Lie-Nielsen Chisels

[Mike Henderson]

I never thought I'd buy any Lie-Nielsen chisels (at $50 each) but after hearing everyone rave about them, I finally decided to try a few - I bought four. When I received them, however, I found the handles to be a bit small. I had some cocobolo and ebony pieces lying around so decided to use them to make new handles. Anyway, the picture shows how they came out. The light colored one in the picture is one of the original handles.

I haven't really used them yet so I'll find out how the new handles work in a few days.

Mike

[David Weaver]

The handles look nice. I am in the same boat as you, and only buy one LN chisel here or there - which is only one so far. The one I do have is everything they say it is, though (it's a 5/16th mortise chisel). It holds an edge a very long time, and I haven't chipped it. I already have too many bench chisels as a beginner to go after any new LN sets, and I'm kind of waiting to see if they release any specialty chisels in the future (skew chisels, dovetail chisels, ...).

[Michael Fross]

Nice looking handles Mike. I personally love the smallish handles the LNs have. They seem to fit right in the hand and for me, it makes that balance perfect. Not front heavy, not back heavy.

Enjoy the LNs. I do every time I pick one up....

Michael

[Pat Zabrocki]

Great looking handles. I've been making some myself not for my LN chisels though, for some oddballs off ebay. Its kind of fun by itself. Anyway, as I said great looking handles.
Pat

[Dave Ray]

They sure look good Mike. One question always bugged me about chisels with deep sockets like these, (not just yours but all types). Why doesn't the wooden handle sink all the way into the socket? Is it because the first turnings (Rings) are to soft? Fragile? I know we can turn the shaft a little more and make them fit deeper into the socket. Seems to be a design thing with this type chisel. I like the handles you made, and in no way am I putting down your work. Just a question I have never seen answered in all the books, articles I've read. I think it's a great thing that you took the iniative to take an article known to be among the best made, and greatly improved it's cosmetic and eroganomic appeal.

[David DeCristoforo]

Cocobolo....Ebony...sweeeet! You are going to love using these.

[Mike Henderson]

They sure look good Mike. One question always bugged me about chisels with deep sockets like these, (not just yours but all types). Why doesn't the wooden handle sink all the way into the socket? Is it because the first turnings (Rings) are to soft? Fragile? I know we can turn the shaft a little more and make them fit deeper into the socket. Seems to be a design thing with this type chisel. I like the handles you made, and in no way am I putting down your work. Just a question I have never seen answered in all the books, articles I've read. I think it's a great thing that you took the iniative to take an article known to be among the best made, and greatly improved it's cosmetic and eroganomic appeal.
Dave, I think when you have a handle in a chisel socket, the one thing you don't want is to have the handle bottom out. As long as it doesn't bottom out, it just gets tighter as the handle is driven into the socket. But if it bottoms out, the handle could be loose and the metal part could come off and drop on your foot (for example). I see nothing wrong with making the cone just the right shape and taking the end of the wood closer to the bottom. As long as you're monitoring it, you can cut a small amount off the end of the cone if it bottoms out.

BTW, I'm aware that ebony is not a good choice for a handle because the wood is too brittle. But the ebony sure looks good when it's all polished up and mated to the steel. I suppose if I have to pound on one of them, I'll pull the ebony or cocobolo handle off and put the stock handle back on.

Thank you everyone for your comments.

Mike

[Pat Zabrocki]

The handles aren't supposed to fit snug for a very good reason that I found out the hard way.

I made some Bocote handles for some chisels I got on the bay. Did it during the summer so I could give them to my brother as a gift in September. I made real sure the handles fit perfect! They mated right at the socket, he loved them. When he got them out in December to work the handles fell right off. The wood needs to be about 1/8 of inch above the socket to account for expansion and contraction. Needless to say, he gets new handles as soon as I can get up to Nebraska and retrieve them.

cheers
Pat

[Martin Shupe]

The handles look nice. I am in the same boat as you, and only buy one LN chisel here or there - which is only one so far. The one I do have is everything they say it is, though (it's a 5/16th mortise chisel). It holds an edge a very long time, and I haven't chipped it. I already have too many bench chisels as a beginner to go after any new LN sets, and I'm kind of waiting to see if they release any specialty chisels in the future (skew chisels, dovetail chisels, ...).

David,

Check the LN website, they offer skew chisels, right and left pairs, in 3 different sizes. I like mine.

[Mike Henderson]

The handles look nice. I am in the same boat as you, and only buy one LN chisel here or there - which is only one so far. The one I do have is everything they say it is, though (it's a 5/16th mortise chisel). It holds an edge a very long time, and I haven't chipped it. I already have too many bench chisels as a beginner to go after any new LN sets, and I'm kind of waiting to see if they release any specialty chisels in the future (skew chisels, dovetail chisels, ...).
This is just my opinion - for what that's worth.

For skew chisels, you generally don't need a real top end chisel. You don't use skews that much - most people only use them to clean out dovetails. So the best thing to do is buy a couple of old "beater" chisels and then grind a skew on them - left and right. If you sharpen them nicely, I think you'll find that they work very well for you.

And if you're going to use them for dovetails, get narrow chisels so you can get into small dovetail slots. I bought two 1/4" Marples (Irwin) chisels (less than $10 each) and ground them to a skew. Never felt I needed anything more.

Mike

[added note] And for dovetail chisels, take a chisel and grind the bevel on the side all the way down to the back edge on both sides. That will allow you to get into the corners of dovetails.

[Eddie Darby]

I take it you have big hands. Perhaps LN should offer different sized handles for different sized hands.

Nice work!!!:)

[Dave Ray]

"The handles aren't supposed to fit snug for a very good reason that I found out the hard way."

Thanks Mike and Pat. Makes much more sense to me now.

[Mike Cutler]

Mike

You're going to like those chisels a lot.

I had the same hesitation that you did concerning the cost, but the stuff I read posted here eventually convinced me to buy them. I got the bigger set and took the "hit" all at once figuring if I didn't like them I could resale them. Needless to say that wont be happening.

My hands are 8 1/2" long, I have guitar players fingers, and those chisels fit just fine right out of the box. Enough handle length for dexterity,and enough size to keep it from rolling around in my palm. I may try a different length as you did and see how they fit. I think the ebony looks great. I also wouldn't worry too much, because I have a feeling you won't be inclined to "pound on them".;)

[Ruston Hughes]

Very nice handles Mike. If you don't have a use for the old handles and would be willing to sell them please shoot me a PM. I've got a few old chisels that are in need.

[Michael Hammers]

I am sure a LN chisel's are wonderful...but is it not merely a clone of an old Stanley socket chisel with A2 steel? I mean it is the steel that makes the difference. A2 is A2. If you are serious about the edge and metallurgy I would think that hand forged or older steel would be better, so in the end is not all your buying an expensive clone with hard steel? I say either save the money and get an older set or save UP your money and get Barr, contact Cape Forge or perhaps look at the better Far East types. The difference between hand forged steel and A2 stock is vast. IMHO.

[Mike Henderson]

I am sure a LN chisel's are wonderful...but is it not merely a clone of an old Stanley socket chisel with A2 steel? I mean it is the steel that makes the difference. A2 is A2. If you are serious about the edge and metallurgy I would think that hand forged or older steel would be better, so in the end is not all you're buying an expensive clone with hard steel? I say either save the money and get an older set or save UP your money and get Barr, contact Cape Forge or perhaps look at the better Far East types. The difference between hand forged steel and A2 stock is vast. IMHO.
There's a number of "advantages" to the LN chisels that I see after owning them for a few days (compared to other chisels I own). They're machined accurately. The back is flat and the sides are parallel. The socket is tilted upward slightly so that you can almost lay the back flat on the wood (the 750 may be made the same way - don't know). The steel is good, but as you point out, A2 is A2.

I'm sure that the Barr, Cape Forge or Blue Spruce are also excellent chisels. Or are you saying that the design of the Barr or Cape Forge is superior to the LN chisels?

I don't see why hand forged steel would be "better" than A2 - it would depend upon what steel you hand forged. More than likely it would be a carbon steel, maybe like O1, which has certain advantages over A2, but certain disadvantages, also. Certainly, there's no reason to suspect that "old" steel is any better than modern steel.

Mike

[added note] One thing I wish LN had done is stamp the size on each chisel. Not a big deal, but a nice extra.

[Ken Werner]

Hi Mike,
Congratulations on your new chisels. After alot of stewing, I bought the LN 5 piece set a few months ago. I am sure you'll really enjoy them. My only gripe about the original handles is that with the was finish alone, they started looking grubby very quickly. Not from use as much as the grey grime of honing. Some coats of shellac solved that.

I have to disrespectfully disagree with you on putting the size on the chisel. Esthetically, I really dislike seeing the size stamped on a chisel. No accounting for taste, just wanted to post the opposing view. I prefer the clean look of minimal marks. I think the maker's stamp on the flat side of the chisels is cool.

All the best,
Ken