Chisel gloat - Yeeeehaaah

[Robert WA]

They arrived today from Germany.

6 Two Cherries chisels, 6 mm to 26 mm in a neat box. I sent the order on 27/6, had confirmation and a price the next day and delivery by insured post today. Total cost Euros 98.65 including postage, which at todays exchange rate is $168.71.

I will have to wait to see the Visa account to find out the AU$ price as at the day the charge was entered.

No more messing with crummy, cheap, Chinese chisels or even with Stanleys that seem to lose their edge too quickly. Roll on the dovetails.

[ozwinner]

Roll on the dovetails.
Id be carefull doing that, you might do yourself an injury. :D

Al

[craigb]

Enjoy. Did you get them from Dieter Schmid?

[Robert WA]

Enjoy. Did you get them from Dieter Schmid?


Yes, and he was good, and easy, to deal with.


"Id be carefull doing that, you might do yourself an injury."
Har dee har har.
I guess rolling on the dovetails would be less painful than rolling on the chisels.

[derekcohen]

Robert

Send them up to me for sharpening. Can't promise a speedy service, however ...

Enjoy.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Robert WA]

Robert

Send them up to me for sharpening. Can't promise a speedy service, however ...

Enjoy.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Sharpening????

I guess you mean that strange process of dragging the sharp end over an old concrete, Besser block. Never got the hang of that stuff. I always found that using a bigger hammer to drive them along does the trick.

Cheers

Robert.

[bob w]

Sharpening????

I guess you mean that strange process of dragging the sharp end over an old concrete, Besser block. Never got the hang of that stuff. I always found that using a bigger hammer to drive them along does the trick.

Cheers

Robert.


You must be related to a motor mechanic I knew in Sydney. His theory was "if it doesn't fit, hit it harder. If it still doesn't fit buy a bigger bl##dy hammer.

Regards
Bob

[Rocker]

Didn't someone say that the Hirsch chisels sold by Lee Valley are identical to Two Cherries ones, and are produced in the same factory? If that is the case, Lee Valley's price of US$87 (not including freight) for the set of 6 chisels sounds like a better deal, particularly if you are patient enough to wait for them to be sent by sea mail.

Rocker

[Robert WA]

Rocker.

You may be right.

Presuming, say, US$30 for insured postage, that would be US$117. At US$0.72 to the Oz dollar, that is AU$162.50.

I was not prepared to take the gamble that Hirsch is the same quality for that little difference.

[Rob Lee]

Didn't someone say that the Hirsch chisels sold by Lee Valley are identical to Two Cherries ones, and are produced in the same factory? If that is the case, Lee Valley's price of US$87 (not including freight) for the set of 6 chisels sounds like a better deal, particularly if you are patient enough to wait for them to be sent by sea mail.

Rocker


Hi -

Same steel, same plant, different markings and handles....

TTFN -

Rob

[bloggs1968]

They arrived today from Germany.

6 Two Cherries chisels, 6 mm to 26 mm in a neat box. I sent the order on 27/6, had confirmation and a price the next day and delivery by insured post today. Total cost Euros 98.65 including postage, which at todays exchange rate is $168.71.

I will have to wait to see the Visa account to find out the AU$ price as at the day the charge was entered.

No more messing with crummy, cheap, Chinese chisels or even with Stanleys that seem to lose their edge too quickly. Roll on the dovetails.


Hi Robert, it's probably too late but when you tune up these chisels I found that with mine, the polishing has rounded the edges of the chisel and it seemed to take forever to get the backs flat. After the first few, I realised that if I took about 1-1.5mm off the primary bevel, either quickly on the grinder or with a coarse diamond stone, that the worst part of the "rounding" - near the tip of the chisel, would be pretty well eliminated.

Nice choice of chisel. I have both the set of 6 Hirsch froom LV and a 30, 40 and 50mm two cheries. Virtually no difference at all in looks and none in performance that I can see.

Hope this helps.

Andrew

[IanW]

Andrew,
Quote: "Hi Robert, it's probably too late but when you tune up these chisels I found that with mine, the polishing has rounded the edges of the chisel and it seemed to take forever to get the backs flat. "

Yeah - I had the same gripe with another brand, and when I asked the retailer how they are polished, was told they chuck 'em into a giant tumbler with approriate sized grits and churn away til they're done. Have no reason to doubt that's the way they do it, alright, because I noticed when replacing the handle that the tang was also brightly polished.
Frankly, I wish they wouldn't do it at all - it makes the tool a bit friendlier to hold by the blade for paring, but the cost is as noted - rounded corners, which are no use on a paring tool or one that is meant to cut into a corner. This one is well-rounded all the way back, I had to waste an enormous amount of time to clean up the business end.
At least the 2 Cheries/Hirsch tools are worth the trouble - the one I'm whingeing about was a piece of junk that is only slightly harder than mild steel - it's sitting in a drawer waiting for a try at hardening and tempering, as soon as I get one of those round tuit thingies....
Cheers,

[mat]

Two Cherries do also make a non polished version.

http://www.craftsmanstudio.com/html/fine_tools/two_cherries/two_cherries.htm

[IanW]

[QUOTE=mat]Two Cherries do also make a non polished version.

Way to go, I reckon.................

[mat]

Rob
Does the set of 6 Hirsch chisels come in a wooden case? What are the freight costs to Australia for this set?

[Rob Lee]

Rob
Does the set of 6 Hirsch chisels come in a wooden case? What are the freight costs to Australia for this set?


G'day Mat -


Chisels are in stock ($87 USD/Set) - freight quote (USD) is:

Ocean 20.85 US$ - 8 to 10 weeks

Air Express Post 31.50 US$ - 6 to 10 days

UPS Express 64.62 US$ - 5 to 6 days

We don't have a wooden box for this set - but with with all the bonza woods you have down there - do you really want crook North American species???

Cheers,

Rob
(learning to speak Australian... :) )

[Ben from Vic.]

but with with all the bonza woods you have down there - Rob
(learning to speak Australian... :) )

Thats Beauty Bonza to you. :D :D :D

I take it you've been over here before?

Must be a top bloke to be so interested in our ripper of a culture. :D :D

Ben.

[Robert WA]

Thanks for all the information.

I checked the chisels and, sure enough, they do have a very slight bevel along each edge. I can see myself spending a bit of time flattening that off.

I was caught up last weekend, a daughter with a problem only a Dad could fix, so didn't do any sharpening.

Presuming a good quality bench sander with a good, flat bed, a reasonably fine belt and a lot of care, is that an option for flattening the backs?

Having asked that question, I am not sure I would be brave enough to do it. I might try it on the back of a rubbish, Chinese chisel that I was about to relegate to paint can opening.

[Rob Lee]

Thats Beauty Bonza to you. :D :D :D

I take it you've been over here before?

Must be a top bloke to be so interested in our ripper of a culture. :D :D

Ben.

Nope - never been, but will be addressing that soon....

Canadians have a lot in common with Australia (starting with decent beer)...

Cheers -

Rob
(one of my favorite books is "A Town Like Alice" - Nevil Shute...)

[craigb]

G'day Rob,

Nice to see the folks from LV taking an interest in the board :)

Is there any relation between the Lee in Rob Lee and the Lee in Lee Valley ?

Craig

[IanW]

Is there any relation between the Lee in Rob Lee and the Lee in Lee Valley ?

Craig

Only if he's still speaking to his old man! ;)

Let me know when you're here, Rob - I've got a trailer load of off-cuts you can take home with you, & give some of your nice HSS plane blades a workout... :D
No, better still, bring down a knapsackfull, and WE'LL try 'em out for you... :D :D :D
Cheers,
(From someone who spent many happy yrs in Guelph, and a few glorious hrs in the Totonto store. :) )

[Rob Lee]

G'day Rob,

Nice to see the folks from LV taking an interest in the board :)

Is there any relation between the Lee in Rob Lee and the Lee in Lee Valley ?

Craig

Hi Craig -

Yes, it's a family business....been working here since I was 16...

Ian - I hope I can take you up on that!

Cheers -

Rob

[Rocker]

Got a couple of Hirsch chiels today from Lee Valley. It took about an hour's work to fettle each one, owing to the polishing that had rounded the edges. The factory had ground the side edges a bit after the polishing process, but not nearly enough to restore the required sharp corners. After flattening the back, I had to hone quite a wide secondary bevel in order to remove the rounding near the chisel's sharp edge that had been caused by the polishing process, and I had to grind the side edges more in order to restore the sharp corners.

The polishing process makes the chisels look nice, but the factory needs to grind the side edges more to remove the rounding and to grind away more metal when forming the bevel, to remove the rounding between the back and the sharp edge. Maybe Rob could have a word to them about it?

Once they are tuned up, they are very nice chisels; but a little more work at the factory would save the buyer having to spend so much time getting them to a usable state.

Rocker

[ryanarcher]

I'll one up you guys on the chisel gloat. Just put my order in for a set of 8 hand forged Barr cabinet chisels. Check out the link: http://www.barrtools.com/

I never would have paid the price until I bought the timber framing chisel and used it. UNREAL! :D :D :D

[bloggs1968]

I'll one up you guys on the chisel gloat. Just put my order in for a set of 8 hand forged Barr cabinet chisels. Check out the link: http://www.barrtools.com/

I never would have paid the price until I bought the timber framing chisel and used it. UNREAL! :D :D :D

Agreed, nice tools. I had Barr make me a 3 1/2" slick which turned up yesterday. Great workmanship and friendly service too. I'd like to try his other gear but I have a few chisels to wear out first. They harden their chisels to Rc 60-62 so I believe that their edge holding ability is very good. Can you post again when you get the chisels and let us know how they go.

Andrew

[ryanarcher]

Can you post again when you get the chisels and let us know how they go.

Andrew


Andrew,
absolutely. I'll post pictures as well just to make you guys jealous. ;) it'll be about a month though.
-ryan

[Rocker]

I have just come across an article in Fine Woodworking (#139), which gives the results of some quantitative tests that were done on most of the available brands of bench chisels. The results are given in terms of a toughness number, which measured how quickly the edge deteriorated in use. The scores ranged from 1-17. The various Japanese brands were the clear winners, with toughness scores ranging from 1 to 3; Barr, Hirsch/Two Cherries and Crown had scores between 4 and 7, and Stanley, Marples (=Irwin), and (surprisingly) Pfeil, were 15-17. The toughness number does not reflect the Rockwell Hardness of the steel used in the chisels. In fact the Marples chisel steel has a Rockwell hardness of 62, compared to only 59 for the Hirsch/Two Cherries. This is why I have been quite happy with my Marples chisels, despite their poor toughness score. They will take a very sharp edge, but they need honing more often than most other brands.

Rocker

[John Saxton]

Got the same copy of FWW magazine,Rocker which also swayed me in my purchase of Japanese dovetail chisels at the Perth Woodshow from Mike at the Mik stand ....oh and by the way he was very accommodating with price.

I have a set of Pfeil that cater for my needs along with a set of Marples and a set of Stanley mortise chisels..bulky but handy.

Cheers :)