Dovetail chisel

Re: Dovetail chisel

Jim in Burlington

>Pretty sure when I asked him he had made that one.

Re: Dovetail chisel

GolfSteve in Calgary

>You can buy Japanese dovetail chisels that are triangular in cross section. These are pretty sweet.

You can also take one of your existing chisels and grind it into the shape that you want - this is what Rob has done. He narrowed the chisel end slightly, reduced the chisel thickness, and rounded over the top.

Re: Dovetail chisel

Martin, from Granbury

>I asked Rob about that chisel and he said LN was going to offer one after they get their new line of chisels in production.

Personally, I will buy one as soon as they are offered.

Re: Dovetail chisel

sroxberg

>Thanks for the responses.

I thought about grinding my own, but don't enjoy standing at the grinder.

I have located matched pairs of Skew chisels that would probably work. I may try them.

Any idea when the Lie-Nielson chisels will be out?

Re: Dovetail chisel

Paul M. in San Diego

>I've ground an old 1/4" buck to have a triangular profile. I honed all edges to be nice and sharp and shiny. I learned within about 2 seconds of use exactly how dangerous the sharp edge on the side of the blade can be when I sliced into my finger. I've subsequently dulled the edge and it's now a great tool for dovetails.

Re: Dovetail chisel

John Johnston in West TN

>Steve, what Rob Cosman video are you referring to?

Thanks,

John

Re: Dovetail chisel

Derek Cohen, in Perth Australia

>Steve

I have not seen the video, so I am guessing that you are referring to skew cut chisels. If so, Crown make these. I have a 1/4" set (they come in matched right abd left pairs) and can report that they are nice to use. I was a little concerned whether the steel would be good enough (Crown chisels are beautiful to look at but rate only average in terms of steel); however, for the limited use they are put to - it is not as though you are chopping with them all the time - they stand up well.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: Dovetail chisel

sroxberg

>The advanced hand cut dovetails. Just like me, I've never cut one, and I'm starting at the advanced tape. :-0

For those of you who haven't seen his chisel it looks like a dovetail pin, with the wide end being the blade, and the narrow edge connecting to the shaft of the chisel.

I hadn't thought about it, but he probably did sharpen three edges on it?

The Skew chisels some have mentioned look like a possiblity. Stay tuned, I may be selling a bunch of nice hand tools if I can't be trained.

Re: Dovetail chisel

glh

>The chisel he used was one that he had ground himself. I have two Japanese dovetail chisels for paring corners, an 1/8" and a 3/8". They are triangular shaped. I got mine from Highland Hardware and they were $30 something dollars a piece. They have Western handles so I don't use a steel hammer. In fact, I don't use a mallet with these--just use them to pare. The 1/8" would have been all I needed, but I bought the 3/8" first and realized it was too large for some places. For what I use them for, the 1/8" is all I need.

You can also buy sets of Japanese dovetail chisels from Japan Woodworker and other places, I'm sure.

By the way, Rob Cosman's videos (Handcut Dovetails, Advanced Handcut Dovetails, and Hand Planing) are all available from Lie-Nielsen.

Re: Dovetail chisel

Don Thompson - South of Miami

>I don't think that what is being referred to can be done with an unmodified, triangular cross-section, Japanese, "dovetail" chisel. Clearing the waste on the bottom of the "blind" side of the half-blind dovetail joint is made easier with the use of a chisel that is either skew-tipped or fishtail-tipped. The problem is getting into the back corner.

I think that a sharply beveled (i.e., no "cheeks") fishtail chisel would be really handy for all aspects of blind dovetail cleanup.

Just a thought...

Re: Dovetail chisel

Rob Cosman

>HI Don, the problem with skew chisels is that you need two and they offset your line of force. The later is the biggest problem particularly when you are paring endgrain. I made mine from a 3/4 sorby, I am sure I saw it somewhere, nothing new in woodworking. Tom L-N will offer them in the near future. Makes the job much easier.

Rob

Rob, how about a photo?

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>

a really common homegrown dovetail chisel 

Andrew F in Australia

>

Re: Dovetail chisel

joel

>Toshio Odate designed a special dovetail chisel for cleaning dovetails. He has one sample that he has been using for a few years and we just got his OK on the production samples - so expect to see them in a couple of months. Here's a really bad picture of the production samples.

Re: a really common homegrown dovetail chisel

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Thanks, Andrew, I've got some of those, ultra-thin and thin Tasai paring.

Pam

Re: Dovetail chisel

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Wow, a partial crank and modified shinoji, very different. Who will be making them?

Thanks,

Pam

Great Videos!!

glh of Nashville, TN

>

Re: Dovetail chisel

joel

>THe maker is: Koyama-Ichi

It's a maker who I haven't heard of before but the tools have great fit and finish and seem to hold an edge well. The theory BTW is a paring chisel that can still be occasionally hit with a hammer.

Re: a really common homegrown dovetail chisel

William R. Duffield on the Cohansey

>It appears to me we are caught between a rock and a hard place on this one. Either use a skew chisel and put some lateral stress on your hands and wrists, or you make a fishtail and it gets narrower every time you sharpen it.

I don't think so. If you look critically at the structure and aesthetics of a half blind dovetail, Two things become apparent. First, after it's assembled, you can't see the bottom corner, no matter which direction you look from. Second, if the bottom corner is too loose, it makes no structural difference. The forces on this joint, and thus the surfaces that need to be critcally pared are the sides of the tails and the bottom of the slot between the tails, and the surfaces of the pins that mate with these surfaces. For aesthetic purposes, the top of the tail has to be flush with the bottom of the pin only at the outside surface.

IMHO, a narrow, straight chisel is sufficient for trimming the end grain between the pins.

Re: Dovetail chisel

William R. Duffield on the Cohansey

>Maybe it's just the name that's different? They look like slicks, to me :^) Seriously, they're good looking tools, and should be very useful.

Re: Dovetail chisel

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>Very interesting, please let me know when you get some in, will be happy to buy one for testing.

Pam

Re: a really common homegrown dovetail chisel

Pam Niedermayer - Austin, TX

>I haven't done more than maybe four blind dovetails, and then only for practice; but I have to say the chiseling part was no huge deal. After sawing, chopped the sides with a sharpened scraper without burr or a bench chisel, then chiseled from the front and top with regular bench chisels. The most difficult part was that the saw kerf was much smaller than the thickness of both scraper and chisels; so I had to be careful to chop to the waste side.

Pam

galoot made one

Dennis

>Not sure were iam headed with this but this may or may not work. Hardened masonary nails,forged and grind to shape. Fun way to make small hand tools without lot of expense and can be done by most woodworkers. I agree with William it's really not a needed tool but for some special times just might be worth it.

Dennis

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Re: a really common homegrown dovetail chisel

Andrewf in Australia

>Should have added to my original post that the reason I didn't attach a photo is because I don't have one of these, but I know that they're a common modification to cut a lap dovetail socket.

To dig out the corners of a lap dovetail socket, I use a 1/8" chisel, same as Bill.

Cheers,

Andrew