Chisel set up and aside for softwoods

[Tony Wilkins]

Do any of you have a chisel (chisels) set up with a lower bevel angle for use on pine and other soft woods? If so, what angle and chisel do you choose for this?

[Brian Holcombe]

Not usually, I find that if they’re very sharp the standard bevel angle is fine.

[Kevin Smira]

I have a 1/2 and a 1/4 both ground to 17degreea.

[Derek Cohen]

Not usually, I find that if they’re very sharp the standard bevel angle is fine.

Agree. My bench chisels are 30 degrees since they may be tapped with a hammer. My paring chisels (Japanese) are 25 degrees. No need to go lower.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Stewie Simpson]

Keep an open mind gents. 10 degree convex bevel (measured from the center point of the curve. W1 steel. Parring both Cypress Pine and Aust.Jarrah. The cutting edge did not fold or chip, but required a light work out on the loaded strop to complete the parring work on the Jarrah. Am I recommending we all ignore the western standard of 20 degrees for parring chisels. No. But don't expect a parring chisel that's been hollow ground at 20 degrees with a light micro bevel to hold its edge for too long.

[Patrick Chase]

Keep an open mind gents. 10 degree convex bevel (measured from the center point of the curve. W1 steel.

For edge life all that matters is the angle at the very tip (say, the last 1/100" or so). Do you happen to know how convex that bevel was?

[ernest dubois]

For edge life all that matters is the angle at the very tip (say, the last 1/100" or so). Do you happen to know how convex that bevel was?

And what lies behind this 1/100th has no relevance?

[Derek Cohen]

Stewie, I am curious to know why 10 degrees? I might add the same question for those who believe any especially low angle is beneficial - at what point is the apparent edge penetration more important than edge holding? How many strokes are acceptable before rehoning such low angles - 2, 3, 4?

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Patrick Chase]

And what lies behind this 1/100th has no relevance?

Not to edge wear, which is what Stewie was addressing. It obviously matters to strength and stiffness, but I'm not surprised that Stewie found 10 deg to be adequate in those respects.

[bridger berdel]

I have enough chisels that i have multiples of most common sizes. What I generally do when i acquire a new (rust hunt) chisel is flatten the back and grind the bevel to a little lower than i think reasonable for what i guess the chisel to be. Then in use i'll gradually increase the microbevel until i get reasonable edge life. All done freehand, so i don't know or care what the numbers are. In use i'll grab the chisel that looks best set up for the job at hand, so to answer the OP's question, sort of but not really.

[John C Cox]

It's pretty common with guitar work to have a couple chisels ground really low for fine work on spruce and cedar guitar top wood and brace shaving...

I have been trying to find a chisel or two for this duty.. Unfortunately - "any old chisel" won't do... They have to be pretty good steel properly hardened and tempered to hold up at these low angles. And it seems like this duty favors a good fine grained high carbon steel chisel...

I will say another alternative (which Brian and Derek kinda point towards) is a super hard chisel sharpened at a more conventional 25 degrees or so.. A chisel that's up at Rc 63+ has a very different feel on the wood than a conventionally prepared western chisel.. They feel "slick" and smooth in the wood.. And they do pare very well... Japanese chisels are the first obvious place to look - you can buy them like this, and they have already sorted it out.... But a re-hardened and minimally tempered new production Buck Bro's has a similar feel in hand and performance doing gentle paring (though the edge doesn't hold up as well.. Technique is critical - as the hard, chippy edge cannot withstand prying or impact.)

[Jim Koepke]

My paring chisels are my set of Buck Brothers chisels. All with a flat bevel at ~15-20º.

Most of my work is in soft woods like pine and firs.

jtk

[ernest dubois]

Not to edge wear, which is what Stewie was addressing. It obviously matters to strength and stiffness, but I'm not surprised that Stewie found 10 deg to be adequate in those respects.

And strength and stiffness have nothing to do with edge wear?

[Brian Holcombe]

Paring is pretty low impact Ernest, I've experienced it being more critical for chopping.

[Patrick Chase]

And strength and stiffness have nothing to do with edge wear?

They do, but bending moment in the blade increases linearly from edge to handle, so the loads out at the tip are smaller than a lot of people think (provided you don't apply high twisting loads, which you shouldn't). The tip is subject to compressive loads, but a 10 deg bevel would be able to withstand those for paring.

Also, if the bevel is continuously convex like Stewie's and if the first 1/100" is pitched at, say, 20 degrees, then we know that the next 1/100" isn't going to be much less than that, etc. If you honed a 10 deg primary bevel and then put a very thin higher-angle microbevel on that then you might have a problem with buckling/folding, but that's not what he did.