Tool Review/Chisel Porn

[Localele]

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"Originally Posted on:Fri Jun 25, 2010 7:44 am"


Harold & Saxon Chisels.Proudly Australian Made.
After a couple of shed re-locations my mate Trent has got his operation nearly set up right.When he first started out I swapped him a small workbench to use at trade shows for a set of chisels with the understanding that he could do mine once he was a bit more on top of the business and looked after his first customers.So these arrived yesterday fresh from being displayed at the Sydney Wood Show.They look brilliant and the photos don't even begin to tell the story. These are made from M2 Tool Steel and brass with some Macadamia wood handles for a bit of a local flavour.This wood is also hard and tough so perfect for chisel handles.Haven't put them to use yet but they are as sharp as,with that sort of sharp bite to the edge of early high carbon steels without the worry of rusting.The M2 is extremely tough stuff and will hold an edge for a long ,long time.
Like a hand made guitar makes you play better, when you have better tools you tend to do better work and the connection with the maker and his single-minded attention to detail is transferred into your own work.
Have a look here for more info. http://www.haroldandsaxon.com/index.htm

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[Nick]

Beautiful Looking & beautifully made. Thanks for posting Micheal, it's nice to see things like hand tools are still lovingly created by craftsmen.

[kiwigeo]

Nice looking hand tools....

[Lillian]

Those are beautiful.

[Ben]

They look too nice to use!

[Localele]

They are never too good to use in my workshop.

[Kim]

Certainly an impressive set of butt chisels Michael, Trent is indeed a fine craftsman.

Does he do any paring chisels? I think there would be more interest form instrument builders if a 1/4", 1/2", 3/4" set were available with a blade length of say 185mm and an over all of 320mm.

I only ask because I bought an old Marples from ebay a few weeks back and have just finished tuning it (taking ownership ) for brace carving. It now has a 20 degree primary bevel as it will only ever be used on softer woods such as spruce. This chisel should now work well for what I want to do with it but it was a lot of work to get it from this:

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To this:

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The bevel has also been bellied to assist fine shaving as per Billy Bob Cumpiano's advice.

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Now a set of Trent's paring chisels with Macadamia handles would put this old pommy beast to shame, wadda ya reckon ??? Very Happy

Cheers

Kim

[Craig]

Crikey Kim , That chisel is enough to bring on a serious bout of TAS . You,ve done a great job on it and I understand what you mean about the amount of time you have to put in to get this result . Pain and sweat ,, it's all part of the 'bonding'

Harold and Saxon chisels . What a class act

[Allen]

I'm just trying to decide what handles will color co-ordinate with my new workshop.

And you say that the M2 doesn't rust eh? How the hell can you pass that up when I've got a chisel looking like Kim has got his, then only to find it totally covered in tarnish and rust within a couple of days during the wet.

[Kim]

If your running a dehumidifier in your glue room and you keep your hand tools in there, they won't rust even if they are straight high carbon. But considering the work it takes to bring a standard factory chisel to the standard of the Harold and Saxon's, it would be very difficult to justify not going with Trent's lovely product and saving yourself the mammoth effort and worn finger pads it takes to get anywhere near there. That said I would really like to see them in a 185mm to 190mm blade length for paring though.

Cheers

Kim

[kiwigeo]

When you say the primary bevel is bellied....do you mean hollow ground?

[Kim]

No Martin, not hollow ground. If you look at the image you will see that the top of the bevel curves back into the top of the shaft.

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It shows clearly here:

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So a bellied bevel is where you grind the top peak off the bevel into a curve like so:

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You can probably immediately identify for yourself the extra control this simple curve gives to the depth of cut, very handy indeed for brace shaping.

Cheers

Kim

[WaddyT]

Kim's bevel is perfect for brace carving, as the curve allows the chisel, when used, bevel down, for control in carving softwood braces, to follow the curve of the brace as you carve it. A hollow ground chisel will not allow for a gradually curved taper to the top. If you use it with the bevel up, it will pop off wood with the grain, instead of paring it off in small slivers.

[Localele]

From the hallowed pages of the 2010 Australian Quality Tools catalogue comes some more info for your perusal.If anyone would like a copy sent out free of charge let me know and I will post them out.

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[sebastiaan56]

I spent 20 mins talking to trent at the show, nice guy and the photos do not do the chisels justice. Porn is the relevant term

[Lillian]

Kim, thanks for the run down on the way you modify your bevel. Interesting stuff. Do you have microbevel on your chisels or rely on the primary bevel ast the cutting edge? Cant see clearly from your photos.

[Kim]

For now I will run with the 20 degree primary as shown in the images but will cut a 25 degree secondary later if I feel the need. I make this point as I will probably start using Bunya for all back bracing and reserve my stock of spruce for exclusive use on tops. A 20 degree bevel should work well for either wood as both work easy but the option remains open to toughen up the edge if need be.

Cheers

Kim

[Clancy]

I was struggling a little carving the braces so it was with pleasure that I looked at Kim's solution.

After waiting patiently Confused for an old bevelled chisel of the right length to show up on ebay, I managed to get hold of this 13.25" long 3/4" Union Hardware.
Don't know much about this brand, but I wasn't paying a fortune for it (and as Kim says, it's only to be used on softer bracewood).

Spent the weekend on the waterstones flattening the back and creating a 20 degree bevel, along with the "belly".
Got it nice and sharp and then decided to give it a good overall polish. (Should have done that before sharpening it )
Sorry it's not as shiny as Kim's, I'll try harder next time

Anyway, put it through it's paces with bunya and spruce. It's holding the edge well, better than I thought it would. The balance the extra length gives is fantastic. As is the extra control with the lower angle bevel and belly.
I really like this new "dedicated" chisel of mine.


Thanks Kim.

Before.....

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After......

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[Kim]

Onya Craig the chisel looks great and from what I recall Union tools are VERY highly regards. Great score.

Cheers

Kim

[Localele]

Looks like a nice one Craig. Bit like the early Stanley 750 series socket chisels.The time spent fine tuning tools usually comes back in the better job you do when using same. I think it comes from understanding how it all works even with a simple tool like a chisel.




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