Carpenter's Chisels

[DanF]

A friend wants me to make him a set of four to use on the job site. What steel would you use for a hard use chisel?

thanks

 

[shqxk]

I would use O1 or CFV because it should has nice edge stability at high hardness.

 

[Adam Buttry]

Use any steel that you're comfortable working with and/or heat treating. I was a builder for 15 years, and a quality wood chisel is invaluable. Don't know about hard use though. My chisels are more like precision instruments. They were used and stored accordingly. I suppose every carpenter is different though.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

O-1 makes excellent chisels. I would go with that steel for framing chisels. Hitachi blue steel #2 would also work well.
If making a set of high grade cabinet makers chisels, Hitachi White or blue steel #1 are great.

Chisels are a very tight spec tool. HT must be dead on, shanks must be drawn to lower hardness, and edges and bevels MUST be absolutely straight, square, and flat. 220 grit is plenty for finish. Pick the edge hardness to fit the task, Rc 60 is a good target for a framing chisel.

For framing chisels, ALL the force of the blow needs to travel down the steel to the edge. You can't have a round handle on a hidden tang. It must be a through tang with a solidly attached heavy butt cap, or even better, a full tang with a solid striking end.

Before you start decide how you are going to make the shank and shoulder transition … full tang, socket and tang, tang and collar, etc.. There needs to be a VERY strong attachment between the handle and tang and some sort of bolster or round shoulder that will take the full force of the blows against the handle and transfer it to the chisel. A metal butt is also pretty much a necessity. If you have a mill and don't mind milling down a 3/4" thick bar of O-1, that is the most solid construction method. A mill is also a very good way to clean up the weld joints inside the handle if you weld on the bolsters and butt.

One fairly simple way to get a heavy duty framing chisel is make a full tang style and only cut the basic profile in the bar of 1/4"steel. Before doing anything more to the bar of steel, fit it with steel bolsters at both ends of the handle. Weld (tig, mig, or forge weld) these all the way around to the blade stock. Then you can grind the bevels and tapers as well as clean up the bolsters and inner welds by milling or filing. When done, the tang web will be about 3/16" thick, which will make a very strong chisel. After HT, draw the temper way down on the butt by heating it to a full blue color, and carry that down the handle to within 2" of the edge. Sticking the edge in a vise is a good way to keep the heat from running down too far. After final sanding and such, fit the handle with canvas Micarta scales, using two Corby bolts. This makes an attractive and nearly indestructible chisel.

If you are good at forge welding, a chisel with forge welded and shaped bolsters and butt is a classic.


We should have a chisel challenge for the summer. The basic premise would be - make a chisel then post photos and a writeup on how you did it. Tutorials/videos would be great, too. If folks want to do this for fun, I'll put it in the stickys like we do the KITH.

 

[MBB]

I'm still curious as to how 3V and 4V would do in this role. Or any of the newer steels for that matter. Although I'm not sure what exactly I'm looking for performance wise.

Don't get me wrong, I own about 50 O1 and W1 chisels of varying vintages from modern to 150 years old. W1 carving chisels get an especially nice edge to them.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

I agree, for carving, W1 and Hitachi white are superior.

M4, 3V, 4V, etc. and other high alloy tool steels would do fine, but they aren't really needed. A chisel is a tool for a very specific task. A very fine grain edge and suitable hardness are the prime attributes. They take abusive blows to the butt, but are not used abusively on the edge ( if that makes sense).

 

[jdm61]

How about the Japanese method of suing an iron butt "hoop" for chisels that are to be struck?

 

[Lieblad]

If your friend is willing to pay legitimate price for handmade ”hard use” chisels, its a fools errand. If the guy is a real friend you might dissuade them paying the expense.
Price of one-off handmade chisels, a guy could buy 50 machine made chisels for taking hard use beating upon. Save the ”hand made” for bragging creds of fine woodworking tools.

Btw,
As far as the steel, O1 is pretty good all round for beating on tools. I would go S7 as I have loads of it on hand.

 

[DanF]

How about the Japanese method of suing an iron butt "hoop" for chisels that are to be struck?

Sounds like the same thing as what I have heard referred to as ferrules, typically an upper ferrule at the striking point, and a lower ferrule where the tang meets the shoulder, if I remember correctly.

 

[DanF]

If your friend is willing to pay legitimate price for handmade ”hard use” chisels, its a fools errand. If the guy is a real friend you might dissuade them paying the expense.
Price of one-off handmade chisels, a guy could buy 50 machine made chisels for taking hard use beating upon. Save the ”hand made” for bragging ’creds of fine woodworking tools.

Same thing could be said of production knives vs high performance knives.
As a friend, there is no cost to him and many people prefer handmade. "Bragging 'creds", have nothing to do with it.

 

[Lieblad]

Same thing could be said of production knives vs high performance knives.
As a friend, there is no cost to him and many people prefer handmade. "Bragging 'creds", have nothing to do with it.

Great ! Apparently the friend is not paying legitimate price for it. All the better.

 

[WC53]

I would want to know what hard use is! I have some old stanley chisels I used on job sites for hard use. I also have antique cabinet chisels (okay new when I bought them) and a few timber framing chisels. What I consider hard use is where I want a semi disposable chisel for things I would never use a fine instrument for.

Your friend is a lucky man as a truly fine chisel is a thing of joy to use, even when cross grain cutting hard arse woods. Good luck to you