3/16" Chisel Making Project

[rxh]

As I am too mean to buy new chisels I like to buy old ones to restore. However, 3/16" size seems to be very hard to find so I made this one in O1 steel, with maple handle and brass ferrule. I lack the skills and equipment to forge a bolster so I made one as a separate "collar".

 

[jvc26]

Looks great!

 

[Mike G]

Well, that's the prettiest mortise chisel I've seen in a while, and it's a shiny piece of oak furniture you've put it on. Why 3/16ths, though? Have you lots of mortices of that size to chop out?

 

[Andy Kev.]

Aesthetically flawless!

You could probably charge a fortune for chisels of that quality if you decided to make them commercially.

 

[Woodster]

:text-coolphotos:

That looks very nice!
O1 is such handy stuff, did you harden just the tip of the chisel or the whole thing and was it then tempered?

 

[Woodbloke]

I’ve got an old ‘pig sticker’ about the same size; quite a handy bit of kit for cleaning out the debris from a deep mortice - Rob

 

[Cabinetman]

Beautiful chisel, I’ve got virtually every size going except 3/16this, mind you I’ve never needed to go to dig a 3/16 mortise, nice though.

 

[rxh]

Thanks for all your comments. I made a 3/16" chisel because I didn't have one that size and I has an offcut of tool steel of that thickness. I hardened most of it (but not the tang), bearing in mind the old Marples slogan: "good to the last inch" After quenching the red hot metal in cooking oil I tempered at 200 deg.C for an hour.
I made the "collar" over sized and turned it down to the diameter of the ferrule after assembly.

 

[Woodster]

Nice work, I like the in progress shot.

Edit: I forgot to say but I’ve made quite a few small bits out of O1 or silver steel and I’ve left them glass hard and not bothered to temper them. Not had a failure so far but obviously it’s a bit different to something like a chisel. I’ve been thinking about making a spoon carving gouge and as it’s only got a fairly short useful edge I’d probably only harden and temper the tip.

 

[AndyT]

Exemplary work as ever. I really like your collar instead of a bolster.

 

[rxh]

Nice work, I like the in progress shot.

Edit: I forgot to say but I’ve made quite a few small bits out of O1 or silver steel and I’ve left them glass hard and not bothered to temper them. Not had a failure so far but obviously it’s a bit different to something like a chisel. I’ve been thinking about making a spoon carving gouge and as it’s only got a fairly short useful edge I’d probably only harden and temper the tip.

Thanks Woodster - I think the need to temper depends on the tool. I made a broach for making round holes square but after hardening it I dropped it on a tiled floor and it broke into three pieces, much to my displeasure. Its funny that you mention a spoon carving gouge - I made one recently and I'll show it in a separate post.

 

[rxh]

Exemplary work as ever. I really like your collar instead of a bolster.

Thanks Andy - I have seen some commercial chisels with a collar instead of a bolster, presumably as a cheaper method of manufacture with the blade being stamped out of flat plate. This German chisel is an example:

 

[rxh]

This Soviet era Russian chisel takes a slightly different approach, with a sort of combined ferrule and collar:

 

[AndyT]

Naah, they look cheap rather than stylish.
Did you file the square hole or broach it?

 

[rxh]

Naah, they look cheap rather than stylish.
Did you file the square hole or broach it?

The Russian chisel has its price stamped into it: 52 Kopecks. It seems that prices were centrally stipulated and enforced over the whole USSR.
I made the collar hole square, or rather rectangular, by filing.