Chisel sizes

Re: Chisel sizes

The only use of a wide chisel I've seen is in the timber framing business.

Wide Chisels

Most of my woodworking has involved using power tools as much as possible and I've found wide chisels very useful for the things power tools can't do. When mortising for butt hinges, which I have usually done for up to a dozen pairs at a time when doing casework, squaring out corners is what a router can't do. I have a 2" E. A. Berg chisel that is about the length of a butt chisel after maybe a century of use and its width makes it easy to register against the back or side of the mortise when removing the little bit of wood in the corner. I hold the blade in one hand and place the back against the existing ledge from the router and then push on the handle with the other hand to shear off the wood. This could be done with a much narrower chisel but the long registration provided by the wider blade makes the operation quicker and more controlled.

My very favorite chisel would make traditional woodworkers roll their eyes and dismiss me as both a woodbutcher and a fool. It's a 2-1/4" Japanese chisel that I converted for use trimming parchment on inside corners. The conversion involved bending the shank enough that the handle was out of the way so I could use it for flush trimming. The amount of time it saved me on its first job more than paid for the cost of the chisel and it has come in handy many times since then even though I no longer work with parchment.

Both of these examples work better with a short, light chisel. I own a much longer 2" chisel but never use it.

Re: Chisel sizes

I find many uses for my wider chisels in building windsor chairs. Mostly paring or slicing without the use of a mallet. 

Depending on what you do...

Kumiko always wants my narrowest. Framing calls for an ugly 1" and larger charity find that rarely sees a grinding wheel. I drop under 30 mm only when tired, if it's wheelbarrows and chairs I work. However, I may grab a pocket knife since most of my outside work is with Western Red Cedar. If I used more hardwood Bill's favorites might be my shortest slicers. .... Just random tasks.

Re: Chisel sizes

Slicing cut to level plugs, after sawing them close.  I have used a 1-1/2” Japanese paring chisel for this—it has enough hand relief to make a flush cut.  Position blade with one hand;  use thumb of the off-hand to push at a skew angle to make a slicing flush cut.

I do agree with Bill’s main point—that a set of smalls at 1/16” spacing, 3/16, 1/4, 5/16, 3/8, are so valuable for dovetails.  Make one and done paring cuts at the scribe line of through pin sockets in the tail board, as one example.  The in-between sizes seem to be never offered in the Western hemisphere—does someone know different?  Imai-san will make the tweener sizes on request in his white-1 line ( plus put 10-degree bevels on the sides).  

Wiley

Re: Chisel sizes

My personal preferences in choosing chisel sizes ends with having all the sizes from 1/8" through to 1 1/4". 

The smaller sizes - 1/8", 3/16", 1/4", 3/8" (or Metric equivalents) - are for tails in dovetails as well as other joinery, such as a bridle joint. 

The larger sizes generally have a wider range of uses. 3/8", 1/2" and 3/4" are needed for the forward face of a dovetail tail socket, while 3/4" and 1" are needed for the rear face of the socket. Wide chisels here are not simply about paring or chopping wide expanses, but about one chisel in order to create a single line - rather than using a narrower chisel to create the line in a few positions along the line. One chisel is likely to leave a cleaner and more accurate result.

Wide chisels are also used for paring tenon cheeks. A narrow chisel is likely to leave a furrow as it is more difficult to judge the level. 

I find anything over 1 1/4" can become clumsy, but I do have and use 1 1/2", even 1 3/4" chisels when creating a chisel wall on a dado. Less work and greater accuracy. 

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: Chisel sizes

I've basically avoided both ends of the chisel size spectrum......and have limited myself to 1/4", 3/8", 1/2", 3/4", & 1" size chisels......when the need for smaller/larger chisels presents itself, I'll consider the investment in another chisel at that time.

Large chisel? Isn't that the pry-bar of the set  NM

Re: Chisel sizes

Given the cost of a 2", what is it used for that makes it cost effective?

With today's ridiculous used tool prices it would serve you as an investment. If you don't use it sell it.

If you make a $5000 table with $1000 worth of materials you have a $4k tool budget to be "cost effective" or at least that's what I tell my wife. You can squeak a 2" chisel in to what I've seen you do.

I have a 2" Japanese chisel that I like but don't use often and a 1-3/4" American socket chisel that I use all the time. Had I not purchased either I wouldn't have known how I like them. I use mine as a very general chamfering, paring, and trimming tool. You have already bought the tool so you have your answer.

I took a class that specifically called our large chisels so I brought mine. The chisels were used to point draw bore pins, trim tenons and chamfer oak framed panel parts. It worked great. The chisels to make a carved frame and panel were a few gouges, the large chisel, and a 5/16 mortise chisel. That's it.

There seems to be some level of commitment and permanence for buying a relatively inexpensive tool that is unjustified. Since everyone has different preferences, forums aren't the place to get "the" answer. People pick spouses more spontaneously than what I see for minor tool purchases. You won't lose half your stuff if you don't like a chisel size.

Re: Large chisel? Isn't that the pry-bar of the set  NM

I agree.

Re: Chisel sizes

Your post has me thinking, but I'm not sure I really follow all of it. How about explaining it over that beer we have been talking about here around Canton? If the other fellow isn't here yet, we can all three of us meet when he gets here. Pick a date. I'm free nearly all the time.

Re: Chisel sizes

I bought an early 4 chisel set about 40 years ago that was 1/8, 3/8, 5/8.  And that will do a lot of what I do in cabinets.  There was a second selection, which contained the invaluable 1/2".  Wider chisels are also useful, but options increase the larger things get, like the opportunity to use a saw. I have a ton of chisels, and the fancy sets seem to assume you will have to have a perfectly matched set for every cut, or perfect side angles.  Mostly hype.  Once on knows one's way around chisels, one could almost go to one.  But cabinets are only a small part of woodworking.  From aircraft to musical instruments one will reach for a lot of different tools.

Re: Chisel sizes

This place?

American Flatbread

Any night the week of 8/1 works for me. Early in the week may be better as we are beagle sitting later in the week.

They had good pizza and beer when I went there.

Same needs . different solutions

I use mine as a very general chamfering, paring, and trimming tool.         I find the 3/4" chisel Weaver made for me more nimble for these tasks.  I have a 2" socket chisel. It is in perfect working order.  But I don't ever find any use for the extra width and weight it offers over a more narrow chisel.  

Re: Chisel sizes

I meant to attach the PDF file from the College of the Redwoods, which is always a good reality check as to what you can do with a minimal kit of tools.  The list has changed over the years, but it still works.  I was surprised that they recommend chisels up to 1" by the eighth.  Not sure Krenov had that many chisels in his books.  Maybe I missed it.

https://thekrenovschool.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/Tool-list.pdf