Thread: anybody tried these chinese carving chisels ?

Originally Posted by apricotripper

...what are the surprises ?

the big surprise will be when you realise that you probably
didn't need 62 of them. (lots of similar shapes there)

I like the fishtail shapes and getting an edge shouldn't be a problem,
cleaning up the inside of some of the deeper gouges (if they need it) could take a bit longer, hard to know what the steel is like before you get them .
I'd suggest heat treating (soft) before you prep them then harden them up again.

I reckon you'd only use about a dozen of these at most,
I wonder if you contacted the seller and asked if they would make up a pack of 10 of your choosing,
maybe if a few others on the forum were to show an interest in a smaller kit they might come to the party,
I'd give em a go, the price is certainly right

Originally Posted by underfoot

the big surprise will be when you realise that you probably
didn't need 62 of them. (lots of similar shapes there)

I like the fishtail shapes and getting an edge shouldn't be a problem,
cleaning up the inside of some of the deeper gouges (if they need it) could take a bit longer, hard to know what the steel is like before you get them .
I'd suggest heat treating (soft) before you prep them then harden them up again.

I reckon you'd only use about a dozen of these at most,
I wonder if you contacted the seller and asked if they would make up a pack of 10 of your choosing,
maybe if a few others on the forum were to show an interest in a smaller kit they might come to the party,
I'd give em a go, the price is certainly right

thanks. I see what you mean. Didn't think about retempering them.

I guess I probably won't use them all, but what attracted me was, since I'm not an experienced carver with a steady hand, was all the different radiuses, cause I've had a fiddle with the carving gourges I've got, and realised I can get sharp looking results with patterns that are based on straight down mallet blows of different radiuses....(but ? still experimenting)

thinking it'll work well with the floral patterns I like...kinda like this.

anyway, I bought them, Managed to get a set cheaper for 75pounds + 20pounds postage (about $170AU total). Hopefully doesn't mean their rubbish. anyway, time will tell I spose.

thanks for your thoughts Underfoot.

G'day jake, you will not be sorry about these chisels.They are quite a good chisel.
They are sold by Dicks tools in germany homepage | DICK GmbH - More Than Tools

happy Carving
Terry

ta Terry.

Originally Posted by apricotripper

. anyway, I bought them, .

keep us posted Jake, I may have to add to my collecion of mostly unused chisels

okaay.

These look a lot tike the forged chisels I got from McJings. As I said Im not a carvers strop but they can be honed really sharp,

After this discussion, I felt compelled to try one...saying that it is as rough as guts is insulting to guts, but I picked the easiest to fix, the 30 mm flat fishtail. One of the umpteen little things the wicked McJing always entices me to try at every WWW. Helped this time by the big guys not having there the Pfeil equivalent I asked for - that will be next probably, but it will be fun to experiment.

BTW, the edge of the only other little fishtail I have tried has an arc profile, this is just square to the central axis. I am thinking of rounding off the acute corners, any counter indications? I have no idea of what to do to "retemper" it, so I'll just be careful with not bluing it.

got them sunday,,,,I'm happy with them.

there's 20 odd laminated socket ones....and 40 odd detail ones with a tang.

I've turned short handles for the socket ones. Just focusing on tight fits.

Sharpened up. The inside radius formed up with different diameter drum sander slieves....and the outside just off a belt sander on its side.....then buffed sharp both sides just off the felt buffing wheel.

good news in that they took the machine sharpening well. no edge crumbling or anything annoying like that after tests on timber, even after those times I was daydreaming a bit on the machines, being a bit heavy handed .

What I'm going to do is knock together a box with slieves to keep them organised in front of me... and In front of each chisel show its profile etc etc. so I can quickly find and file away ....cause there's so many of them.

Well, the evidence is in. Blade 1 is Pfeil, blade 2 is Chinacheap. https://www.woodworkforums.com/f127/p...blades-121716/

You be the judge. The drawback with the rough one, of course, is that the bevel is only as good as you can grind it. No real surprise though, the technology of carbon steel is now quite mature.

looks interesting.

Can only judge what I have.....and feel their fine, by the sharpening methods I use.........blades holding up essentially the same as the modern western ones I've got.

Couldn't note any concernable difference. If I got into the details, with uno ,stopwatchs or a microscope,,,or recorded number of cuts I maybe able to to quantify the difference, but feel it only be an insignificant one,,,,else, I'd sense it without the experiments to begin with.

what it basically comes down to for me is........

They machine sharpen well fast and hold there edge long enough that repeatitive sharpening isn't so frequent that it gives me the #####. .......and at something like $3 each with short handles I can so quickly turn up ( replacing old ones easy) ... just soots me. gota work fast.

what I was particularily concerned about was just avoiding a blade quality that I've encounted before,,,,thats so poor that the edge folds after the first couple of cuts. hasn't been tempered properly or whathaveyou.

Originally Posted by apricotripper

what I was particularily concerned about was just avoiding a blade quality that I've encounted before,,,,thats so poor that the edge folds after the first couple of cuts. hasn't been tempered properly or whathaveyou.

Yes, I know the feeling. Been there. But that was 20 years ago, they have had time to learn. They did not have to make all the mistakes the Europeans had already made in the past 200.

To be absolutely fair, I have found a problem that might have skewed the test a little. The tang of the chisel I used is the wedge type, not the cone, therefore it is unsuitable for use with a mallet: a good proportion of the hit is absorbed by the wedge, which gets pushed further and further into the handle, therefore the pressure of the wood on the cutting edge, ie the wear, is reduced. I still think, though, that the difference in price only buys the precision of the first grind and the cost of the time of doing it. Mileage varies depending on the value of the time and the skill of the purchaser. I will still buy Pfeils. And as Underfoot once said, for V tools that means 99.9999% of us should.

You're going to reduce the demand and therefore the price of V tools if you spread that around enough. So I'll wait a little and buy three ching-chong chisels which will altogether probably outdo the pfeil in duration of edge by a factor of about two.

Kidding around.

Originally Posted by Frank&Earnest

Yes, I know the feeling. Been there. But that was 20 years ago, they have had time to learn. They did not have to make all the mistakes the Europeans had already made in the past 200.

I don't understand what you mean. Are you saying they've been only making them for 20 years ?

I'm pretty sure there coming from poorly paid blacksmiths whose familys have been doing it for generations.

To be absolutely fair, I have found a problem that might have skewed the test a little. The tang of the chisel I used is the wedge type, not the cone, therefore it is unsuitable for use with a mallet: a good proportion of the hit is absorbed by the wedge, which gets pushed further and further into the handle, therefore the pressure of the wood on the cutting edge, ie the wear, is reduced.

well in the set I got there's 2 types. tang type which they call detail chisels and the cone type (called laminated?) which you belt with a hammer. ...ie. I don't think your mean't to belt the detail chisels.
I won't be.

I still think, though, that the difference in price only buys the precision of the first grind and the cost of the time of doing it. Mileage varies depending on the value of the time and the skill of the purchaser. I will still buy Pfeils. And as Underfoot once said, for V tools that means 99.9999% of us should.

fair enough. But I certainly won't again. no way in the world. The cost difference is way too massive to ignore. How much for just one pfeil ?...... 20 - 30 bucks or something. and the rest maybe. I don't remember.

the exercise of cleaning them up can only be a good thing for ones skills, and it didn't take long at all after the first couple.

The only real issue IMO is a blade that foldsup all the time. And there not doing that one bit. any more concern than that really is a distraction from woodwork imo. not that there's anything wrong with that, but there's only so much time...... can't put energy to things that don't improve results much I feel.