Comments on: Hugemongous Flea Market. One Purchase.

By: Gye Greene

Gye Greene — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:59:43 +0000

Alex,

Good tips; saved to HD!

–Gye Greene

By: Alex Rowat

Alex Rowat — Tue, 15 Dec 2009 11:55:55 +0000

Hey, I’m a journeyman carpenter up in Canada .. a quick point about your chisel. The first guy’s right, that’s an old framing slick, which is just a big firmer chisel, basically. To answer a later poster, no, they don’t really make mortise chisels bigger than about 3/4″ or so .. if you need to make a mortise bigger than that (such as in timber framing, or constructing a workbench) you bore the centre with a brace or auger, then pare the walls with a slick or large paring chisel. It’s way faster, and the way it’s done traditionally to boot. Old timers didn’t like wasting time and effort trying to chisel out huge mortises either About the handle – the guy with the torch/drill idea, that’s gonna be the fastest. Just make sure you stop with the fire if the steel starts to discolour, and quench it in some water or oil quick. Easiest way to make a new handle (and makes the nicest handles if you ask me) is to cut a square blank a little oversize, say 1/4″ to 1/2″ in width and exactly to length (you’ll see why in a sec). Rough your tenon out square, then octagonal, then use the above guy’s method of trial fitting, rubbing it around, and then paring the shiny spots until it seats firmly. THEN carve the handle in line with the chisel – first square and parallel with the blade, then octagonal, using a drawknife/block plane/chisel/your teeth. You can round it further if you want, though I like the octagonal ones myself. Both are historically accurate. And the reason you wait to straighten the handle is because on those old chisels, the socket on them is frequently not perfectly even or parallel to the blade. You could theoretically make the handle perfectly straight and it would still be crooked. Wow that went on for a while. Good luck.

By: Gye Greene

Gye Greene — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:53:01 +0000

Huge mortising chisels: Well, my wife’s uncle (apprenticed as a carpenter, back in the day) thinks I’m a bit idealistic (or a glutton for punishment) for wanting to mortise out by hand: he says the sensible way to do it is to use a drill press to get rid of most of the ”meat”, and then tidy it up with a chisel…

Googling ”timber framing tools” yields a few examples, from various online shops. The chisels look like yours — just a bit bigger, mayhaps. (This place has ones that look similar to yours, at 1″, 1.5″, and 2″ wide (and 7″ long). —

http://www.timbertools.com/Products/Hand-Tools/Framing_Bench_Chisels.html )

–GG

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 14:25:06 +0000

Gye: In your first link, those things only go up to 1/2″ – surely “true” mortise chisels go further than that? And thanks for the Follansbee link. I think the Sorby in the last picture in that post is probably what I’ll base my handle off of. Now I need to figure out where to get the hoop/ferrule for the top and bottom of the handle (if I’m using the right lingo). And figure out how to get it to stay put!

By: Gye Greene

Gye Greene — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:55:33 +0000

OK – a very timely blog posting, from a guy who knows his chisels — http://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/2009/10/16/new-mortise-chisel/

(How incorrect was I…?)

–GG

By: Gye Greene

Gye Greene — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:48:29 +0000

Hm. Actually, I think I’m wrong. Maybe those **are** “true” mortise chisels, and THESE are sash m. chisels — http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/browseproducts/Sorby-Sash-Mortise-Chisel-Set.HTML

–GG

By: Gye Greene

Gye Greene — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 03:44:25 +0000

It’s actually **good** that’s there’s still a chunk of wood in the end of the chisel: if not, some people try banging on the flange(?-terminology), thus mushing it all out of shape.

Maybe this is a good excuse to get a tabletop lathe…?

Mortise chisel: my understanding is that they should have a cross-section approaching a square, or thicker. That way they don’t twist in the mortise, as you’re chopping it.

True mortise chisels are hard to find: I’ve only found one place online that lists them. Most are actually “sash” mortises.

My understanding is that these — http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/indextool.mvc?prodid=MS-MORT.XX — are actually more like sash mortises. But your other readers may disagree…

–GG

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:29:06 +0000

Oh duh! Yeah, now that I re-read Dan’s comment I see what he was talking about.

I was going to start by trying to twist that stump out with a pair of pliers but that’s probably pretty naive, huh?

By: jake Gest

jake Gest — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 02:06:34 +0000

Yeah, I too would not even know where to start as far as making those handles go (I’ve never done any turning though.. so that could be a big reason)

I think Dan is talking about how to get the old handle out. I would think you’d have to be really careful not to break a drill bit if you did that and with the torch you’d just want to be careful not to heat up the steel too much.

By: Eric

Eric — Mon, 19 Oct 2009 00:33:51 +0000

Jake: I like the look of those handles too – but wow, that looks like it’d be a major project! Maybe I’m just easily intimidated.

Gary: Thanks for the ID – appreciate that. I’ve seen “firmer chisels” on eBay but never really knew the difference between those and “proper” mortise chisels.

Dan: Drilling and burning? I have no idea what you’re talking about. Of course, there’s a proper galoot in town so I think I’ll give him a buzz!!!