Veritas Skew Chisels

Re: Veritas Skew Chisels

Dennis

>Well if i was you i would pick up a flea market one and grind it and see if you like it. I made a left and right years ago and i find they tend to move were i don't want to go. I just made a small chisel that is dovetailed shaped with small bend and it works for me.

Dennis

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I agree...

Mark Harrison -- in Sydney, Australia

>But what ever you do, don't buy the Crown skew chisels.

Roll yer own

jim_reed@marietta

>I am sure the Veritas skews are nice, but it is so easy to make your own. I went to Big Lots and picked up two identical 3/8" imports and stuck them on the Tormek. Total cost was about five bucks. They are great for blind dovetails. This is a set of tools you need.

Why?

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

>

Re: I agree...

Alan Hamilton

>Mark,

Why not? (I add my voice to the choir of enquiring minds.) I'm especially interested because I have a pair of Crown's skew chisels and I have no compaints. I've found them quite serviceable.

Alan

Re: Veritas Skew Chisels

Don Clark

>I have the Veritas and they are certainly cheaper than buying a set of old chisels and grinding them skew-especially if you don't have a grinder! If my time is worth 10 cents and hour and my car costs only 10 cents per mile to run, I probably have about $500 in the two old chisels I have, even though they only "cost" $1.00 or $2.00 each.(Can't remember)

Anyway, my Veritas skew chisels seem to have very "stringy" steel in them- very difficult to get rid of the burr. Also, I can't get them very sharp, plus edges bend over easily when I use them. Truthfully, they act like the steel is annealed, rather than hardened.

You might want to try the Crown ones.

Don Clark

Re: Veritas Skew Chisels

Ted Shuck

>I have a pair of these that have the same characteristics, very soft steel that won't take a good edge. It feels kind of gummy when sharpening them.

I have ground an old chisel into a skew and I am much happier with it.

Ted

Re: I agree...

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

>I too have a set and find them very useful (but bloody dangerous, so be careful!). I must be doing something wrong - what? :)

Regards from Perth

Derek

They're too soft...

Mark Harrison -- in Sydney, Australia

>Sorry, didn't see the responses to my contribution...

I have actually managed to roll over the point of the skew just using hand pressure!!!!!

On the strength of this experience, I will never buy another Crown cutting edge tool.

The Crown chisels are no better...

Mark Harrison -- in Sydney, Australia

>See my post above. I rolled the point of the skew over with hand pressure alone on the Crown skews that I have.

Re: They're too soft...

Dan Donaldson

>I had the same experience with the Crown Butt chisels. I figured that I had nothing to lose as they weren't working as was, so I heat treated them with a torch and an oil quench. It improved them a lot, to where they are now pretty good chisels. I would not buy some with this in mind, but if you already have them, it might be worth a try. In my case, it made useless chisels into ones that I use a lot, as I like the shorter length.

Re: They're too soft...

Mark Harrison -- in Sydney, Australia

>Yeah, I've had the same idea but I've been too busy fixing and making things that don't use half-blind dovetails (home repairs) to bother with it, but it is on the agenda. Albeit at around agenda item number 642.

Like you, I don't believe that buying a chisel should be a project in its own right. I found it to be very annoying. I feel even more annoyed (but vindicated) that somebody else can confirm my observations.