Thread: Looking for a good "Starter" Chisel - set and singles

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

......Having largish hands I always assumed that handles should be sized to fit them and shaped to assist with the way I used the tool......

Graeme, those have always been my guiding principles..

Originally Posted by GraemeCook

......handles should not be sized to your hands, but that they should reflect the delicacy of the tasks that the tool would normally be used for. Eg A mortise chisel should have a stout handle because it gets belted; a paring chisel should have a relatively delicate handle for precision.....

Maybe something got lost in translation, but that statement seems to be self-contradictory. Having a handle that you can hang onto but appropriate to the task it has to perform seem fundamental to me. The two are not mutually exclusive, the handle of a slick can be fatter than a bench chisel's because of the way you'd hold it (think hoe handle, for e.g.), and at that length, it needs to be stout for stiffness. My cranked parers are used with the handle in one hand, & the other pushing down at the cutting edge. The handle only needs to be a single handful (sized for my hand ).

Cheers,

Originally Posted by IanW

........Maybe something got lost in translation, but that statement seems to be self-contradictory..........

Good Morning Ian

I am sure a lot got lost in translation; his English was reasonable basic, my Japanese is extremely basic.

Rather than view the arguments as contradictory, I suggest that he may have raised yet another issue to which I had not previously given adequate credence.

In his business he also ran woodworking classes including some in relief carving and in wood block carving (for paintings), and he sold relief carvings. He also sold prepared carving blanks made from a soft, bland hardwood - possibly paulownia. As we talked he illustrated himself demonstrating on one of those paulownia blocks - say 200 x 200 x 15 mm. He had already pencilled in the design:

• He used a 20 mm shallow gouge with a very short fat handle that fitted into his palm to "wriggle" the gouge across the block and create a winding river.
• He used a 5 mm gouge with a thin handle "held like a paint brush" to impart topographical features.
• He used a very fine V-gouge with a very thin handle "held like a pen" to carve in clumps of reeds.

He was convincing.


Cheers

Graeme