Spruce

[Kyle Foster]

Yes, two by fours can be hard on chisels. You can have areas with surprisingly large voids between growth rings (which I think causes the ripping you are seeing) lots of sap, and knots, all of which can be very hard for a “softwood.”

Sharp chisels will help, but even with sharp tools spruce is aggravating.

I already have the lumber so I would like to continue with it with spruce. What if I were to drill the mortise and pare the sides?

[Robert Hazelwood]

You need to get yourself set up for sharpening and give those edges some attention. You need to be at max sharpness to get clean results on this sort of wood.

Yes, drilling and paring will probably give cleaner results than chopping on this kind of wood. Trying to remove any significant amount of wood at one time will usually pull out chunks from the grain.

[Malcolm Schweizer]

The grain is stringy and therefore hard to work. I’m using it extensively in my boat build on the boat section of this forum. It’s beautiful and lightweight but especially hard to work with the grain- even with (forgive me) power tools.

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[Jim Morgan]

I wonder if drilling it our and then paring it would be a better solution?

Drilling what out? What are you trying to do? If cutting mortises - yes, drill out most of the waste & pare to your layout lines.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

I am not telling you to quit. My children eat dinner sitting on a bench I made from a spruce 2x10. Nothing wrong with it.

Sharpen your chisels. I am not a driller, but it works for some people. If you want my advice (I am not a guru) look up Paul Sellers on youtube. He has a video about chopping a mortise. He does it behind glass, so you can see what is happening inside the mortise as you chop. I learned more from watching that than I did from mangling a bunch of practice mortises.

Do your mortises the width of your chisel, the way Sellers does. You will have nice even sides. The only ugliness should be at the ends, but it should be plenty strong with good glue contact on the sides, and the ugly parts will be covered by the shoulders of the mortise so nobody will see it anyway.

I already have the lumber so I would like to continue with it with spruce. What if I were to drill the mortise and pare the sides?

[Kyle Foster]

You need to get yourself set up for sharpening and give those edges some attention. You need to be at max sharpness to get clean results on this sort of wood.

Yes, drilling and paring will probably give cleaner results than chopping on this kind of wood. Trying to remove any significant amount of wood at one time will usually pull out chunks from the grain.

What do I have to do to get set up for sharpening? I wasn't prepared to sharpen yet.

[Andrew Joiner]

Head over to the Neander forum and all your questions will be answered. They'll even answer questions you didn't know you had. Before too long, you'll have more answers than you'll know what to do with, but you'll have $5000 in Japanese chisels and sharpening stones. (Shaptons are the way to go, BTW.)

That's funny Dave. I think the neander forum could easily tease the power tool woodworkers too. I laugh when a discussion goes from " is brand x power tool good for" to "I have a garage full of Martin machines and my spouse thinks"

[Nicholas Lawrence]

What do I have to do to get set up for sharpening? I wasn't prepared to sharpen yet.

What kind of chisels do you have? What other gear do you have that needs to be sharp? People get passionate about sharpening around here, so you will probably get lots of advice, and lots of folks get convinced their way is the best way.

If you have a flat piece of something you can use sandpaper as a quick way to get going (do a search for “scary sharp”). If you want to use high dollar chisels made out of A2 steel, or the new Lee Valley steel, you will probably want a waterstone of some sort.

I stick to 01 and old carbon steel, and have found oilstones seem to work well for me. A medium or fine India stone is cheap and will get a better edge than what you probably have “out of the box.” You will want something finer later though.

Don’t run out and spend $400 on stones. Talk to some people and think about it, and if possible get together with somebody and look at their setup before you start spending a lot of money. Listen to what works for them and why, and then compare that to your situation and what you want to do.

[Kyle Foster]

What kind of chisels do you have? What other gear do you have that needs to be sharp? People get passionate about sharpening around here, so you will probably get lots of advice, and lots of folks get convinced their way is the best way.

If you have a flat piece of something you can use sandpaper as a quick way to get going (do a search for “scary sharp”). If you want to use high dollar chisels made out of A2 steel, or the new Lee Valley steel, you will probably want a waterstone of some sort.

I stick to 01 and old carbon steel, and have found oilstones seem to work well for me. A medium or fine India stone is cheap and will get a better edge than what you probably have “out of the box.” You will want something finer later though.

Don’t run out and spend $400 on stones. Talk to some people and think about it, and if possible get together with somebody and look at their setup before you start spending a lot of money. Listen to what works for them and why, and then compare that to your situation and what you want to do.

For gear that I have that needs to be sharp, not much. A set of 4 chisels from harbor freight, a plane iron, and a couple of brace bits. I am quite literally doing a fresh start and have a box of tools. No bench yet. I am building sawhorses so that way I can be up off the ground building my bench.

[Kyle Foster]

That's funny Dave. I think the neander forum could easily tease the power tool woodworkers too. I laugh when a discussion goes from " is brand x power tool good for" to "I have a garage full of Martin machines and my spouse thinks"

I am planning on going full neanderthal, but I felt that the question would be better answered by a broader audience. I also wanted to see if the power tool guys had the same issues that I did.

[Nicholas Lawrence]

If you look around you should be able to find a Norton medium or fine India stone for about $20. Maybe a combination stone with both grits for about that much. That will get you started, and will be a lot better than whatever edge Harbor Freight sold the chisels with.

If you plan to use a sharpening jig, you will want something like an 8 x 3 stone. if you don’t need the jig, you can get good results with smaller stones. the India stones are so cheap, you can probably get the big one if you aren’t sure what you will be doing. If you want a reasonably cheap jig, look for the “eclipse” style. You can get them new for about $10 last I looked.

If you don’t want to wait for a stone to arrive, run down to your local hardware or auto parts store. Get some 240 grit and 400 grit sandpaper. Find something flat and do the “scary sharp” method. Eventually you will get tired of buying sandpaper and want to buy stones.

People will tell you about their stones, and recommend particular brands. What they tell you about the wonderful edges they get off those stones is true (probably, some of it anyway), but you can easily spend hundreds on stones. You can do that if you want to, but you do not have to.

[David Bassett]

... As for sharpening, I dont have a sharpening station yet so out of the box will have to do until I can get a bench built. ....

This is your primary problem here.

Out of the box sharp is not sharp! Use a kitchen counter, a tree stump, anything to sharpen those tools!

Cut the fibres don’t rip them!

Yes, what he said!

For gear that I have that needs to be sharp, not much. A set of 4 chisels from harbor freight, a plane iron, and a couple of brace bits. I am quite literally doing a fresh start and have a box of tools. No bench yet. I am building sawhorses so that way I can be up off the ground building my bench.

Unfortunately, HF tools vary so much it's really hard to know what you have. (Some people have had good luck, but often the heat treat is so poor and inconsistent the cutting tools are unusable.)

If you don't get what you have to work, Chris Schwarz's gift guide at PopWood has "cheap" chisels he has found acceptable: Day 8: Buck Bros. Chisels (Note: acceptable, not great! Read his description before deciding for yourself.)

What do I have to do to get set up for sharpening? I wasn't prepared to sharpen yet.

It's real easy to spend your money on "good stuff". (And there is a lot of good stuff to suit each of our tastes. I was semi-serious about the Sigma waterstones or diamond plates & Spyderco stones. Shaptons are good stuff too.) But, none of those suggestions leverage your local conditions to optimize your budget. At the most basic you need abrasive that will cut your steel, to abrade away the dull bits, and something flat so you have a consistent frame of reference. MDF is cheap and flat, but not water proof, and makes a very short term substrate. If you have a glass or counter top shop you can get scraps from that would be ideal. (Chris Schwarz suggests a granite floor tile, see Day 9. That'd be good too, if flat.) You can then start with sandpaper, of various grits, on your substrate with a little (slightly!) soapy water and be very successful. (Auto parts stores, that have paint, will usually have finer grades of sandpaper than your big box or local hardware stores.)

Or, this:

If you look around you should be able to find a Norton medium or fine India stone for about $20. ...

For now, get something to get going. Once you are successful with one system you can evaluate your skill, space, and budget and decide if you want to upgrade.

[Jim Koepke]

Yes, spruce can be a difficult wood to work. Sharpness in the extreme will help.

All of the above is good information.

Especially the part about taking your time before settling on a sharpening system.

For the beginning set up the scary sharp system of using abrasive sheets on a flat surface is good for the economy and the learning experience. After time it becomes a bit tedious as the costs mount from having to buy new abrasive material.

One also needs to consider if they will be able to use one single system for all their sharpening needs or will they need multiple systems.

My sharpening needs range between everything from kitchen knives to garden tools. With metals ranging from aluminum or brass to today's hardest steels.

Sharpening can make a mess. Either from a powered grinder or the slurry from waterstones. Even an oilstones can leave a bit of a mess in their use.

Having a dedicated area to contain the mess or a system to contain it at your bench is something to consider.

It is also a good idea to make sharpening easy. If it is a pain to get out the sharpening equipment one is likely to continue using a dull tool.

jtk

[Kyle Foster]

So I'm off to the store tonight to get some wet/dry paper and some glass. What do you guys think of using lexan instead of glass? I'm just afraid of knocking it over and having a mess to clean up.

[David Bassett]

... What do you guys think of using lexan instead of glass? ....

Intuitively lexan seems more flexible than glass, so easier to bow and lose "flat". But with a smooth fairly flat surface, (table, counter, or workbench,) I don't see why it wouldn't work just fine.