Mortise Chisels

12/28/04, 2:22 AM #1

Mike MacDonald, McDonald's Crn, Ontario
Guest

Mortise Chisels

Mike MacDonald, McDonald's Crn, Ontario

>I received two mortise chisels for christmas this year,thank-you Rob and that wonderful Lee Valley wish list, and now that I have held them in my hands I wonder if the sizes that I picked are the sizes that will be most useful.

So fully knowing that the true answer is that I need all of them. What size mortise do you cut most frequently?

I know the answer has a lot to do with what type of work I will be doing, so I'll tell you that the next two big projects that I'm looking at are a Morris style chair and footstool.

Mike

Re: Mortise Chisels

12/28/04, 2:47 AM #2

Doug
Guest

I got a Hirsch MC from LV also...

Doug

>man, that thing is huge!!! I was a bit disappointed that one corner was chipped off. That thing will take a lot of hand grinding. Fortunately it's hollow ground so it may not take as long as I think.

Re: Mortise Chisels

12/28/04, 7:41 AM #3

Bob Smalser, Seabeck, WA
Guest

Re: Mortise Chisels *LINK*

Bob Smalser, Seabeck, WA

>You can make a lifetime's worth of one-off furniture with only a quarter-inch, three-eights and half-inch mortise chisels.

That'll take you thru 5/4 stock.

I use larger mortises like 5/8 and 3/4 in posts occasionally with thicker rails than 5/4, but much over a half inch and you rapidly reach the point where the tenon is stronger than the rail as a whole in a typical accident, in that the rail will break in the center before a properly-made tenon breaks.

Hand-Made M/T Joints

Re: Mortise Chisels

12/28/04, 8:03 AM #4

Scott Burr Ben Lomond,CA
Guest

I use three the most...

Scott Burr Ben Lomond,CA

>A 1/4" (for 3/4 stock)the second is a 5/16" or so (3/8 if'in) for 4/4 stock, and last is a 1/2" for the big stuff. I'll add the most used one is an 1/8", for inlay work. All said mine are Japanese.

Mortise Chisels

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