Flattening Chisels
dave caudill
>I was in my shop last night flattening chisels. This may not sound like much but I have been in the midst of a kitchen remodel since august so it is really nice having my shop back. Up until now it has been full of appliances, furniture, our kitchen and all sorts of building materials. Being without it for four months has been a challenge and I didn't realize how much I would miss it.
So back to the chisels. I've been wanting to get to some of the chisels I have been acquiring and started this weekend. Last night I decided after a long wait it was time to get to the Lie-Nielsen chisels I had purchased. I had been flattening some old Stanley Everlasting chisels with not too much effort and was making some progress on a couple.
I thought I would start easy and do the 1/4 inch first. Since I had had good luck in the past with LN tools I started at 220 grit rather than 100. Wisk wisk and it was done and on to 320 wisk wisk done. Then the 1/2 inch the same, 5/8 done nothing flat, 1/8 inch and finally the 3/4 inch. In less than 15 minutes I had all of the backs of the LN chisels done to where I then go to the stones. Needless to say the 1/4 Everlasting took me marginally longer to get it to this point and I didn't start at 220 grit.
Don't get me wrong this is not to say you should dump your old chisles and immediately run out and buy the set of LN chisels. I have long been advocating old chisels and will continue to do so. The point is that the LN chisels like all of the other LN tools are just a cut above everything else that is new and perform like the dozens of old Witherby, P.S.& W. Swan and other such chisels. They are a fine choice for new chisels in what is in my opinion a very limited market for decent chisels.
So now its back to the flattening table and my old Stanley's.
Dave
