I believe the metal in my current chisels is too soft. I tire having to sharpen them so often.
Ken
So much to learn, so little time.....
If you want Western chisels for a good price and steel that's actually not all that bad for a Western chisels I would recommend these: https://www.fine-tools.com/mhg.html
I can understand that, I have chisels on the other end of the scale. 19th century laminated English maker chisels are common enough and well made. As far as contemporary makers go, I lean strongly toward Japanese.
I’ve user plenty of contemporary western chisels but don’t prefer them, they often combine abrasion resistant steel with billet construction to make a chisel that requires considerable tempering to retain flexibility while also requiring synthetic abrasives and grinders to sharpen them.
Laminated construction allows the best of both worlds, soft enough to handle shock but hard at the edge and able to be sharpened on natural abrasives.
I have a set of Lie Nielsens and also some of these.
https://www.lowes.com/search?searchTerm=wood+chisels
I inherited my first 19th Century English chisel in 1975, but it is only in the last ten years that I have gone to all 19th c English. They sharpen very easily, have a very fine edge, and last a long time with good sharpness. I don't like stainless steel or semi stainless.
Imperial makes no sense so it's better to switch :P
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
If you are willing to pay the cost of changing every chisel, drill bit, plane blade and ruler in my shop over to metric, then it would make sense to switch. Until then my tools will remain as the are an eclectic mix of three different systems of measurement designations.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
In that case, my recommendation would by the Veritas Chisels made with PM-v11. My only tool with a PM-v11 blade is a spokeshave. It is amazing at how much longer it goes between sharpening than any of my other spokeshave blades. It also appears to be more chip resistant than my main A1 blade. The chipping on the A1 maybe due more to its use almost exclusively for shooting. It is also honed to 25º without a secondary bevel.
If you only need a few sizes, then PM-v11 may be the way to go. If you know you will eventually want a full set, may as well step up and get while the getting is good.
jtk
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)
Last edited by Jim Koepke; 02-12-2019 at 3:55 PM. Reason: wording
"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
- Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)