mortising chisel

[gilbo]

I have some quite reasonable MARPLES chisels that I use for mortising, but what I am reading suggests I need a specialist mortising chisel. I was wondering if they have another name, because I cannot find them anywhere.
Cheers.

[silentC]

Try mortise chisel. You can buy them from Carbatec or the like. I have seen them at Candelo market too if you're looking for second hand, which often have better steel than what's in your Marples.

[derekcohen]

The American spelline is "mortise", while the UK spelling is "mortice".

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Neil Lamens]

Gilbo:

I don't have a specific mortice chisel, but I've had a set of Robert Sorby bench chisels.....that I've abused quite nicely at the bench and I'm very happy with the steel regarding re-sharpening and honing edge I get. I imagine the brand also makes a Mortise chisel.

Hope that helps........Neil

[derekcohen]

I don't have a specific mortice chisel, but I've had a set of Robert Sorby bench chisels.....that I've abused quite nicely at the bench and I'm very happy with the steel regarding re-sharpening and honing edge I get. I imagine the brand also makes a Mortise chisel.

Mmmm... that is the one brand that there are consistatly bad reports on for mortice chisels. They are soft and do not hold an edge.

Among new mortice chisels, look at Ray Iles, LN and Hirsch for Western. Or Japanese. Otherwise vintage mortice chisels, such as Ibbotson, Ward and vintage Sorby.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[eddie the eagle]

Hi Gilbo,

Basically, you can easily cut mortices with the bench mortising chisel. (Derek, the noun is mortice and the verb is mortise. Australia is one of the few countries holding on to this anachronistic spelling rule, practice/practise is another that gets caught up in the rule. Probably the UK/US linguistic/etymological differences are a result of this original rule.)

If you're able to cut a mortice with the bench chisels then the proof of the pudding is there for all to see. I wouldn't spend extra unless you *really* want to. (trade training is to use bench chisels, not to use a mortising chisel unless it's a really deep mortice. Having said this, I use a mortising chisel for anything that has a bit of grunt work involved - saves snapping a bench chisel.)

As for brand recommendations, if I were to buy another, Two Cherries/Hirsch make a good mortising chisel at a reasonable price. The ones I have have a black hard rubber handle that holds up very well and is comfortable to use.

<img src="http://www.leevalley.com/images/item/woodworking/chisels/55j0506s1.jpg">

Cheers,

eddie

edit: Marples/Record were bought ought by Irwin and the brands are disappearing from the shelves.