Chisel softwood

[Bin57again]

Ok, so I was making my first dovetail joint last night (and following John Bullar on YouTube) and I got to the point where I had to chisel out the waste.
For the life of me I couldn't do better than it look like it had been attacked by a rabid cat with blunt claws.
I'm using an Irwin Marples job.
I'd like to know, is it just my skills that are lacking or is softwood (in this case pine) difficult to chisel?
I don't know if the chisel is sharp enough but it's new and I've kept it in its protective cover.
The softwood is about an inch thick - am I making life tough again? Bullar in his video is only chiselling out about 10mm I reckon plus he's using Lie Neilson kit.
Should I bin the Irwin and get a proper chisel set?
Please help - I really want to make my 1st dovetail...!!!

[silentC]

OK there are a couple of things here.

First, paring pine end grain is actually more difficult than hardwood because, as it is so soft, the fibres will tend to tear out rather than slice if your chisel is not very sharp. So the first thing to check is how sharp your chisel is - and I'm guessing that if it's straight out of the shop, it's not going to be very sharp.

So I'd recommend before you go any further, you learn how to sharpen a chisel so that you can shave with it (literally) and then go from there. There's no reason you can't get a decent edge on an Irwin. It may not hold the edge as long as better quality steel but that shouldn't stop you from being able to do what you're attempting with it.

You'll probably find it easier to get good results with hardwood too.

[Bin57again]

Thanks Silent, sounds good advice. Cheers...

[CV3]

I second what sientC said. I would add that with soft wood it is sometimes better to us slicing motion or angle. I have used a small detail knife. Soft fiber cuts cleaner across the grain than cutting down. And as sientC said learning to sharppen your tool is very big part of clean cuts.

[Robson Valley]

I carve almost exclusively in western red cedar, a lot softer than pine and splits easily. It is rare to find a tool, out of the box, that's sharp enough to use. Then, there's "shaving sharp" and that can be fixed so the tool is "carving sharp,". . . . . which is really what you're trying to do.
Like it or not, learning to really, really sharpen tools is a satisfying skill to learn. . . . that way, you can buy good tools and keep them that way.
Most carpenter's chisels and plane blades are sharpened at 30 degrees total included bevel angle. Wood carving tools are 20 degrees, maybe 25 if you want to beat on really hard woods. Detail knives, chip knives and kitchen stuff doesn't need to be more than 15 degrees, 12 is what I go for.

My favorite carving tools are big skew chisels (12 & 25mm). While they are sharpened at 20 degrees, the skew shape reduces the angle in the attack while still having lots of steel behind the edge for support. More of a slicing angle even as you work straight ahead.

Oil stones are fine for grinding out nicks and dings and getting ready for "real" sharpening. A combination 1000/4000 grit waterstone is my workhorse. Wood-backed hard leather strop & honing compound will put a serious edge on a new razor blade.

I'd predict that your chisel has a poor edge, even pitted. That, I have found in both brand new skew chisels and brand new 5/35 gouges.
While it is a borderline chore to correct the defects, the results were worth it.