A friend, who was a wood shop teacher for 35 years has told me on several occasion that the most dangerous tool in the shop is a ......Sharp chisel. And though in reality any tool can be dangerous this one tool can do enormous damage with very little carelessness. As to the question. I have a variety of chisels,some Freuds, and some Japanese that are Rockwell hardness of 63 to 65. I have others that I bought at garage sales and antique stores. The biggest common denominator to making them work for us is a good sharpening system and taking the time to sharpen them. Love the Tormek. The only way to slice...I mean fly? Oh...Terry , dang thats nasty Dale S. Erwin www.Erwinspiano.com Custom piano restoration Ronsen piano hammers-sales R & D and tech support Sitka soundboard panels 209-577-8397 209-985-0990 -----Original Message----- From: David Skolnik <davidskolnik at optonline.net> To: pianotech at ptg.org Sent: Sat, Oct 9, 2010 6:36 am Subject: Re: [pianotech] Of Chisels So, Terry, Good information, but you could perhaps clear up one source ofconfusion. Is the graphic you supplied meant to support the use ofJapanese style chisels? If so, it's a somewhat questionablemarketing strategy. For the more science-oriented among us, Isuppose you'd have wanted include one that depicts your skills with amore conventional, or inexpensive tool, to demonstrate the difference,though perhaps you ran out of volunteers. Or was this just aby-product of the sharpening process? Honestly, I can't figure out howyou can do that with a chisel, Japanese or otherwise, unless your pointis how well they remove sutures. I would say that that digital photo's a keeper, though, if this is ahabit of yours, I'd tattoo some digits on those digits. Heal well. David Skolnik Hastings on Hudson, NY Meanwhile, being serious, here's another interesting and perhapsuseful web-site: http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/ Bottom line is that I do believethat "good" chisels are better than "cheap" and worthit for the professional woodworker. My Japanese chisels are like these Usu Nomi - Japanese ParingChisels: http://www.fine-tools.com/usu-nomi.html I can get these things so sharp it's scary....... Hope this helps. Terry Farrell On Oct 9, 2010, at 5:11 AM, David Boyce wrote: Speak to me of chisels,folks. What makes them able to take a good edge or not? Over the years I've bought "bargain" chisels, and sharpenedthem to what felt like a good edge, only to find that they wont cut woodby hand unaided but have to be battered with a mallet. it dauntsone's confidence. The other day I was enlarging a mortice inthe front door of my mother's house so as to fit a new lock, and asujsual was struggling with a cheap chisel. Then I dug out a coupleof my late father's old chisels, very churned-up at the tip, but adecent make (Marples) and sharpened them, to find that they cutwell. What is the difference in the metal? Why don't some cut even thoughthey feel sharp to the finger? Many years ago, back in nineteen-canteen in High School, I got an A inthe woodwork exam. But we were never initiated into the myteries ofcheap v. good chisels. I await pearls of wisdom, knowing that on this list i am bound to get'em.... Best, David Boyce. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20101009/aa66c7cb/attachment-0001.htm> -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: image/jpeg Size: 60539 bytes Desc: not available URL: <http://ptg.org/pipermail/pianotech.php/attachments/20101009/aa66c7cb/attachment-0001.jpeg>
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