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Butt chisel set?

Woodbloke

Woodbloke

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Any recommendations for a set (4) of butt chisels? Lots out there, but many seem to be highly polished and reviewers have said some of the blades have banana shaped backs and take a lot of work to get them flat. I quite like the look of the Pfeil chisels from CHT but they're out of stock :( - Rob
 
Sadly out of stock at the moment but I’ve been hanging my nose over the Veritas PMV11 butt chisels, I have 4 PMV11 bench chisels & fancy getting the sizes I haven’t got in the butt format.
Spendy yes but a pleasure to use & take & hold such a good edge.



That said both Narex & Axminster do butt chisel sets, ya pays ya money & take ya choice.

Edit
Should also mention the Ashley Iles are very nice in the hand, if you want a set of 11 of those I could do you a deal :eusa-think:
 
Doug":28v265jp said:
Sadly out of stock at the moment but I’ve been hanging my nose over the Veritas PMV11 butt chisels, I have 4 PMV11 bench chisels & fancy getting the sizes I haven’t got in the butt format.
Spendy yes but a pleasure to use & take & hold such a good edge.



That said both Narex & Axminster do butt chisel sets, ya pays ya money & take ya choice.

Edit
Should also mention the Ashley Iles are very nice in the hand, if you want a set of 11 of those I could do you a deal :eusa-think:
Click to expand...
Cheers Doug but I'm only after a set of four :lol: I went over to Peter Parfitt's 'shop (he of 'New Brit Workshop') a few years ago and he tried to flog me a set of PMV-11 chisels as he couldn't get on with them...something about the handles splitting? - Rob
 
I have a crown set, slightly over polished, mostly flat enough, but seem to hold a good edge.

Pete
 
My ignorance remains unparalleled. Until this thread I had never heard of or seen a butt chisel. Seems to be a short chisel with a short handle. Not sure that I have any idea what I would use them for, though the eBay set look quite nice for £50.
 
AJB Temple":2hlok9uo said:
My ignorance remains unparalleled. Until this thread I had never heard of or seen a butt chisel. Seems to be a short chisel with a short handle. Not sure that I have any idea what I would use them for, though the eBay set look quite nice for £50.
Click to expand...
Very popular in the US apparently Adrian. I have a current job on the go at present where I need a short chisel (say around 150mmish) total length to get into a few internal crooks n'nannies where a standard sized jobbie is just too large - Rob
 
Woodbloke":1oo25l0u said:
Cheers Doug but I'm only after a set of four :lol: I went over to Peter Parfitt's 'shop (he of 'New Brit Workshop') a few years ago and he tried to flog me a set of PMV-11 chisels as he couldn't get on with them...something about the handles splitting? - Rob
Click to expand...

Not had that problem on the bench ones & they’ve had some thrash, the handles on the ones you linked to look a little short & chunky though for that price you could turn some new ones




Trevanion":1oo25l0u said:
That's the nice thing with a socket chisel, take the handle off, and voila, instant butt chisel.
Click to expand...

Where’s the fun in that :lol: gotta have a nice set :?


C3BCB6CB-75D3-4E72-A164-6B954272CB08.jpeg
 
I have three of these from Narex and they are my Go To chisel. I can't remember the last time I picked up one of those funny long-handled ones.



Ignore the gouges. They went back.
 
Alf":3pfdwmhy said:
AJB Temple":3pfdwmhy said:
Not sure that I have any idea what I would use them for...
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You'll know when it happens and you don't have one.

Be interested to see what you plump for, Rob. I went old school for my only butt chisel.
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My new one is pretty similar



I made it because my previous one was a bit worn.
 

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Having looked at innumerable sets of butt chisels, most or all of the ones I saw were highly polished (Woodriver, Luban, Two Cherries, Pfeil etc) with coarsely ground bevels; many also appeared to have convex backs, so I took a punt on the Narex set. I've been really, really very pleased with their set of 'Richter' chisels (difficult to find any sort of fault with them) and I was hoping that the butt chisels would be of a similar quality.

Apart from the truly appalling and dreadful, cheap n'nasty handles, they were:

IMG_6290.jpeg

I've spent the last day or so doing a spot of spiny work on the 'Dark Side' and have run up some new, slightly smaller, but infinitely superior ones in Elm:

IMG_6302.jpeg

IMG_6306.jpeg

The grinding marks on the back were virtually zero and it took me no time at all to remove them and get a reasonable degree of 'polish' on the steel. In addition, they weren't in the least convex and the bevel grinding along the sides was also pretty fine.

If you're after a set of butt chisels and are prepared to make some decent handles, I reckon you'd have to go a long way to beat these - Rob
 
Nice work Rob, I like the look of those mushroomed handles, they look like they'd be comfortable. Did you practice the shape until you got it right for your hand or just go with it from the off?
 
TrimTheKing":2pymk0rj said:
Nice work Rob, I like the look of those mushroomed handles, they look like they'd be comfortable. Did you practice the shape until you got it right for your hand or just go with it from the off?
Click to expand...

Just as it happened Mark, but they're 10mm smaller than the originals. Dia of the handle is 40mm - Rob
 
Those look great Rob! Definitely a massive improvement with the handles, I'm not sure why Narex opts for handles with so little finesse, and the dodgy staining job makes them look cheap and nasty too. I know there's a reasonable price difference but the overall feel of using the Richter chisels is head and shoulders above their standard line, in my opinion.
 
Trevanion":s2h799n2 said:
...but the overall feel of using the Richter chisels is head and shoulders above their standard line, in my opinion.
Click to expand...
Agree absolutely. The 'Richter' chisels are really, really great straight out the box. The first 0.5mm or so is a bit soft, but that's common with all Narex chisels and once you get past that bit, there's very little to complain about...and the backs are as flat as a flat thing :D - Rob
 
New handles look very smart, Rob. Hope you'll give us an update in due course as to how you find your butts, and how much you use them. Maybe wait 'til after the honeymoon phase when you want to use them for everything though! :D

Had to go and have a look at the Richter chisels, of course. This thread would have been cripplingly expensive if I was actually doing any woodworking, chisels being a bit of a moth to the flame kinda thing with me. An upside to being a workshop exile? :cry:
 
I'm not sure what you are trying to achieve, Rob. Butt chisels, as far as I know, are just short chisels, but you've turned handles which are not only short, but are also only suitable for hand-holding. In other words, you've now got short chisels you can't use a mallet with. That's a pretty singular and specialised niche, so you must have created these with a very specific job in mind. Care to share?

My everyday chisels are a short Stanley set. Not sure what number it is, but they are essentially butt chisels. So I've got short chisels I can use in the hand, but, (and this is what I don't get), I can (and do, all the time) still hit them with a mallet. Why would you take that option away?
 
Mike G":33bmn1oe said:
I'm not sure what you are trying to achieve, Rob. Butt chisels, as far as I know, are just short chisels, but you've turned handles which are not only short, but are also only suitable for hand-holding. In other words, you've now got short chisels you can't use a mallet with. That's a pretty singular and specialised niche, so you must have created these with a very specific job in mind. Care to share?

My everyday chisels are a short Stanley set. Not sure what number it is, but they are essentially butt chisels. So I've got short chisels I can use in the hand, but, (and this is what I don't get), I can (and do, all the time) still hit them with a mallet. Why would you take that option away?
Click to expand...

Butt chisels as far as I know, aren't meant to be used with any undue force and because of their diminutive size are really best used by hand. However if I did need to tap them, the handles are made from elm and there's not a lot out there which is tougher. In most situations where one to be walloped, then I use my full size Narex 'Richter' chisels, which are quite superb. My Japanese pairing chisels are similar, ground at 20deg with a 25deg bevel; they're strictly for the finest hand paring and can never, ever be struck with a tapometer.

The frame for a current display cabinet project:

IMG_6165.jpeg

...features rounded internal corners (some yet to be bearing cut with a router) and these butts will be used in part to clean up the inside corners where a full sized chisel simply won't go as it's too big! I couldn't use a mallet inside the frame even if I wanted to :D - Rob
 
I didn't think I had a set, but when I pulled them out for a group shot I found they are three different widths, so I guess that counts. :)

From the top:
unmarked, possibly Footprint?
I Sorby
Stanley 5500.

Blue handled Stanley for scale.

IMG_20211209_094728201.jpg
 
AndyT":2e22f4fh said:
I didn't think I had a set, but when I pulled them out for a group shot I found they are three different widths, so I guess that counts. :)

From the top:
unmarked, possibly Footprint?
I Sorby
Stanley 5500.

Blue handled Stanley for scale.

Click to expand...

I prefer the look of the wider ones, but I guess that's because...I like big butts and I cannot lie!

:eusa-whistle:
 
Yep, mine are 5500, Andy. They're pretty much all I ever use, unless my knuckles are in danger from a deep mortice, or I can't reach far enough into a slot I am paring. Most of my oak framing has been done with these and a Stanley 1-1/2".

chisels.JPG
 
Woodbloke":1t87mc13 said:
........if I did need to tap them, the handles are made from elm and there's not a lot out there which is tougher.....
Click to expand...

It wasn't the wood I had doubts about, it was the shape. You've not left a lot to get a fist around whilst the mallet is employed.

This illustrates one of the beauties of tools. They evolve into more and more specialised versions, and get individually adjusted to suit owners and specific tasks. Trying to work out why they are the way they are is usually quite fun.
 
Crivens! I'd forgotten the 5500s. Think mine suffered some very early experimentation in re-handling.
 
Mike, are you sure you didn't start with full sized chisels and wear them down? ;)

Seriously though, that's evidence that they are pretty tough.

And just to clarify, I'm not in any way saying that Rob shouldn't have bought his nice set, just showing that there's always a range of options at different prices and with different features. It's encouraging to know that you can still get good chisels.
 
AndyT":2bkd0fgy said:
I didn't think I had a set, but when I pulled them out for a group shot I found they are three different widths, so I guess that counts. :)

From the top:
unmarked, possibly Footprint?
I Sorby
Stanley 5500.

Blue handled Stanley for scale.

View attachment 2
Click to expand...

The smallest one is about 'butt' length and would have fitted the inside of my project, but the others are too long. The ones I finished yesterday measure 160mm which is the same as the smallest chisel in your pic:

IMG_6310.jpeg

Mike G":2bkd0fgy said:
You've not left a lot to get a fist around whilst the mallet is employed.
Click to expand...

Whadya mean, not enough room?

IMG_6312.jpeg

Loadsa space :lol: - Rob
 
droogs":u2tjywlf said:
The full exression is
Jings, Crivens and help me Boaby!
Click to expand...

Well, not quite as I was taught it.
JIngs, crivens, help ma boab. Only ever said in Oor Wullie, mind you.
A boaby is something else entirely.
But what do I know…
 
Look out fellas, the Scots are arguing. Keep your heads down...... :lol: :lol:
 
Mike G":2ojantc3 said:
Look out fellas, the Scots are arguing. Keep your heads down...... :lol: :lol:
Click to expand...

No, no. This is not a stramash or a stooshie, and certainly not a rammy.

We know where to go for those...

And Droogs has met me. I think he knows I would not be argumentative for the sake of it.
 
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