Re: Question for Sam Simpson
Sam Simpson
>Hi Y'all,
Indeed Jim, it requires a steady hand and a keen eye and a lot of practice to get there. I once saw Chef Pepin explain how to use a chef's knife to rapidly chop carrots and celery. He could get through a stick of celery in incredibly fast time. His explanation of how to do it was, start slow keep your fingers out of the way of the blade and then gradually speed up until you are at the speed you are comfortable with.
So, I'll try to explain it, but I fully expect it to sound much like chef Pepin's advice.
You will need two chisels. One the width of the mortise. (in this case 1/2") and one wide one. (In this case not wider than 2") If the surface of the mortise has been marked out with a gauge, it should be a good deep mark along the long lines. This will make it unnecessary to use the wide chisel to get things started. If the marking is light or shallow or with a pencil, it will be necessary to use the wide chisel to define the 2" lines. This is necessary to prevent tearing of the edges of the wood as you chop with the 1/2 chisel. Next you chop out the mortise with the 1/2 chisel. Start by defining the line furthest away from you. Hold the chisel upright so as to direct it straight down. Hit the chisel hard. It should sink about a quarter of an inch. Now in quick succession draw the chisel back towards you about a 1/4", and hit hard each time. (It is acceptable for the chisel not to be in a perfectly perpendicular attitude, except on the ends, where it is a necessity to keep the mortise walls straight.) As you chop, your chisel will drive forward and eject the chip in front of it. Depending on the wood, you will modify the chisel angle and the amount that you progress backwards to optimize the depth of cut and ejection of the chip. Moving the chisel a step of approximately 1/4" is a good distance to start. When you reach the end, roll the chisel between your fingers to revers it's attitude. Now define the mortise outline at it's limit closest to you. You have competed the first row, and should have a trough !/2" wide by 2" long by 1/4 deep. chop the next row and then the next, until complete.
When you have chopped all the way to the bottom, there will be a considerable amount of chips that did not get ejected. These will need to be flicked out. Now you take the wide chisel and dress the cheeks of the mortise by pressing straight down the face.
There are two schools of though on the chopping of the rows. One camp prefer always to chop in the same direction, so that the chips are always ejected away from the operator. The other camp prefers to chop each row in the opposite direction to the previous one. I personally think that things progress faster by switching directions.
A little math will tell you that you need to make nine chops per row and you need to make eight rows. Chopping at the rate of one blow per second (slow in my opinion) you will have more than ten seconds left to clean the cheeks.
I'm sitting here listening to the old grand father clock ticking. A tic-toc every two seconds. A young arm ought to be able to keep that pace up for an hour or more. If the marking is all done ahead of time. An hour will have all the mortises chopped for a frame and panel chest of drawers. About the same time for the tennons, another hour for cleaning out and fitting, and you can have a fag break. In the afternoon you turn four bun feet on the lathe and run the profile around the top.
I don't think it is at all necessary for anyone to try to attain production times like this. The chefs learn how to chop fast when they work in large kitchens, and need to chop fifty pounds of carrots, onions and celery in short order. And they do it on the TV just to show you they can. But Julia Childs never learned to do it.
Professional seamstresses in garment factories run a dress hem on a sewing machine in five seconds, but most hobbyists are happy to do it in five minutes.
Regards Sam Simpson.