David Savage on Lie-Nielsen chisels

[Aaron Rappaport]

What sort of stone did Paul Sellers use to achieve his 250 grit edge? I ask because if he used a 250 grit india stone then one could wonder if it cuts finer than a 250 grit waterstone for the same reason that it cuts slower - the grit isn't as sharp (as evidenced by electron microscope photos in, e.g., Leonard Lee's book on sharpening). If he used an old 250 grit diamond stone, then that also might be cutting finer and slower than a 250 grit waterstone. Anyone have any thoughts on what the equivalent waterstone grit would be?

-- Aaron

[marty shultz]

This is an interesting thread that has covered several topics.

Having taught many classes and received many reviews from adult students I can say that few teachers exist who's stye appeal to everyone. I find it interesting that a teacher can receive 25 A+ grades, and one D grade from students who sat in the same classroom. I would consistently get comments from the same class like "please go faster" and "please slow down"; "I want more detail" and "too much information for a class like this".

Communication is a two way street. Sometimes the instructor can mis-speak which causes a lot of confusion. Sometimes the correctly spoken message isn't the message received by the student. Students go on mental vacations, mis-interpret what was said, and get confused with the amount of information coming their way.

There is a fine line between arrogance and confidence. If you're not a confident instructor some may not think you are very good. Over confidence can be misinterpreted as arrogance.

I consider people's reviews "one persons opinion". If an expert is recommending a tool to me I don't necessarily think it will work best for me because my mental and physical abilities are different than theirs. But, the tool is probably worth looking at.

[Brian Holcombe]

Only thing that aggravates me about this review is that Lie Nielsen offers O1 chisels, so if A2 is so damning why not buy the O1 chisel? I bought a set with long handles for paring, since they are 25 degree and apparently are capable of being made sharper.

[Joel Goodman]

Only thing that aggravates me about this review is that Lie Nielsen offers O1 chisels, so if A2 is so damning why not buy the O1 chisel? I bought a set with long handles for paring, since they are 25 degree and apparently are capable of being made sharper.

+1 -- maybe the "reviewer" should look at the catalogue or website before writing.

[David Weaver]

If it's a regurgitated review from years ago, it'll be prior to LN making 01 chisels. Actually, it wasn't even that many years ago that LN had no chisels at all.

Being made sharper is dependent on abrasive. If you got some cheap diamond powder and put it on MDF with a little bit of oil, you'd never be able to tell the difference between the two in sharpness. Same is the case with most of the ceramic stones.

[Brian Holcombe]

I'm not terribly worried about that, I bought them for the 25 degree angle.

I sharpen to 6000 grit on Japanese water stones.

[Hilton Ralphs]

If it's a regurgitated review from years ago, it'll be prior to LN making 01 chisels.

If it is then surely he should have reassessed his views before sending out an email?

Sloppy and lazy.

[Brian Holcombe]

The O1 25 degree chisels are great, I bought them with paring handles and sharpened them. They were pretty damn near flat out of the box but definitely needed some work to get them paring with ease. They are doing the job with a touch more ease then my 30 degree chisels honed to 6k.