Ok, I'm not looking to start a debate on best DT chisels. I'm thinking of adding one or two chisels specifically for cleaning up DT's. I have the set of Narex bench chisels which work well for me for general work. I'm in the middle of my first project hand cutting HBDT's and finding my chisels bruising the tail boards as I try to clean them up. Unable to handle chisels to see, I'm looking for people who already own these for their experience. I know that I want O1 steel and chisels with minimal side lands. Probably just in 1/4 and 3/8" widths. I have one Ashley Iles chisel (1/8") that I really like and am thinking of adding the two other sizes I'm seeking as I believe their lands to be minimal . AI seems to have more orders than stock at the moment as it appears TFWW shows most small sizes unavailable. The other option I've pegged down would be the Veritas bench chisels. The pictures make the sides look like they come to a sharp point, but hard to tell without handling one.
Can anyone here speak to the Veritas bench chisels and how small the side lands are?
(06-21-2017, 11:36 AM)cwarner Wrote: Can anyone here speak to the Veritas bench chisels and how small the side lands are?
They are Non-existent. Seriously. The Sides of these chisels come to an edge or point. I actually chased my edges with a few passes on a diamond stone to stop them from cutting me. They were seriously drawing blood as they came from Veritas.
I get the feeling that in development someone specified that it was important for a dovetail chisel to have a minimal side land and the engineer took that direction to its logical end.
That being said, I prefer these chisels for dovetail use as their length is quite nice and they can take quite a beating before needing resharpening.
My set was produced very early in the product life cycle so they may have modified the chisels a bit since then. I have not seen another set in the wild.
The list of O-1 chisels that have sharp arrises is very short. I couldn't think of any that are available from current sources. The Veritas chisels that were mentioned by Wayne fill the bill if you have the "bills" to afford them. They look wonderful. I have a few Lie-Nielsens in O-1, but they are no longer available.
Mike, you sure are right about the short list. I did think about possibly putting a WTB AD IN S&S for some O1 LN chisels. Still may do that.. we will see.
I may have delayed this "want" for the time being. I took my 3/8 Narex to the by sander and was able to get the sides much narrower, not to a knifes edge, I stopped just short of that to prevent blood loss, but I was able to clean up the 14 degree tails that I cut tonight with that chisel without bruising the tails.
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