LV Skew Chisels

Re: LV Skew Chisels

mikew

>Hi Howard,

I have the Veritas [and the detail chisels]. You cannot wack them, but you may already know this.

And they are dimunitive compared to some chisels. The steel is fine, though not as good as say the Crown or better chisels.

That said, I like both the skews and the detal chisels. I use most of all of them every day, especially the skews and the 1/8" and 1/2" detail chisels. They feel good in my hand and do hold an edge reasonably well. I believe I put a little steeper secondary bevel on them than how they shipped.

Take care, Mike

Re: LV Skew Chisels

paul womack

>I think I'd rather just "buy some chisels" and make with grinder.

Opens up choice nicely.

http://www.cornishworkshop.co.uk/album/albums/userpics/10001/skewjig017.JPG

BugBear

Sure...

Rob Lee

>... snatch the food out of my kid's mouths..... :)

Actually - making a skew chisel isn't really that hard - as long as you're careful grinding, and don't draw the temper. Same goes for making a chisel to clean out dovetails... it just isn't that hard to grind one yourself....

Cheers -

Rob

Re: LV Skew Chisels

Ted Shuck, Centennial, CO

>I have a pair of the cheaper ones that I bought about 3 years ago. The steel is pretty soft and does not hold an edge very well. I have been happier with old chisels that I ground to a skew myself.

Regards,

Ted

Re: Sure...

Joe Rogers, Northern Virginia

>Don't you have the kids working in the business yet?:-) JR

Re: Skew Chisels - What angle?

Paul Erickson

>What skew angle do you find most useful? I'm planning on modifying a couple myself, and can see that too steep an angle makes the point fragile, and too shallow deminishes the benefits of the skew. Any suggestions as to the appropriate compromise?

Thanks in advance.

cheers, Paul

Actually....

Rob Lee

>...yes!

Cheers -

Rob

Re: Skew Chisels - What angle?

Jay Samuels

>25% skew, 20% bevel, do right and left chisels. I found that skewed 1/2", 3/4" and 1" chisels are all useful. I also have a set if 1/4" skews I made, but they are too narrow and want to dig in.

Re: LV Skew Chisels

Thom D

>I have the cheap ones and have been perfectly happy with them. They are fine for what I bought them for which is stuff like cleaning out half-blind dovetail corners. If I had been planing on using them for skew cuts on very hard woods I would probably feel they were a little limited.

It's true that they are easily ground from other materials, or made outright, which is probably what I would do these days. But consider if you really want them to be harder, then you are faced with a lot of grinding where relatively minor re-heating will draw the temper. If you buy some cheapish chisels that you can grind a little harder you are going to be stuck with the current hardness. The fastest way of improving things would probably be to re-temper the LV ones. So I didn't figure I had much to loose in buying them.

Re: Skew Chisels - What angle?

Ian Smith (Sydney Australia)

>I reckon it depends what you are going to be doing with the skew chisel.

If you are only cleaning out the sockets of half-blind dovetails then you don't need a great amount of skew to get into the corners. If for example your dovetails are based on the ratio of 1:8 (typical for hardwood) then you would only need a skew of 7.13-degrees, or 8-degrees for the sake of simplicity. To access the corner of a dovetail socket that is based on a ratio of 1:6 (typical for softwood) you would need a chisel skewed only 9.46-degrees, or 10-degrees for the sake of simplicity.

I calculated these angles using an inverse tan function and a right angled triangle with approprite length sides opposite and adjacent to the angle in question (trigonometry). Feel free to check my calculations, its a long time since I've done any trigonometry. Any skew greater than these angles is wasted and just serves to weaken the point of the chisel.

If on the other hand you are going to use the chisels for general paring work then some of the other suggestions here will be more appropriate.

Regards,

Ian.