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  1. #1
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    Default That's Not a Chisel...This is a Chisel

    A Latvian tool works making a chisel.....a large chisel

    CHRIS

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  3. #2
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    Wot! No micro-bevels? No safety glasses or other PPE either.
    Innovations are those useful things that, by dint of chance, manage to survive the stupidity and destructive tendencies inherent in human nature.

  4. #3
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    Made to a standard when time and money are not the driving factors. Or perhaps a very slick advertising campaign?

    TT
    Learning to make big bits of wood smaller......

  5. #4
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    or perhaps both.

    which doesn't concern me at all
    regards from Alberta, Canada

    ian

  6. #5
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    Quote Originally Posted by ian View Post
    or perhaps both.

    which doesn't concern me at all
    Oooahh.

    It is easy to forgive people who do this kind of thing for marketing it. Slickly or otherwise.

    I find it a lot more palatable than, for instance, those who market "new improved" hand planes like they are selling shoes to chicks.

  7. #6
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    Yes, it looks to be a well made chisel. I have heard people say when confronted with this type of sales pitch " They're selling the sizzle, not the sausage".

    TT
    Learning to make big bits of wood smaller......

  8. #7
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    Quote Originally Posted by ian View Post
    or perhaps both.

    which doesn't concern me at all
    Quote Originally Posted by goodvibes View Post
    Oooahh.

    It is easy to forgive people who do this kind of thing for marketing it. Slickly or otherwise.

    I find it a lot more palatable than, for instance, those who market "new improved" hand planes like they are selling shoes to chicks.
    to expand somewhat,

    small, one or two person, operations have a choice:
    compete on price with the big guys, or
    sell the "sizzle" around the making of the tool.

    typically, option 1 means working long hours for less than the dole.
    Option 2 offers a chance of working for a "wage" that reflects the craftsman's skill. Hence my sympathy
    regards from Alberta, Canada

    ian

  9. #8
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    Default

    Interesting set of reactions.

    I first thought it was just some bloke making a pretty impressive bit of kit, though I realised it was more of an ad when they did the stamping of the trademark on the blade sequence so pointedly. After reading some of the replies, I went back and had a second look, and there are three different people in the video, so it's 'some blokes' making a chisel. I also took a look at the Northmen website, and I think TT & Ian are on the money - the sausage probably tastes ok, but they are definitely pushing the sizzle..

    And while I watched the bloke forming the chisel socket with some awe (how I'd love to be able to forge-weld like that!), I wasn't so impressed by the turnery sequence. A bit nit-picky, but why not form the taper right on the end? That allows you to take it out for a test-fit or two. I usually get my handles to fit off-lathe, or at worst, after a bit of minor adjustment, because the internal socket tapers are often a bit irregular. Is there some reason I'm unaware of, to do it the way the bloke in the video did it?

    Cheers,
    IW

  10. #9
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    Apr 2011
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    McBride BC Canada
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    Default

    Just a typical "Slick" which is a standard log-home building tool here. They run $150.00 - $200.00 each. That one looks really well made.
    If it's your intention to toss $15,000,000 at a log home, whats a couple of slicks? Pioneer Log Homes/Williams Lake, BC.

  11. #10
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    Dec 2011
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    SC, USA
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    I really like the video and the work he is doing.

    I guess I am surprised about the sizzle/sausage comments... A small guy will starve to death trying to out factory a factory. You will never do it. They can crank out millions of mediocre quality cookie cutter parts using unskilled labor before lunch.... They have starved out the artisan once and can do it again.

    Where the small guy tends to out do the factory is boutique products. High end and low volume. The factory just cant justify spending that much time on low volume piece.... They loose money because expensive, highly trained people tie up expensive production lines doing the low volume and onesie/twosie stuff... They would probably completely mess up 50 or 100 units getting their line dialed in for the 20 or 50 units that this fellow sells per year.

    Its kinda like the blacksmith made Japanese chisels.. While the factory can crank out a zillion "consistent" hardware store chisels - they are consistently all over the place. The factory steel itself may be very good stuff - but their heat treatment is inconsistent. Some are soft, some are hard, and you havd no idea what you are going to get until you open the package.

    Heres an interesting example of this. In my "One chisel to rule them all" quest - I have continued to fiddle around with various hardware store fare. One in particular the Ace hardware "Pro" series.... Its a short blade chisel that looks just like the Stanley Fat Max... Long story short - they got harder after a day in my deep freezer (my wife gave me some funny looks about chisels next to the frozen fish and pizza..). The factory apparently is using some good high carbon steel -1% Carbon or better.... No doubt some flavor of 52100 or 115crv3.. But their heat treatment isnt quite right and they are leaving a lot of retained Austenite. Would a Japanese smith or Harold and Saxon do this on one of their hand forged chisels? Most likely not... But they dont sell 10,000 units per month....

    And so if you want to get the good stuff - you have to go somewhere else because the factory wont even sell it to you.

  12. #11
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    I think that was the point being made.
    if a craftsman can sell the sizzle along with the tool, they can receive a fair price for their work.

    If they can't sell the sizzle they'll go broke.

    Of course, the tool being sold along with the sizzle needs to be a good one.
    regards from Alberta, Canada

    ian

  13. #12
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    Am I the only one to notice that he was holding the red hot chisels with his bare hand?

  14. #13
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    An interesting response to a video in which I just saw the skill set the guy had. The Northmen series of videos is interesting and I think it really was made to raise the awareness of Latvia and the people who live there and their way of life. Swimming in ice is not my thing neither is building log houses but to me it is interesting how others live. The dug out canoe video is really something else again in working wood.
    CHRIS

  15. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by justonething View Post
    Am I the only one to notice that he was holding the red hot chisels with his bare hand?
    I noticed his barehands as well. I have never used a forge and never heated a chunk of steel to red hot, but I would have thought the red hot end is obviously hot, but the other end would still have been pretty damn toasty enough to inflict pain. One day I will make a forge, blacksmithing is so interesting to me for some reason but I have never tried.

  16. #15
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    Iron isn't the same sort of heat conductor as, say, copper. The whole damn thing gets hot. Not quite so with iron. Bad but not quite.
    Watching the local farrier forge horse shoes, he can spot-heat them.

    Maybe the Latvian people don't have Home Depot, Bunnings or Home Hardware, Lowe's of any of the other "big box" crud for competition?
    Such tools, you get what you pay for. Production lots of 10,000 are usually poor as we all agree.
    Those guys know their metal, they can do the heat treatment accurately so I can be confident that I can
    go all day with the edge.

    Magard Log Home Building tools (Prince George, BC) are often criticised for being pricy. Number-wise, yes.
    Watch Maurice make 4 dozen draw knives in each batch. The alternative = Sight unseen? Off shore? Not a chance.

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