Question for Bill Tindall and others......

Re: Question for Bill Tindall and others......

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

The durability of the LV steel is as good as the CPM 3V as best I can judge it. The chisels are ground to where they are useful for dovetailing. I would prefer them thinner, but that is a personal thing.

When we made chisels we made them in 1/16" increments beginning at 3/16 up to 5/8, then 1/8 up to 1". I use every one of the chisels 3/16 to 5/8" on a project. The larger chisels are used less. I could live with just 3/4 and 1" , with the 1" for better registration against a paring guide.

If I could only have one chisel it would be have to be a small one for dovetails but for other purposes I use 3/8 and 1/2" a lot. If I ever settled on one size of dovetails I could get by with less sizes. If I only has one size greater than 1/2 I could live with that too.

Re: Question for Bill Tindall and others......

roger lance

I have a nice set of Pfeil Swiss Made bench chisels.....they have wide edges and are not as well balanced as I'd like.....however, they hold an edge well.....are relatively east to sharpen......and do the job.

I really don't want to make these obsolete by purchasing an entire set of high end chisels.....seems unnecessarily wasteful if all I'm really after is a better tool for dovetailing.

So, I thought the LV 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2" would be sufficient for dovetails and the Pfeil chisels for other purposes.

Thoughts?

Re: Question for Bill Tindall and others......

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

You need two sizes of chisels for each size dovetails you want to make. One for the in between the tail waste and a wider for the in between pin waste. I find 1/2"+/- good for pin and for tails whatever you like for tails. I use 5/16" usually, and sometimes a bit smaller and for more crude drawer backs something a bit wider. But I could get by with just 5/16 and 1/2.

Others make thinner tails so something smaller than 5/16 would be required.

Then if you are going to pare dovetail sides cause you screwed up the saw cut or you are wasting half blinds you need a chisel as wide as the tail is long.....5/8" works for me. But this cut is paring not chopping so the advantage of the LV steel is not important.

Given the advantage the LV chisel has for chopping and the multitude of notions for an attractive dovetail size I am surprised that LV doesn't make the chisels in 1/16" increments up to 3/8 or even 1/2.

The above discussion applies to drawers. For case and trunk dovetails the pin size could be larger and require a larger chisel width.

Re: Question for Bill Tindall and others......

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

Roger, and all

A set of PM-V11 chisels is permanently within reach at my bench because they are the best all round bench chisel I have used so far. I want to emphasise "all round", since there are other chisels that hold an edge longer or have better feedback or are preferred for paring. The PM-V11 have the best balance of edge holding and feel.

When I assessed chisel steel some time back, for edge holding, they came second to Koyamaichi with White Steel, and both beat out O1 and A2 by the proverbial mile: http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolReviews/FourChiselSteelsCompared.html

For balance, I do like thin blades on the old marples boxwoods. However their O1 steel does not hold up in the hard and abrasive woods of Western Australia. I would like to see Lee Valley/Veritas coming out with a blade that is thinner, along the lines of the Blue Spruce dovetail chisels I purchased a decade or more ago. The (A2) BS are wonderul in the hand, and get sharp - just do not hold it long enough in my timbers.

In regard to size, for dovetailing I use a 1/8" and 3/16" mostly for the tails, and 1/2" and 3/4" for the pins. Again, the wood I work is seriously hard, and this limits the width of a wide chisel if striking. At this point I would rather be using a Japanese chisel with a genou. When dovetailing into hard woods, I generally use Koyamaichi. However, the PM-V11 are up to the task with a light mallet.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Amen to that thought

Bill Tindall, E.Tn.

"I would like to see Lee Valley/Veritas coming out with a blade that is thinner, along the lines of the Blue Spruce dovetail chisels I purchased a decade "

The chisels we made are similar but I was not selling and mine are less refined. Maybe BS got the idea from us. However, these are ground from sheet stock. The LV are milled from bar stock to yield a different, expensive result. That said, no reason LV could not grind chisels from sheet stock as we did and BS does. It is cheaper to make them the way we made them. In fact they are so easily made anyone could do it.