Dedicated Paring Chisels - Any Experience?

[Luke Maddux]

After recent having been "shown the light" with regards to the use of dedicated paring chisels, I'm seriously considering getting a few. Maybe 4-6 of them.

It looks like I have three options.

Blue Spruce: These are the Rols Royce it seems. Boutique company, high end handle timber, extreme attention to detail, etc etc. All that. Super expensive.

Robert Sorby: These come from CarbaTec, and it appears that they may be phasing them out, or at least certain sizes. I'm a bit reluctant to get these because I hate the handles and will end up knocking them off and replacing them, thus spending a bit of money on nothing.

Narex: It looks like Lee Valley has commissioned them to make a set of chisels specifically for them. I like these for a couple of reasons, namely they are extremely cheap so scrapping the handles isn't a drama, and they also don't appear to have any branding on them, which I appreciate. They claim to be made of a "silicon chrome" steel. Anyone care to comment on that? Metallurgy isn't my forte and as soon as you say anything other than High Speed or High Carbon I go into "deer in headlights" mode.

I know there are some good paring chisels on the vintage market, but I am not having any luck finding them. I'd appreciate any leads on that kind of thing as well.

So if anyone has any kind of feedback on what they use, or what they have used, then I'd be interested to hear it.

Thanks a lot in advance.

Cheers,
Luke

[Pittwater Pete]

Hi Luke
I bought a set of Narex bench chisels last week. The steel is pretty good. Holds an edge well. The handles are a good size and comfortable for a big ballooka like me but they are finished pretty badly. A quick sand, stain and oil and it all good.
.image.jpgThey need a bit of flattening first.
Pete.

[FenceFurniture]

I don't have the Narex bench chisels, but I do have the five long Narex parers, and the four cranked parers, and perhaps they are different steel to the bench jobbies. Pete's experience of the edge holding capability of the steel is, ah, different to mine. They do take a very good edge, I'll say that much. However, that edge folds over like a cheese slice when paring Oregon (Douglas Fir) end grain.

The ½" cranked parer resides on my bench for very extended periods because of its usefulness in trimming glue lines, furry countersink holes, ridge lines from a chipped thicky blade etc. IMHO it's a must have chisel. The edge retention for this kind of work is pretty irrelevant because they just don't get a tough workout on those sorts of tasks.

Noo then. Narex long parers. Bent like veritable bananas, and require a very great deal of flattening indeed to get down to just having an acceptable hollow within the borders of the edges.

They're a bit like recycled timber Luke - neither free nor cheap in the long run (if you count a fraction of your labour).

[D.W.]

Here's my thoughts:
* sorby chisels are fairly soft and expensive for what they are. It's a shame because they have the profile a parer should have.
* blue spruce parers - call me funny, but I don't like A2 for chisels. It's not well suited for it. I'd rather have a bolster for that price, but not too many people like to put bolsters on chisels these days
* narex chisels - OK, but they are far too thick for parers. I think thinness poses a challenge for current manufacturers who like to put stock on machines that grind tools. A tool that flexes seems trouble for some makers (I purchased and used these chisels for a little bit but sold them for marples mentioned below - not new irwin marples, mind you).

I like vintage, it takes a while to find them, though, and they're not always that hard, either.

whatever you buy, if it seems a bit soft, move the bevel angle up two degrees at a time until it holds up and see if you can live with it

I've got several paring chisels that are older, but three of them are marples that are boxwood handled but with modern alloyed steel, and they are still pretty decent. If you get the bevel angle too shallow, they let you know in a hurry, though. they're easy to sharpen and they cost me about $100 for the three. I can't complain too much.

I've got a mishmash of other random older ones, including old butcher chisels, and they are a very compliant steel on the stones. I just don't have narrow old ones other than the marples, so I just use those marples chisels. Paring is for me, mostly profile work. I don't pare dovetails or shoulder lines, I use malleted chisels for that.

I've also got japanese parers, very very good ones, but one thing is true about them - if they take some damage on a corner, it is a major event to get them cleaned up. I don't have any qualms about grinding up the marples, and sometimes that's nice. Of course, grinding them up will never happen.

Paring chisels should have some spring - according to george wilson, it's something that is required for them to stay in a long cut. I don't know anything about that, but I have to agree that the thin paring chisels are much more pleasing to use than the thick rigid ones.

[Pittwater Pete]

There is a decent blog article about the Narex paring chisels here.

http://blog.infinitytools.com/2015/0...-more-chisels/

Pete.

[IanW]

I'm guessing I'm partly responsible for Luke's current attack of chisel-lust, & he knows my views already, but for the record, I'll chuck my 2c in here.
What has probably done the damage is my 'partial' set of "New Haven" socket paring chisels, acquired 30 or so years ago when I was living in Canada. These are longish BE socket chisels with long, 'offset' sockets, which allows the blade to sit flat on a board right up to the wooden handles. The larger ones I judge would have been around 300mm long when new, including their sockets, but had a good inch or two used up before I got hold of them. They are too long & bouncy to be walloped into hard wood, but nowhere near as flexible as a patten-makers' paring chisel. The side lands are a bit thick for paring dovetail corners now, though they were probably ok new. The side bevels taper from toe to socket, and are quite thin at the toe on the couple that are still close to original length. I absolutely love these chisels & wouldn't part with them for any price! They get used on just about every job I do. The metal in them is one of those bright (high Vanadium??) alloys that is inclined to be a bit brittle, but takes a very keen edge. I sharpen them with pretty shallow bevels, so the edges are not super robust, however, they handle even hard woods ok if used sensibly (as we demonstrated by paring Blue Gum last week ).

Why do I think these chisels are so good? They are thin, but not really thin & flexible the way pattern-makers' paring chisels are (I have a couple of those & they have their uses, too), which allows them to be used for chopping across the grain, to clean up a sawn edge to the scribe line, for e.g.. A flexible chisel isn't good in that role, at least not for me. The length is good for reach, and also for judging that I'm holding it vertically when paring shoulders, or keeping it parallel to a reference surface, etc.

While a cranked chisel can be a very handy object, and great for cleaning up clue squeeze-out, etc., they can't do what my paring chisels do for me. I could live without the former (when all else fails, just grab any old chisel & use it bevel down, to reach into those impossible spots), but not the latter! Like every tool, a lot of personal preference is involved. The New Havens have lived with me a long time now, & we have built up a very close relationship, so much of my affection for them is because I am so used to them. There are many jobs where I automatically reach for the New Havens, but at a pinch, could be done just as well with any chisel of similar width - just not as instinctively...

And I second what DW says about old chisels being softer. I have noticed that lots of vintage chisels aren't remotely as hard as many 'modern' chisels, yet they can still do a fine job - for example, I have some Titan firmers which are much 'softer' than the Lie-Nielsens, yet hold up remarkably well on hard woods. The 3/4" was missing from the 'set' of N.H. chisels I got, and I tried hard to find one. After much fruitless searching, I had to settle for a different brand, built on a similar pattern (an "Essex", on which there is little information that I can find). This chisel is very similar to the New Havens, but it is soft enough that the edges can be filed with an ordinary file (just!), yet it takes and holds an edge almost as well, and I don't really notice much difference when using it. My Narex cranked chisels were a bit too soft when I first tried them, too, but I ground one back a little & it seems much better now, so maybe there's hope for yours, Brett....

Cheers,

[johnc]

I have two Titan paring chisels, 1/4" and 3/8" long thin blades with a bit of flex that are easy to sharpen and hold their edge well. Mind you I don't use much force on them either. I've never felt the need to have other sizes and these have worked well for me over the years for the hobbyist work that I do. They are used infrequently but very handy when you do.

[rmihai]

Just listen and do as DW said - 200% agreed. (this time...)

[Luke Maddux]

I've got a lead on some Titans. #326 Bevel Edge Long Paring Chisel.

Anyone have any experience using them?

Cheers,
Luke

[johnc]

326 are the ones I have, hold a good edge, sharpen well, easy to use. they are designed to be struck but really for most paring work you just need a sharp edge and a bit of pressure. If the price is right grab them. I got lucky only $8 each and barely used by the look of them.

[Luke Maddux]

326 are the ones I have, hold a good edge, sharpen well, easy to use. they are designed to be struck but really for most paring work you just need a sharp edge and a bit of pressure. If the price is right grab them. I got lucky only $8 each and barely used by the look of them.

Eight bucks? Well done there. I'm getting them from a dealer/Titan enthusiast and, although I don't currently have a quote, he specifically said "they won't be cheap". My understanding is that they are quite rare.

Cheers,
Luke

[Luke Maddux]

johnc,

I just thought you might appreciate knowing this...

The guy who offered me the Titan chisels, who is quite the expert on them I might add, wanted $150 each for them.

So I think it's safe to say that what you have there is something pretty valuable. Certainly far moreso than $8.

Well done.

Cheers,
Luke

[johnc]

I'll look at them very differently next time they come out of the cupboard. at that price though would you be better off with something new, they are a reasonable chisel but they don't exactly make coffee for me first thing in the morning.

[Luke Maddux]

I'll look at them very differently next time they come out of the cupboard. at that price though would you be better off with something new, they are a reasonable chisel but they don't exactly make coffee for me first thing in the morning.

Oh, absolutely. It took me about 0.5 seconds to make the decision to respectfully decline. That's a price for a serious, die-hard Titan collector. For $150 each I can have any chisel in the world brand new!

[rob streeper]

I have the Blue Spruce set, they're very nice. The blades are quite flexible. I want to measure the hardness however because they seem a little soft. I was using one on some trimming work on some soft pine and rolled the edge. I honed it and have had no problems since that first incident. I strongly recommend the longer handle option.