Ashley Iles MK2 - Overall Length

[Lou Yelgin]

I have a few Ashley Iles MK2 chisels (1/8, 1/4) with a few other sizes on back order. I wanted to get a head start on making a wooden storage box for them, but I could not find the overall lengths anywhere. Would someone be willing to measure and post the overall lengths of of the 3/4" and 1" MK2 chisels?

Thank you very much.

Lou

[Frederick Skelly]

Lou,
I cant help with size because I dont have any yet. But in the past when I've built the box before I received the tool, I have called my supplier for the dimensions and they are always helpful. Even if they are out of stock, they can probably give you a good number (if the guys here cant).

How about telling us how you like the Iles you already received?

Fred

[Nicholas Lawrence]

My 1” is just about 10 inches. The 3/4 might be 1/4 shorter. Here is a picture of all six in a rack.

55ABC360-0481-48C5-B0EE-C0E72707E014.jpg

[Kevin Adams]

Nicholas, are you happy with the AI chisels? Any issues?

Thanks.
Kevin

[Frederick Skelly]

Nicholas, are you happy with the AI chisels? Any issues?

Thanks.
Kevin

Kevin, he has a lengthy post on thst in my "experiment" thread. See post #12, maybe that will help.
Fred

[Nicholas Lawrence]

I like them. Ferrules loosened over the winter. I tapped them with a nail and they hold fine now. Not an issue for me, but might bother some, so I thought I would mention it.

[Frederick Skelly]

I like them. Ferrules loosened over the winter. I tapped them with a nail and they hold fine now. Not an issue for me, but might bother some, so I thought I would mention it.

I noticed that The Best Things webpage specifically calls that out and says it's not an 'if' the ferrel will loosen, but rather a 'when'. Sounds manageable from your description though.

[Phil Mueller]

I have a set of their butt chisels. And yes, the ferrules loosen on those as well. Easy to fix. Been eyeing the MK2s myself.

[Kevin Adams]

Thanks, I bought one of their butt chisels to try it out and so far like the steel a lot. I did see that note about the ferrules from The Best Things, as well. I might try one or two of the MK II.

Thanks again.
Kevin

[Lou Yelgin]

I've only used the 1/4" MK2 chisel and I like it very much. The steel is excellent. It only required minimal honing and the handle fits my hand perfectly. There were a few dings on the handle that I easily sanded out and then refinished the bubinga.

I previously had a set of 8 Narex Premium Imperials chisels that I returned because the handles on the larger sizes (5/8, 3/4, 7/8, 1) were huge. I toyed with the idea of removing the handles and reshaping them on my lathe. I tried to remove the handles by clamping the metal blade in a machinist's vise and gently banging on the ferrule with a piece of wood and a hammer. I could not budge the blade from the handle. I did not want to hit too hard for fear of damaging the ferrule and then not being able to return the set to Amazon. I thought the metal tangs were epoxied into the handle. But, I subsequently heard back from Narex that they do not epoxy the blades into the handles.

Hope this information helps someone who does want to reshape the Narex handles. I'm glad I switched to the Ashley Iles MK2 chisels even though they were 3X the price of the Narex chisels. I really only needed the smaller sizes (1/8, 1/4, 3/8, 1/2) for dovetailing and have larger vintage chisels for my other work.

Lou