen on ebay or other site, but the flame soon fades when the price comes up.

The Narex looks good for $40 on Amazon, though 10mm is larger than 3/8".

jtk

[Charles Guest]

Any suggestions on a good quality 90-degree chisel that I might actually find in stock somewhere? LN is out of stock and Veritas doesn't make one. I'm looking for something around 3/8 or 1/2 in size.

So far, I've found that Rockler lists the Two Cherries version, although I can't tell if it's in stock. Regardless, and as much as I love my Two Cherries bevel/firmer chisel, the only review on Rockler for the 90-degree chisel is that it isn't square. Not sure if that was a bad individual item, or if they just don't make them square.

Another one that I found that may be in stock is an Ashley Iles 3/8 corner chisel.

Found one of the 3/8 Robert Sorby corner chisels in stock.

One other option I found is a 10mm Narex corner chisel. Not sure how it would compare against the Ashley Iles regarding quality of the steel.

Anyone know of any others to check out that I may find in stock somewhere?

Thanks,
Greg

I wouldn't sweat steel quality too much. These things are not made to hog out a lot of material. You should be really close before you bring one to bear -- only taking a couple of very thin passes to tidy up. Every brand you mentioned in your post would have steel of adequate quality. These tools are most often used on the exit (show) side of a through tenon on Arts and Crafts or a similar style furniture where the corners have to be absolutely crisp with no bruising whatsoever. They really are for finesse and for getting the look "just right." Assuming all hand work, you'd be wasting your time, and the tool to some extent, using one on four-shouldered stub tenons where nothing is going to show.

[Scott Winners]

I think Derek's idea is excellent and will probably try that when I need a third corner chisel.

I currently have two corner chisels, an LN at 1/2 inch in A2, and a much larger one with 3/4 wings in vintage O1.

The thing about corner chisels is they are a cold hearted witch (the kind with brass body parts) to sharpen well. Thus the attraction to Derek's good idea.

In his _Guide to Sharpening_ Leonard Lee advocates for a slight upsweep on the wings so the wing tips enter the cut first and the central spine then frees a chip already cut free along the length of the wings. All the vintage corner chisels I have laid hands on nearby have the central angle lead into the cut with the wingtips trailing. Leonard is correct in my experience.

While I did bring in a small collection of safe edge diamond files specifically to sharpen my corner chisels with minimum frustration, it is still a daunting task. Far better to keep practicing with a regular chisel in mortises in difficult grain I think.

If I were to undertake a serious A&C build in QSWO I would indeed be tempted to use a corner chisel to start the mortises on the show surface, but these are otherwise tools to keep sharp, heavily oiled, dutifully wrapped, boxed, taped shut, and stored well away from the workbench - for the rare occasions there is truly no other tool for the job.

[Derek Cohen]

Scott, I sold my corner chisels years ago. They are a bugger to sharpen. It is not easy to sharpen square and keep the inside corner intact.

By contrast, a hollow mortice chisel is honed with a cone (attached to a drill), and it takes seconds to do, and accurately.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Jim Koepke]

Even parting gouges for carving are a difficult bear to sharpen properly and their bevel is on the outside.

jtk

[Scott Winners]

There is a bit of brilliance in Derek's approach that should, I think, not be left unsaid.

Let us ass/u/me that we all have corner chisels with the outside surfaces square to each other, and each of us are well practiced in holding our chisel perpendicular to the work piece and each of us is well practiced at driving the chisel into the work piece straight and true.

First consider a corner chisel ground straight across, two bench chisels mooshed together as my NIB LN was. No skew angle to either edge. What I had in my shop was an expensive marking knife with limited utility as a paring chisel. Reaching for even a small mallet was admitting defeat. One notable problem is chip movement, chip displacement, is severely constrained by the increasing thickness of the tool in the cut.

Next I put a slight skew in my otherwise new L-N, about three degrees, so the tips of the wings lead into the cut with the corner angle, once it reaches the work piece, freeing the chip. This solved the chip removal problem of the straight ground corner chisel, but introduces a positioning error possibility when trying to place the chisel on the work piece to start the cut.

The worst option I have tried is having the point of the corner lead into the cut with the wings swept back so the point leads and the wing tips finish. This does work well when trying to pare the inside corner down in a mortise somewhere and I now understand why timber framing sized chisels are often found this way in the wild. Those folks weren't using the tool to make pretty show corners. At this scale the flats can register on the already cut mortise and the leading point can get after whatever wild grain is interfering with an inside corner of a mortise down in the timber. The problem with this pattern to make show corners is there are, once again, infinity ways to line the chisel up with the cut imperfectly, but only one position to line the chisel up for the cut correctly.

Now consider Derek's solution again. If his chisel is undersized for the mortise he is cutting he can have one point on the corner he wants to make, with the diagonally opposite point hanging out over the chasm. But then he can rotate the chisel so each of the remaining two points is on a lay out line and his chisel is perfectly positioned. This would be freaking brilliant even it were hard to sharpen.

But wait, there is more...

[Edward Weber]

As Derek mentioned, he bought the generic hollow mortise chisels that he uses for this.
In general HMC are not meant to be struck. I did see a soft faced hammer in his photos.
HMC's are very expensive for quality ones, I would get something like a Shop-Fox brand if you're going to try this not a Nakahashi.

[Greg Parrish]

As an update, I took Derek's advice and managed to get a reasonably priced 1/2" hollow mortise chisel yesterday from a shop while traveling. The chisel is a Timberline brand made by Amana. It looks nicely made, but don't know much else about it as that's all the box says. Hopefully it will work for what I'm needing when squaring up my corners during future mortising and when doing my benchcrafted leg vise and crisscross install. Thanks for the feedback.

[Matthew Eason]

Greg,

When I built my benchcrafted bench last year the only chisels I had access to were the cheap Irwins off Amazon. I can't even say they were expertly sharp as I've come a long way since then.

You will be fine, corner or hollow mortise chisel or not. My bench turned out perfect.

Matt