Yet another chisel question...

Re: Yet another chisel question...

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Get a German set and make your own handles.

Pam

Right on, Pam

Adam Cherubini, NJ

>

Re: Yet another chisel question...

William R. Duffield on the Cohansey

>A couple of things to think about: For a bench chisel that you are going to use to chop dovetails, it is an advantage to have a light chisel and especially a light, short handle. Trying to hold the chisel vertically and guide it with one hand, while tapping on it with a mallet in the other hand gets tiring quickly. The longer and heavier the handle, the quicker your hand tires out, adversely affecting accuracy and speed.

Re: Yet another chisel question...

Dan Donaldson

>Totally agree on this one. Longer chisels with heavy handles cause my hand to cramp up when chopping dovetails. I like dovetail chisels that are overall about 6" long and preferably blade heavy. This may not work for everyone, but it does for me.

Contrarian...

Scott in Douglassville, PA

>I generally shoulder my way thought chopping, and prefer the longer AI handles (oooh, bubinga). Like as not I'm working incorrectly, but so far, so good.

And nothing'd piss me off faster than buying new chisels knowing and accepting that I'd have to immediately tear 'em apart and build new handles. But that's just me.

Re: Contrarian...

Adam Cherubini, NJ

>What do you mean "shoulder your way through"?

Not sure what you are saying.

Adam

Re: Right on, Pam

Dar

>Good point Pam Two Cherries firmer chisels are available without handles (Special order)

Re: Contrarian...

Scott in Douglassville, PA

>When chopping, I actually pare vertically. No mallet. Lean my right shoulder into the handle (I'm right handed - good thing, eh?), guide the cut with the left.

Of course, I don't cut too many dovetails yet. Might could change. But it's working for me so far...

BTW, I'll be missing the deadline on my 6-board chest. And I was never gonna come close to four days, anyway.

Re: Right on, Pam

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>That's cool; but why not just attack the existing handles, perhaps they're a good starting point, possibly avoid tang fitting.

Pam

Re: Right on, Pam

Dar

>That would work

make your own

Bill Tindall, E. TN

>When I arrived at your situation I decided to just make some that suited me. It is not very hard to do with tools to be found around the shop, and cheap besides.

Re: make your own

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

>John wrote, "I think I would prefer a more traditional western design".

Why not buy vintage chisels, such as the Bucks and Witherbys available on eBay? The downside is that a suitable set will take longer to put together, but the upside is that you get first rate steel. Rarely do they come with decent (nevermind original) handles, so you are free to replace these with a matched set customized to your taste.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: Yet another chisel question...

John Meikrantz

>Pam,

That certainly is an option, but as has been mentioned further down in the thread, I wouldn't want to spend a boatload of money on new chisels knowing that I would be dissecting and rebuilding the handles! (Beside the fact that I don't think I am skilled enough to fashion my own handles).

I'm just thinking that there has to be another option besides Hirsch/Two Cherries and Ashley Iles. Surely there must be another chisel out there that could meet my needs "out of the box". That's why I was kind of asking about any other users experience with Stubai, which I would have to buy sight unseen, Garrett Wade, which performed in the middle of the pack in the infamous Fine Woodworking review, or Narex, which seem to be the OEM version of the Garrett Wade chisels.

I also asked earlier about the Lee Valley house brand, as they performed just below middle of the pack in the FWW review, scoring above the Blue Chips, Stanleys, Pfeil, and Sorby's.

Guess I will just have to pick some up and try them out to do my own discovery!

Thanks for all of the responses!

John

Re: Options

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>There are lots of handle options out there; but none that I know of that qualify on your price criterion. Two Cherries I know and use, have absolutely no problems with the handles, even though one or two of them don't line up exactly with the shank, paid about $70 including shipping for a set of 6 from Dieter a couple of years ago. Would I prefer another handle? Maybe. My Japanese chisels all have tapered round handles which are just fine; so when the TC handles go, if they ever do, I'd tend to replace them with round tapered, probably a little shorter. It's just no great shakes to make a round tapered handle.

Pam