More mini chisels

[IanW]

I made a couple of mini BE chisels (http://www.woodworkforums.com/f279/variation-theme-180311) a while ago, out of some HSS flat bars. I was pretty pleased with them at the time, but being an obsessive type, it started to annoy me that the tapered ferrules were brass and looked out of place in the drawer beside the LNs. I could've solved the problem very simply, by putting them in another drawer, I suppose (:U).

When I made the brass ferrules, I cleaned out the insides in a pretty amateurish fashion, by drilling some stepped holes & blending them with a hand-held scraper. It worked ok (& this is the main reason I used brass), but feeling up for a challenge, I decided to try making some steel ferrules and turn out the inside taper with a bit more finesse. So I cobbled up a mini boring bar from a small tool-steel blank, and to my amazement, it worked really well. I did drill a stepped hole, to get the boring bit started, but it cleaned up the inside nicely, and of course I could also turn the outside neatly & safely, knowing the wall would stay parallel. So here's the result - a 3/32" and a 1/16": 399670 399671

They won't work any better than the others, but they look more at home....
399674
:D
Cheers,

[Luke Maddux]

Looks great, Ian.

How do you go about beveling the long edges of the metal? Seems like that could take some finagling.

Also, did you make these for a specific project? What have you used the 1/16" chisel on?

Cheers,
Luke

[Sawdust Maker]

nice
can I borrow the 3/32 for about an hour?

[Ironwood]

Nice job Ian. They certainly do look good sitting beside the LN's.

[IanW]

......How do you go about beveling the long edges of the metal? Seems like that could take some finagling....

Hi Luke, I should've done a WIP, but these were done over several days in-between other jobs, so I didn't take any progress pics. Rough-shaping was done using a metal cutoff wheel and a grinding wheel on the angle grinder. The tops are skewed a la Disston saw backs, & I couldn't think up any sort of jig that would allow me to hold such little bits & shape the bevels using a fixed grinder, so I just free-handed the bulk of the shaping (very carefully). Using HSS has the advantage that you can blue the metal very severely, & it won't soften, unlike regular HCS. In fact, I tried tempering the tang ends, to make them less brittle, but I only managed to soften them marginally - I don't think my MAPP torch gets the metal quite hot enough.

You do need to wield the grinder with care, though - I slipped and just brushed the side of a chisel at one point, which has left a permanent small blemish (won't affect function, but annoys the heck out of me! :~ ). Final shaping & straightening everything up was done with a coupe of diamond files and diamond stones. Didn't take very long - the diamond files cut the hard steel effortlessly, and they are only teeny things after all, I would've had both chisels shaped from raw steel to ready to fit in an hour or less.


....did you make these for a specific project? What have you used the 1/16" chisel on?......

Not for a specific project. I have used the 3/32 for making teeny dovetails in little (very little!) boxes, but they get used in all sorts of situations where even a 1/8" chisel is just too bulky. They are hardly essential tools, you can always press some other thing into service at need (many's the time I've used sharpened nails), but once you have something like this, it's surprising how many uses you find for them.

A chisel I did make for a very specific purpose is what I call a lock-tongue mortise chisel. Some of the tongues on old-style box & drawer locks are teeny, and so I made a 1/16" chisel specifically for cutting out very narrow mortises: 399690

If you make yourself one of these, be conscious of the fact that HSS is rather brittle, and easy to snap. You'll notice I keep mine rather wide towards the handle end. If kept sharp, they need only the lightest tap to make a deep cut, I mostly use them with hand-pressure only. Actually, sharpening is my biggest problem - it takes a very steady hand to keep the narrow blades flat & square on the stone. Almost makes me wish for a honing-guide..... :roll:

Cheers,

[IanW]

Nice job Ian. They certainly do look good sitting beside the LN's.

Thanks Brad, yep, the steel ferrules match a lot better than the brass ones I first made, not just the colour, but I also made the taper similar this time. Functionally, there is probably no significant difference between the brass & steel - steel is a bit tougher, perhaps, but the difference would be irrelevant. This was mostly a "because I can" sort of job - having my little metal lathe has caused a few of these..... :U
Cheers,

[wheelinround]

Such masterful craftsmanship Ian:2tsup::2tsup::2tsup: