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  1. #1
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    NSW
    Posts
    107

    Default How to set up a brand new chisel

    How to set up a brand new chisel

    I will explain how to sharpen and set up a brand new chisel, and how to make it look neat.

    1. If your chisel’s handle is Red or White oak, wrap a paper and secure it with a duct tape or plastic tape so that the handle won’t be soiled by the sharpening particles of the sharpening stones.

    2. You start with uraoshi. Remember to press the blade side more, and try to apply as less pressure as possible on the handle side of the back. Refer to the “How to sharpen a plane blade part1”. Never grind beyond the line indicated in Pic1. Keep your index finger and thumb around the neck and use it as a guide so that you don’t let the neck ground. If you let the neck get onto the stone, the chisel (butt side) will be raised and the tip will be ground off. Make the back flat (as long as the tip of the blade is touching the stone, not all the back have to be touching the stone. I don’t try to make it completely touch the stone if I need to grind a lot. I don’t want to make the hollow too small. See Pic2.) and polish up the back.




    3. If the bevel is very rounded, or if it is a black blade (kuro-ba: sometimes when the chisel come straight from the blacksmith the blade isn’t sharpened at all) there will be a long way to go, so set it onto a honing guide if you have, and grind off the excess putting much pressure on the blade, leaning your body weight into it. Wash the stone clean often and flatten the surface often as well. TAFE seem to teach their students go straight to the grinder, but I strongly recommend not to do this, for it will easily temper the steel and make it soft. I know it is tempting to use the grinders but, this initial set up is only one time thing, so persevere the hard work and you’ll be rewarded with a hard steel.

    4. Once you get the whole bevel touching the stone, follow the steps explained in the “How to sharpen a plane blade part2” article, and sharpen up the edge to the max. Take off the honing guide and proceed. (If you are sharpening freehanded, refer to coming article “How to sharpen a plane blade part2”.)

    5. Take off the hoop. This is sometimes quite tricky. You can use a nail setter and a hammer to take it off, but if it doesn’t come off you use a vise and a piece of rounded stick. See Pic3. I learned this method from Tasai.




    6. Take off the protective lacquer from the body of the chisel and the handle, using a paint striper.

    7. Sand the handle coarse, med, fine. Then apply several coats of linseed oil, then Danish oil, then lacquer or French polish it.

    8. Put the hoop back on, tap it with mallet until it gets lowered as shown in Pic4. If the hoop doesn’t go down, you can either shave the handle a little with a knife and make it a bit slim, or use a nail setter or a special tool to set the hoop as shown in Pic5.




    9. DONE!

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  3. #2
    Join Date
    Jan 2005
    Location
    Melbourne
    Age
    65
    Posts
    11,997

    Default

    Thanks So, looks like I have some work ahead of me

  4. #3
    Join Date
    Aug 2003
    Location
    .
    Posts
    10,482

    Default

    I used the chisels I bought off So over Easter.

    Wow....very nice to use I must say..

    Al

  5. #4
    Join Date
    Apr 2005
    Location
    Japan。
    Age
    49
    Posts
    1,622

    Default

    I have also given the hoop end a bit of a tap on the sides between a small hammer and a piece of steel when the hoop doesn't quite want to settle down, but I don't want to get too agressive and remove wood.

    Works very well.

  6. #5
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    NSW
    Posts
    107

    Default

    Quote Originally Posted by Schtoo View Post
    I have also given the hoop end a bit of a tap on the sides between a small hammer and a piece of steel when the hoop doesn't quite want to settle down, but I don't want to get too agressive and remove wood.

    Works very well.
    Hey Schtoo! How have you been? You must have enjoyed enough sake under the cherry blossom!

    You're right. Tapping with a hammer is the most traditional way. You only remove the wood when it is just impossible to fit. Otherwise hammer tapping is better, because the wood will gradually grow back after the hoop being fitted, and that way the hoop will basically never get loose.

    Oh, you always save me Schtoo!

    Matane- Schtoo-kun.

  7. #6
    Join Date
    Apr 2001
    Location
    Perth
    Posts
    10,810

    Default

    I keep a few pieces of steel pipe around (with the same inside diameter as the hoop) to use to hammer them down.

    Regards from Perth

    Derek
    Visit www.inthewoodshop.com for tutorials on constructing handtools, handtool reviews, and my trials and tribulations with furniture builds.

  8. #7
    Join Date
    Jun 2005
    Location
    Sydney
    Posts
    3,096

    Default

    Thanks So... look forward to getting mine set up correctly.
    Cheers,
    Clinton

    "Use your third eye" - Watson

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/clinton_findlay/

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