Microbevel on a chisel is no good for bevel down work

[tablesawtom]

I decided not to post here but start a new post and for some reason I couldn't delete my response.

Tom

[adamcherubini]

I think there is a common misconception that you can pare effectively by registering a flat blade on an irregular surface. And that the flatness of the metal tool surface, somehow relates to how flat you can pare.

Putting that aside, the least flat tools we have, our carving chisels, pare and cut beautifully. If a chisel with a micro bevel can’t pare, how do people think carving tools work?

[Handplanesandmore]

I wasn't surprised that some woodworkers might hold onto some misconceptions (such as if you wanted to make a mitered post (hollow in the core) with 4 boards, the mating edges had to be cut at dead 45 deg (truth is 45.5 is also ok)).

What surprised me is that no one pointed out (or dared to?) the nonsense when the post was made. Was everyone a machinist in their previous lives, never having used a microbevelled chisel bevel down to do fine work?

Simon

[CStan]

One might even round the transition a little, to help the tool exit the cut. If bevel down work isn't carving, it's darn close enough. Big scoops -- mortising, not as big scoops - carving, tiny scoops -- bevel down "flat" work.

[adamcherubini]

One might even round the transition a little, to help the tool exit the cut.  If bevel down work isn't carving, it's darn close enough.  Big scoops -- mortising, not as big scoops - carving, tiny scoops -- bevel down "flat" work.

My theory is that your rounded transition makes the edge stronger. I think smoothly polished, and convex is strong.

[CStan]

My theory is that your rounded transition makes the edge stronger. I think smoothly polished, and convex is strong.

Yes, that too though "edge life" is way down on my list of concerns about anything, woodworking or not.  That seems to be a black hole that sucks people in and never spits them back out.

I got into a deeper thread a few years ago on another forum with an acknowledged tool guru [insert rolling eyes emoji here].  I insisted on him quanitifying the time I might save in an eight hour working day, comprised of nothing but dovetailing drawers, if I switched from Chisel X to Chisel Y (with harder, "better" steel); given the amount of time it takes to do a quick hone-up the saving was projected to be 20 minutes for the entire working day.  Best laugh I'd had in a while.  I spend more time than that taking breaks and sweeping shavings and other detritus from under my feet during a working day.  What a joke the whole thing was, and is, and the 20 minutes was best case in time savings. It easily could have been less. I'd be more interested in somebody reviewing the best shop brooms than the latest, greatest alloy steel used in making chisels.  It would be far more relevant.  I think some woodworkers were raccoons in a former life -- unable to resist shiny objects.

[adamcherubini]

"edge life”….seems to be a black hole that sucks people in and never spits them back out.

Agree.

[cputnam]

Agree.

What other metrics are worth arguing about during dreary weather?

[MauleSkinner]

What other metrics are worth arguing about during dreary weather?

Minimum clearance angle, to the tenth of a degree, that will allow a BD plane to work while providing maximum edge life?

[CStan]

Agree.

We should probably laugh at ourselves -- guys in their 50s and 60s well past physical prime talking about edge life of tools when we couldn't plane for 30 minutes without popping a nitroglycerine tablet.  The need to hone has probably prevented more than a few infarctions.