Paring Chisels

[ken hatch]

I keep a diamond hone on the bench. When the edge needs touching up, I hit the hone, strop it on leather rawhide charged with green honing compound.
The edges are scalpel sharp. If the handles tend to fall off, sand the end that goes in the socket a bit and they don't fall off. I like the feel and balance.
My chisels never see a grinder.

Lowell,

Sounds like you have found a system that works for you, many never do.

Good on you,

ken

[Patrick Walsh]

Funny enough I just flattened the backs of these today.

I purchased a set of like seven used but new for a forum member about a year ago. I have used A couple but not all of them. I never set them up as they were plenty sharp when I purchased them.

I believe the seller said they had been setup but as I found today the backs were not even close to flat. Sadly the largest size and my favorite piece middle section of the tool was low in relation to the sides creating a pretty ugly ura after flattening

What are you gonna do ther tools for working not for looking at.

I tell you this they are sharp as can be now and pure joy in use. Worth every penny!

1402E0D9-655F-415D-AD37-E88BF15595EC.jpgA80C74F3-4EBB-4D59-8CA3-A41BFFE2B398.jpgC154C8B4-CDAA-47EE-BDF5-E5DE6E92CA35.jpg21CA630A-6C7C-43EB-A0AE-0DC0E3EE72F8.jpg1A292578-73C0-4EE5-AEE5-84C57397DA40.jpg20D3B740-7A97-417E-A520-9436D1918066.jpgD77FC2B1-2ABC-426E-AB93-79E231E1D375.jpg

[Matt Lau]

For those of you guys with both the Sorby and Blue Spruce paring chisels...what do you think?

A few years back, I bought a 1" Blue spruce paring chisel.
It's beautiful, well balanced, and a work of art.
However, I wasn't impressed with the sharpness, like with the chisels Stan got me.

Not sure about the Sorby's?

I'm intrigued about the flex (which my LMI chisels have in droves), but addicted to the pleasure of a truly sharp white steel chisel.

[James Waldron]

Jim,

You said it much better than I have, As a practical mater A2 is over rated for chisel use, YMMV. I have some PM v11 chisels, they are ok for chisel use but not life changing. It is really hard to beat plain HC steel for chisels. Best I can tell new pattern maker chisels other than Sorby do not exist.

ken

I've had a couple of thoughts I wish I had thought to include in my first post above:

First, my A2 chisels seem to feel still sharp and efficient when I can begin to see a bit of "roughness" on the cut surface of the wood. On inspection of the magnified edge, at this point, I begin to see some "micro-fractures" at the edge, but not enough to make the chisel drag in the cut. The Sorby chisels, on the other hand, seem to produce a good surface until I feel the edge begin to drag in the cut. Under magnification, there are no "micro-fractures but a general dulling of the edge pretty uniformly across the edge. The surface of the cut remains good to this point. In both these cases, a considerable amount of work gets done before the need to hone the edge.

Second, the Sorby is very quick and very easy to hone to a "wowser" edge on my ultrafine Spyderco; the A2 takes a materially longer effort, long enough to really interrupt the flow of my work. That is quite enough to relegate my A2 chisels to dust collectors.

[lowell holmes]

I just looked down the thread. One thing I think is that a chisel should never see grinder unless it was dropped and chipped, broken, or damaged.
A sharpening system using stones and strops should be in place. A coarse diamond stone will take a lot of metal off in a hurry. A finer diamond stone will
leave a smother surface. A good leather strop charged with green sharpening compound will produce razor sharp edges.
If you need to strike a chisel it should be a tap with mallet. I can chisel translucent shavings with my chisels.

My hones stay out on the bench during a woodworking session. If you have issues with honing by hand, practice.

Different strokes for different folks as the saying goes.

[Stanley Covington]

More than any other variety, paring chisels must cut smoothly, cleanly, and handle deftly. To this end, extreme sharpness is critical. And being able to restore that extreme sharpness quickly is important.

Barking up the wrong tree if you expect super sharpness and ease of sharpening from A2. Just ain't going to happen. If you believe otherwise, I suggest you expand your horizons.

I own and have used A2 chisels by several makers including Lee Nielson. I have owned and used Sorby paring chisels, back before they bothered to list the designation of the tool steel they used. It was obviously an alloy containing chrome and moly and vanadium of the type easy to stamp, machine, and heat treat without careful attention or much skill. They are all mass-produced, factory-run, machine cut and oven-heat treated tools. They are OK tools. But not good enough for paring.

Like Patrick said, nothing beats pure high carbon steel for a paring chisel. And to this I would add "hand-forged" for the further improvements it provides.

[John C Cox]

I have been casting about with my chisels trying to find one which will do well on end grain spruce for my guitar work..

Groan!

You would think that a wood so "soft" would be ridiculously easy to work end grain... But the stuff eats chisels in ways oak, cherry, and mahogany only dream of... The fibers are so long that it won't cut unless it's scalpel sharp... But then the hard grain lines seem to just roll that ultra fine sharp edge... Then they won't cut at all... Switch to mahogany and it acts like a fresh chisel.... But yep - the edge is rolled and it's done..:.

Do I just need to try a good Japanese paring chisel?

[Andrew Hughes]

I've noticed the same thing John, I do have Japanese push chisels and they do better then my Stanley's.
But I still use a slicing motion and take small bites.
Douglas fir is the worst with it's hard and soft layers.

[Patrick Chase]

For those of you guys with both the Sorby and Blue Spruce paring chisels...what do you think?

A few years back, I bought a 1" Blue spruce paring chisel.
It's beautiful, well balanced, and a work of art.
However, I wasn't impressed with the sharpness, like with the chisels Stan got me.

Blue Spruce's choice of A2 for paring chisels was/is insane IMO. Relative to high carbon steel as in Sorby, A2 gives you higher wear resistance at the cost of lower edge acuity and requiring a higher tip angle to avoid chipping. Paring chisels are typically used to take light, delicate cuts, preferably at low angles, so A2's attributes are simply inappropriate to the task.

It's a pity, because they're gorgeously made and finished tools.

[Stanley Covington]

I've noticed the same thing John, I do have Japanese push chisels and they do better then my Stanley's.
But I still use a slicing motion and take small bites.
Douglas fir is the worst with it's hard and soft layers.

Agreed. With the exception of the tropical hardwoods with their hardness and silica particles, DF is about as difficult to work cleanly with a paring chisel as can be found.

[Stanley Covington]

Funny enough I just flattened the backs of these today.

I purchased a set of like seven used but new for a forum member about a year ago. I have used A couple but not all of them. I never set them up as they were plenty sharp when I purchased them.

I believe the seller said they had been setup but as I found today the backs were not even close to flat. Sadly the largest size and my favorite piece middle section of the tool was low in relation to the sides creating a pretty ugly ura after flattening

What are you gonna do ther tools for working not for looking at.

I tell you this they are sharp as can be now and pure joy in use. Worth every penny!

1402E0D9-655F-415D-AD37-E88BF15595EC.jpgA80C74F3-4EBB-4D59-8CA3-A41BFFE2B398.jpgC154C8B4-CDAA-47EE-BDF5-E5DE6E92CA35.jpg21CA630A-6C7C-43EB-A0AE-0DC0E3EE72F8.jpg1A292578-73C0-4EE5-AEE5-84C57397DA40.jpg20D3B740-7A97-417E-A520-9436D1918066.jpgD77FC2B1-2ABC-426E-AB93-79E231E1D375.jpg

Patrick:

Beautiful chisels!

Imai san (Fujihiro brand) is a well-know 2nd generation Sanjo blacksmith.

I have a couple of his kanari-style paring chisels (relatively thin) I bought 6 or 7 years ago at a big discount from a hardware store here in Tokyo going out of business. I had never heard of him before then. They are easy to sharpen (Blue steel?), cut very well, fit into tight spots better than standard tsukinomi, and spend most of their time on my benchtop serving guard duty, but I pull out my Kiyotada chisels when I need to do serious paring. The flats were in good shape when new as I recall.

I have ordered his products for customers a couple of times when specifically requested, but his prices are higher than normal, and his delivery time is longer than normal (3 months), so it is difficult to order from him casually. The finish of his blades are above average, as are his prices. The chisels he has made for me have all been pretty flat. I am dismayed to hear that the flats on your chisels where badly out of tolerance. That is unacceptable.

I understand he spends his mornings working for someone else, and only works on his orders in the afternoon. I am told he has shifted his focus from chisels to blades for specialty planes. Strange.

The layered jigane is pretty, but I don't like it. I am always suspicious of polished blades since removing the oxide eliminates any tell-tale signs of heat treatment problems. But I doubt that's a problem with Imai san's blades.

Please let me know your impression after using them some.

Regards,

Stan

[John C Cox]

Sounds like I am not alone in my trouble with end grain spruce and doug fir...

What then is the trick for these? What do you guys like best when battling these end grain beasts...

[Brian Holcombe]

Patrick, those are looking pretty sweet. Nice work!

Here are my paring chisels, Konobu K120:

[Brian Holcombe]

Sounds like I am not alone in my trouble with end grain spruce and doug fir...

What then is the trick for these? What do you guys like best when battling these end grain beasts...

Softwoods, especially Fir and Western Red Cedar present a unique set of challenges, they’re easy to work and extraordinarily difficult to work to an exceptionally clean surface.

There are many tricks, I like to do almost all of the chopping work bevel down, and sharpen very often.

[Stanley Covington]

Sounds like I am not alone in my trouble with end grain spruce and doug fir...

What then is the trick for these? What do you guys like best when battling these end grain beasts...

1. Durable yet still effective cutting edge angle;
2. Sharp
3. Oilpot to reduce friction and improve control