Chisel Technique

[Mark Singer]

A freind stopped by the other day while was extending the drawer side grooves on he houndstooth dovetail drawers. I was using a chisel and he told me I was using it incorrectly! I am always willing to listen to even a non woodworking aquintances' advice:confused:...I was plowing the bottom of the groove with the bevel down and running the chisel kind of like you would a plane. Back and forth....the result was a pefectly matching extension to the groove that was made with a router table... Perfect or not....my technique was wrong because his shop teacher told him the bevel should always be held up facing the ceiling... :rolleyes:
That means that for the last 50 years I have been making very decent joinery and mortices for hardware using an incorrect technique.....my Father and his Father must have also had the wrong technique:rolleyes:

So let me say officially...you can use a chisel with the bevel up or down....bevel down is good for leveling the bottom...even if you were taught its the wrong technique...give it a try

Now excuse me I have to tell my friend about his golf swing...he is an instructor:rolleyes:

[Phil Sanders]

I am a newbie to this forum, but I had always thought the chisel bevel up or down had more to do with the secondary micro-bevel on the end of the chisel.

Bevel down, and the chisel riding on the primay bevel, then the cutting edge is held a a wee bit above the wood; less chance for the chisel to dig into the wood.

Bevel up, and the cutting edge is on the wood just waiting to find some grain to dig into.

But, what do I know, I'm not an accomplished chisel man.

Phil

[Steve Clardy]

Guess I use them wrong also :confused: :eek: ;)

So how's his golf swing Mark:D

[Mark Singer]

Guess I use them wrong also :confused: :eek: ;)

So how's his golf swing Mark:D

Steve ...I am not a golfer...but I have lots of pointers for him. For example...he was grabbing the club by the funny rubber grip....the nice round wood handle is on the other end.....some of them just have a metal thingy down there ...he must have broke off the wood hanle by hitting the ball with the wrong end:confused:

[Jim Becker]

Hmm...I always thought you pointed the bevel in the direction that best supported the cut you were making! But then again, I'm a poor excuse for a Neander woodworker. 'Don't play one on TV, either...LOL!

[Mark Singer]

It is just like a plane...use it up or down.. To mortice a hinge...I scribe the perimeter with a knife...bed the chisel at the end ...bevel toward the mortise and first push down to bed the edge...then tap...go to the sdes with the grain and do the same except use 1/2 the force when you tap....withe the bevel up make a series of cuts about 1/4" apart or less. Start at the end and pust to pare the shoulder...Do the same at the other end.. Pare to remove the waste...use the chisel bevel down to smothe the bottom ..like a plane

[John Miliunas]

Steve ...I am not a golfer...but I have lots of pointers for him. For example...he was grabbing the club by the funny rubber grip....the nice round wood handle is on the other end.....some of them just have a metal thingy down there ...he must have broke off the wood hanle by hitting the ball with the wrong end:confused:

Mark, you sure he's not a woodworker? Sounds like some new-fangled hammer with a long handle on it! :confused: :cool:

[Doug Shepard]

Geez. No wonder I can't get it working right. I've been holding the sharp end.:eek:

[Steve Clardy]

Geez. No wonder I can't get it working right. I've been holding the sharp end.:eek:


:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:
Always got band-aids on the hands Doug? :D :D :D ;)

[Mark Stutz]

I'll bet he has a nice set of old Buck Bros. crank neck paring chisels to use for this, right.:D

[Mark Singer]

I first learned to chisel from my uncle when I was just a boy...he went to buy a use car...I came along.....the salesman said the "Olds was $1200" ...thats how much cars cost in '56.....my uncle said "ah I'll give you $850"

the my Uncle said..."Come on mark lets walk away" .....as we started to leave the dealer said..."$950"....pretty good chisel technique....I think to this day it was the walking away that save him $300!:rolleyes: Whatever works when your chiseling:rolleyes:

[John Schreiber]

I remember a long discussion here on the Creek years ago about the best crank necked chisels. I contributed that a chisel with the bevel down did the same thing. No body responded to that, it seemed that people preferred to debate the merits of cranked necked chisels.

[Mike K Wenzloff]

Well, I wouldn't say that a chisel used bevel down is *the* same as a cranked chisel. That you can use them similarly is true.

Cleaning the bottom of a dado for instance is easier and faster with a cranked. But not a lot of people own cranked chisels so one uses what one has. And if it is an occassional thing, probably not worth running out and buying a few cranked chisels either.

Same thing with paring chisels--they do have their uses even if one can use another chisel type.

But put me down as one who will also use a chisel bevel down as needed--or simply because I don't want to take 4 steps and grab a cranked chisel...

Take care, Mike

[Pam Niedermayer]

Using a chisel bevel down is a good technique to combat massive tearout when you have to go against the grain, also more controllable. Found that out on day two.

Pam

[rick fulton]

....my technique was wrong because his shop teacher told him the bevel should always be held up facing the ceiling... :rolleyes:

Now excuse me I have to tell my friend about his golf swing...he is an instructor:rolleyes:

Mark,
Depending on your friend disposition, you can always tell him what we used to say in college, "Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach." :)

[Jim Dunn]

How much wine was consumed before this conversation took place:) Slightly tipsy is the only way I'd "instruct" you, or anybody else on this forum, on proper technique. I don't drink!

[Dave Anderson NH]

Great thread Mark. I've personally always enjoyed receiving instruction from the "peanut gallery". In the vein of spreading the wealth around I always try to be there to offer helpful tips to the plumber or the heating system guy when he drops by my house to do a job for me.:rolleyes: My favorite chisel technique involves the use of a screwdriver and claw hammer:eek: . While today is President's Day, we perhaps should think of adding a new holiday to the list......National Tool Abuse Day.:D

[Mike Cutler]

Great thread Mark. I've personally always enjoyed receiving instruction from the "peanut gallery". My favorite chisel technique involves the use of a screwdriver and claw hammer:eek: .
:D

So, you guys tellin' me I should use my chisel bevel side down when I open paint cans.:D How 'bout stirring. Clockwise, or counter clockwise?:rolleyes:

I suspect Mark's friend had a shop teacher that was trying to control a room full of teenage boys, teach themm some woodworking,and send 'em home with all of their fingers and eyeballs still intact.
If they're all using the same technique, it's easy to see who is not. My shop teacher(s) was the same.

[John Miliunas]

So, you guys tellin' me I should use my chisel bevel side down when I open paint cans.:D How 'bout stirring. Clockwise, or counter clockwise?:rolleyes:



Actually, yes, bevel down. You get better leverage that way. :D As for stirring, I think that may have to do with which side of the Equator you're on. For most of the US, I believe it's clockwise. :) :cool:

[Mark Singer]

It is one of those "little bit of knowledge will get you in trouble" kinda things. I do a lot of things that may be unusual and they seem to work. Often on chisels, I choke up and hold my index finger near the bevel....so the back of your hand is barely on the wood at all. This gives a lot of control at the business end. I even keep a few socket chisels without handels for detail work.
Same is true of rasps...often the better grip is on the rasp it self...sometimes 2 hands... Then when Ryan and I visted Sam Maloof a couple of times....he used the same technique. Few people know more about shapping wood then Sam, I asked him about it, told him My Father showed me the same technique. Sam said he is self taught and he learned whatever came natural....so it is wiht many of us. Use what works and don't worry about convention and traditional techniques.
I design homes differently than many architects.....we each find what works for each of us....its not always the same.
Remeber the guy that used to high jump backwards AND MADE IT TO THE OLYMPICS,,it was something like the "Fosburry Flop"...everybody thought he was weird......now it is the convention! So there!:rolleyes:

http://www.olympic.org/uk/athletes/profiles/bio_uk.asp?PAR_I_ID=18061

[Bruce Haugen]

I think you just invented the bevel-down chisel. Whole new line. You should commission their manufacture! :D

Bruce, who uses them whatever way they work.

[Zahid Naqvi]

Well it's the end result that counts doesn't it. If the finish product is to your satisfaction the technique should be irrelavent, unless it improves: speed, quality of the end product, or safety.

[Bill Houghton]

is excessively diligent application of a misunderstood lesson - or maybe his teacher wasn't real smart.

I can't imagine constraining myself that way.

[Dan Forman]

Mark---I am simply appalled that for all this time I have been listening to what I thought was your expert advice, and now it appears that you don't even know how to hold a chisel! :D :D

Dan

[Jerry Palmer]

Could be one of the reasons that wood shop is being dropped out of high school curriculum across the country.

Being self taught, for longer than I care to admit, bevel down with the chisel was the only way that seemed the right way to me, leastways when I was smacking it with a hammer to drive in into a hunk of wood or to scrape old paint off of something. Then I was thumbing through a book by Aldren Watson (had a whole chapter on chisels but who would think there was that much to know about something so very simple so I was not anticipating reading that chapter) and came across a picture of a chisel being used with the bevel up. Caught my attention so began reading.

Sorta brings up the old saying about never say never.

[James Carmichael]

Tell him unlike his driver, a chisel can be used on both sides.