Proper care / use japanese chisel

Re: Proper care / use japanese chisel

ThomD

>First sight the chisel for true. In profile, the back should be at an angle to the centerline, not parallel as with most western chisels. But other than that one can often also see misaligned handles. The blade should be staight and centered from the front and back. Also check the forge weld for the steel, Sometimes this is all cockeyed on smaller chisels. I mean so bad the steel isn't on one side. Small irregularities are no problem.

Usualy the coatings come off with methyl hydrate or something similar.

You need to flatten the back, and then sharpen.

If the hoop is above the level of the wooden handle you need to set it. Exactly how you do this depends on the situation. See if the hoop comes off easily, and check inside for any sharp edges that may make seating difficult. The seam, if any, is usually not a problem. With the hoop back on, you can try tapping it down around the edges. If that fails you can try gently hammering down the handle bulge that holds the hoop up, if that doesn't work you can try removing wood to fit it, keeping in mind that you want a jam fit where it won't lift off under hammering, so go carefully. Once you have the hoop seated 3/32, try gently mushrooming the butt to hold it in place. Some people soak the ends of their chisel handles in water to get them to seat, though I never have.

Once the handle is done, you may want to oil it with tung or watco.

Exactly what you do with the handle depends a little on the wood. Yours is probably oak, which is reasonably easy to handle. There must be an online tutorial for this.

Some Japanese chisels take a few sharpenings to get into the good metal, though I have only rarely experienced this.

Japanese tools can be sharpened on grinders, but the risk is very high since the harder a chisel is the less heat it takes to draw some temper. Also grinders gobble up good steel real fast. There are some excellent HSS Japanese chisels, and they could be ground.

You can pound on Japanese chisels, but they should never be pried. You can get away with it on the fat ones, but the thin ones will snap. Best to start thinking about how you can cut at all times.

Re: Proper care / use japanese chisel

Frank Mutchler in Colorado Springs

>Matt, check The Japan Woodworker for the info you want. It's about the 5th topic down.

Re: Proper care / use japanese chisel

Matt Berry

>Now does the prying only apply to the bench chisels, or should I also take care to not do it with the mortise and firmer chisels also?

Yes your assumption is correct the handles are oak.

Re: Proper care / use japanese chisel *LINK*

Brent Smith

>You might want to check out Joel's site, he's a frequent contributor here and will probably be along to answer your questions.

Brent

http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/Merchant/merchant.mvc?Screen=NEXT&StoreCode=toolstore&nextpage=/extra/setting_hoop_guide.html


http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/Merchant/merchant.mvc?Screen=NEXT&StoreCode=toolstore&nextpage=/extra/setting_hoop_guide.html

Re: Proper care / use japanese chisel

ThomD

>You "can't" pry on the morticing chisels. I have only seen a 1/8"-1/4" ones broken, but they are really deep, and break in spite of stoutness, because the weld fails. I have seen lots of these break. One store I used to frequent got virtually every 1/8-1/4 they sold returned. People thought they could rough handle a 30 dollar chisel like a 5 blue Blue Chip, they look a lot tougher than the BC.

Prying also makes the least use of the real feature of the Japanese chisel, the incredible edge. It is largely too hard to be used as a scraper, one is supposed to labour over developing the edge, and prying is a setback. If I'm prying, I want to be able to grind and buff some cheap O1. I'm making what I hope will be the ultimate prying chisel, and while it is being made with the same stuff they put in 1000-10000 knives, it will only cost me aabout 20 dollars. Grind and pry away!

Odate isn't really all that clear on the subject in his tool book. On his "Thick Chisel" page he says they are made thick for prying chips out of mortises. On his Mortising chisel page he doesn't mention prying, on the next page he describes the various bottoming tools, and says they are used to lever out chips in contrast to western woodworkers who use mortising chisels for that. In any case, the frame of reference in much of Odate's work is shoji, and they are made of soft woods.

Just go carefully however you approach it so you don't end up with a result you regret. What you can do for sure with Jap. mortising chisels is hit them with as big a hammer as you can manage!