Swan neck mortise chisel question

Re: Swan neck mortise chisel question

Tom Scott

>I received 2 sizes of the swan necks for Christmas more than a year ago. At the time I had been looking at them and thought they would be nice to have. As it turns out, I still haven't really used them. I never cared too much what the bottom of my mortices look like anyway, and in practice, it didn't seem worth it to me to stop and use these.

Tom

Re: Swan neck mortise chisel question

Gary Miller

>I have the 1/4" and 3/8" sizes--and use them regularly when cutting mortices.

Gary

Re: Swan neck mortise chisel question

Charles

>No, you don't need swan's neck chisels. The bottom of a mortise never comes into play. Chop the mortise slightly deeper than the tenon's length and leave it rough. The end of the tenon should not touch the bottom of the mortise and even if it did it's an end grain to long grain situation that has no strength whatsoever when glued.

Re: Swan neck mortise chisel question

Brad in Ottawa

>Been there and bought the t-shirt... er chisel.

In theory it sounds neat but as others have said it has no impact on the joint strength or the finished look of your handiwork.

As well these beasts really don't lend themselves well to sharpening. Several threads in the past have been started by those curious as to how to sharpen one. If I can recall there is no real effective way.

Save your money for other tools!!

Brad

Re: Swan neck mortise chisel question

dennis mcdonaugh

>I don't think its intended to be used on joinery mortises. I've seen them called "lock" mortise chisels. They are for scrapping the bottom of a lock mortise where smooth is more important. Especially in small pieces where you might not have a lot of room in the bottom of the mortise.

Re: Swan neck mortise chisel question

Mitchell

>I was chastized once before for making a disparaging remark about a manufacturer but I'll risk it again. I bought an 1/8" marples, thinking that it would useful for the smaller sized mortises that you cannot stick your finger in.

It snapped in two the first time I used it. That's the big drawback with these chisels, their short lifespan as opposed to straight chisels.

Re: Swan neck mortise chisel question

Dan Donaldson

>It is perfectly all right to talk about a problem with a tool or a manufacturer. The only thing that is frowned upon is making comments like "mfg. X makes nothing but junk" or something like that. It is useful to members of the boards to know about issues and problems as long as they are kept factual and do not become a tirade about a company. Your comment was perfectly OK. You had a problem, and you stated what it was. One question. Did you contact Marples to see if they would do anything about it? I was just wondering about what they said if you did.

It can also help because some of the vendors do follow the boards on WW sites to see if things are mentioned about their products, either good or bad. Sometimes it actually gets a contact.

Re: Swan neck mortise chisel question

Steven Wilson

>I use one when I chop mortises. Not so much for cleaning out the bottom of the mortise but more for cleaning out all of the waste in the mortise. Leaving loose chips in your mortise is a bad idea and the swan neck chisel is a usefull tool to for cleaning and digging. As for sharpening them I lay mine on it's side and then grind the face on a 1"x42" belt sander followed by a strop - works well enough.

Certainly not for architectural lock mortises

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>I've removed the locksets from more than one older door, and have yet to see any indication that these mortises were cut with anything fancier than an auger bit and a straight chisel. The bottoms of the mortises are pretty rough, and just cut a little deeper than the lockset.

Re: Certainly not for architectural lock mortises

dennis mcdonaugh

>Bill, I was thinking more like boxes and furniture or cabinet doors.

Re: Swan neck mortise chisel question

Todd Nebel

>All the same - have one because it looked useful - used it once and it wasn't. Difficult to sharpen and still no better. Sits in the drawer.

Funny story - I turned to a japanese paring chisel to clean the bottom of another mortise and snapped the chisel. Don't do this with a japanese chisel! Needless to say I know leave the mortise a little deeper and don't bother cleaning it.

Todd

I suspected so, Dennis,

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>and didn't mean to denigrate your comments, but, for the sake of newbies who might think they HAVE to buy a particular tool, I thought it was worthwhile to point out that the condition you described doesn't always apply.

I agree that on many cabinet doors, you can't afford to waste any space or wood. I've never even handled a lock mortise chisel, so defer to those who've found them useful from experience.

I have one and like it.

Don Thompson, Cutler Ridge, South of Miami FL

>I do not have a lot of experience making small mortises by hand, but I made a couple of dozen large ones (1-inch) by hand last year. I found the two swan-necked chisels illustrated below of much help at clearing the bottom of the mortises, and breaking out chips made by the mortise chisel. The Sorby-type such as you are looking at does not really need to be very sharp to lever out chunks and chips, in my experience.

YMMV.