There was a time when imported tools were both cheap to buy and cheap in quality, which of course isn’t cheap but false economy. In the sixties we in the UK were flooded with low grade products from the the German Democratic Republic, Japan, India, China’s Hong Kong and others. Those days are long gone…
Just to wise you up to unscrupulous eBay tool dealers. For some time I have noticed dealers selling under the name Marples bluechip chisels and using an old Marples image to give the impression they are in fact selling the old Sheffield-made bluechips which were good chisels. When you go to the actual page to view the…
Miles has asked me what to use to flatten a belly on the large flat face of a chisel because he can’t seem to get one corner of an older Marples’ chisel. This should take no more than 3-4 minutes as Marples are not particularly hard chisels and this then becomes their main advantage in that they…
I don’t know what Narex means in Czech, but in my hands it means tangible, solid quality and good value. In response to those who asked about a heavier mortising chisel form the USA I looked at the Narex brand because I had had such good results from the Narex bevel-edged chisels since we started…
Mid-weight mortise chisels stand fairly and squarely between the massive heavy weights and the bevel edged chisels I have been using in the videos. There are many makers, from Lie Nielsen to Narex and Crown to Sorby, in my experience there is minimal difference between them. Some are well finished and some more crudely made….
Chopping the mortise–Bevel edged or traditional mortise chisel I recently saw a Youtube video put together by Lie Nielsen where it shows a mortise being cut behind glass; the idea was to show the progression of the traditional method using a traditional ‘pig-sticker’ mortise chisel and I understand it was Roy Underhill who came up…
Getting off the conveyor belt post Re getting off the conveyor belt I posted earlier. It’s unrealistic to think that everyone can follow a vocational calling whereby they earn there living full time from craft work. If the 13 million people that enjoy woodworking in the USA all became woodworkers earning their living from it…
Sharpening chisels—forget weaker micro bevels Controversial though it may seem, and though adopting micro-bevel methods for sharpening chisels may seem to make sense, a freehand convex bevel actually gives exactly the same sharpness as any micro-bevel method, but takes only a fraction of the time to develop. A convex bevel keeps its edge longer, is…
Well, we ordered these and have been testing several sets before we order for the school. Will test them further, but so far they fair exceptionally well. I would say go ahead and buy without reserve. Again, they are from the Czech Republic like the Veritas Vises on the previous vise blog. I understand they are refined…
My hand encloses the boxwood shaft both hard, resistant to my mallet’s blow, yet soft under the pressure of my hand. My fingertips trace the lines. They falter as they touch the brass enclosure polished by a man’s lifetime cutting, shaping, shaving wood. Pulling the chisel from its place between the rest I slice thin…