White Steel Chisels

[Scott Thornton]

Anyone know where I can find these at decent prices?

Thanks.

[Cliff Ober]

Japan Woodworker: http://www.japanwoodworker.com/dept.asp?dept_id=12770 Cliff

[Steve knight]

what do you consider a decent price? white steel takes more still to make a tool from so if you compare it to a blue steel chisel and they both cost about the same then go for the blue steel.

[Dave Burnard]

white steel takes more still to make a tool from so if you compare it to a blue steel chisel and they both cost about the same then go for the blue steel.

Not sure I follow the logic here... Steve can you explain what you were trying to say?

[Scott Thornton]

Yeah, I don't follow that logic...

[Derek Cohen]

Steve is referring to the fact that white steel and blue steel have different properties. White steel has a fine grain structure owing to a lower input of other material, such as the chrome (open to correction here) into blue steel. The lower grain structure means that the white steel can be honed to a finer edge. On the other hand, the blue steel is tougher, more durable.

Both get pretty sharp and, while the white steel gets sharper, you probably would not notice this, so the tougher blue steel is likely to be seen to be the better buy.

On the other hand, I recently bought 4 Koyamaichi white steel dovetail chisels in larger sizes to use as bench chisels. Good steel, and I have no problems striking them through hard Jarrah without any sign of chipping.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Steve knight]

What I am saying is white steel takes more skill to work well. So if you have a choice of two chisels a blue and a white at the same price the blue may be a better chisel because something was sacrificed on the white to keep the price lower.
A good white steel tool will hold an edge longer and get sharper then a blue steel tool. But it has to be a higher end white steel tool.

[Dave Burnard]

My 2 cents. I think it's a mistake to spend much time contemplating which steel a chisel should be made from - especially when it's going to be one of your first japanese chisels. Buy a decent brand and learn how to use it. Both steels make excellent chisels and most of the time it makes very little real difference.

There's so much more that goes into making a good chisel than which steel was used. Many chisel makers don't make chisels from both white and blue steel, they just make the best they can from whichever steel they have chosen. Considering only steel type and price is too simplistic, even if you knew those were the *only* differences between two chisels. Currency exchange, toolmaker reputations, and the vagaries of tool wholesaling and retailing means that the retail price often has very little to do with the actual price of production.

If/Once you're serious enough to be thinking about separate chisels (or planes) for hard vs really-hard woods (or very-soft woods) there's a lot more to think about than price.

For a concrete recommendation... I 've been using Fujihiro brand chisels (which are a white steel) for many years, both Hida and Misugi Designs sells them. But there are a lot of good chisels out there in a variety of brands.

[Pam Niedermayer]

I agree completely, Dave, and would like to add a couple of caveats:

1. Make sure that you use a chisel for its stated function and no harder. A paring chisel is not intended to handle mortising.

2. Learn how to use them properly.

Pam

[Bart Leetch]

"I think it's a mistake to spend much time contemplating which steel a chisel should be made from."

I also fully believe this to be true .

I have & use a set of (are you ready for this) a full set of Ace Hardware chisels . Yep plastic handles with through steel shank. made by Buck Brothers. They hold a fair edge & I purchased 1 or 2 at a time. Sometimes look at store branded tools & take the time to find out who manufactured them you might be surprised.

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/attachment.php?attachmentid=15816&stc=1&thumb=1&d=1129058447

Just lately I have been collecting a few older socket chisels sharpening them & making new handles for them.