Thread: Show Off Your Chisels

I don't have many so here goes it.
1/2" Ward Mortise
1" Matherson (?) Mortise
1/4" Mortise
Stubai bench chisels 3mm - 25mm (7 of)
Pfeil 10mm @ 20 degrees for paring
Marples 3/4" & 1" for rough work
Stanley 32mm & 36mm for rough work

I also have the obligatory McJing carvers (set of 12), Pfeil carvers (3), Two Cherries palm carvers (2), a variety of carving knives, but they are in a different drawer.

I'll have to make another mallet as I broke the one I was bashing a mortise chisel with

Hi Scribbly,

My copy of Hack's book Classic Hand Tools arrived today.

He recommends thinned BLO or a mix of BLO and beeswax.

I'm sceptical, but will have a fiddle on the w/e ... have tried a wide range of finishes on my bowls and most of them are sitting going off on the shelves. There's BLO there somewhere.

[Edit ... might work with timber like box or rosewood (N. hemisphere language) which seem to be the woods of choice. Vary the species and the finish will vary. What did you use?]

Thanks Ern,
I haven't used anything on my chisel handles except boiled linseed oil up to this point.
I'll give your recipe a go at the weekend and do some trials I think, on different woods to see how they come up.
Most of my chisel handles were well used before I owned them, and generations of sweat and dirt have soaked into them. All I am concerned about with these is keeping them as clean as I can and from drying out and cracking.
I have half a dozen new boxwood handles that I'm going to put on a set of Woodcock firmers, and I want to really look after these.
I'll keep you posted.
Regards
SG

Hmm, tasty ;-}

Just thinking out loud here, ... I've done two sets of plane handles with DO and next time around I think I'd grain seal well first - n/c sanding sealer or blonde shellac for light timber and ordinary shellac for the rest - then do one, maybe two coats of DO and finish with a good wax.

Gilly Stephenson's cabinet maker's wax is a good hard formula but our host's Trad Wax works fine too when finishing out my turnings.

But maybe the best finish is actually sweat and dust ;-}

In addition to BLO and wax, which I mentioned earlier, I will buff on Shellawax. Have you heard of this stuff? Obviously it is easier to put on the lathe, but I have a stitched cloth wheel on the drill press and this is applied to create some heat on the wood surface to set the Shellawax off. A little 0000 steel wool if you want to remove the gloss. Add a coat of wax and you have a hard, protective and silky finish.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Ah the famous elixir!

When you run out try Shellawax cream ... gives you longer working time.

The standard stuff is a terrific and easy friction polish for turners ... just some woods don't go well with it and over time I moved to DO. More work but works with more timbers, gives a controllable level of lustre and makes chatoyant figure zing

Originally Posted by rsser

The standard stuff is a terrific and easy friction polish for turners ... just some woods don't go well with it............

Hey Ern - which woods have you come across that don't go well with Shellawax? The only local wood I've come across that is truly incompatible with shellac is Scented rosewood (Dysoxylon) and an imported Toona (supposedly, not at all certain it really WAS Toona - had a very different smell) was also a disaster. On both, I watched with dismay as a laboriously-applied French polish turned to a dull, peeling mess in the couple of months after finishing! I assume Shellawax would get the same welcome.

Shellawax has been great on everything I've tried it on to date - well, maybe a couple of Red Lancewood handles I used it on have gone a bit rough, but I thought that was due to my very hasty application the day I made them. I've used it on a few dozen other woods (local & exotic) with very satisfactory results. It's so handy for small jobs, especially when you can apply it on the lathe, as Derek says. Like him, I also use a cloth wheel to warm it up and get a shine if spinning the job isn't an option. A bottle of the stuff costs a lot more than when I first started using it, but a little certainly goes a long way - had to replace the last lot because I left it sitting where the sun shone on it. I can safely report the plastic in those bottles doesn't have much UV resistance! It got so brittle, I was trying to prise the lid off & it shattered in my hand.
A quarter bottle of Shellawax poured into the shavings and ways is not a nice thing to deal with.....

Cheers,

This is delving into history so I'm some way from certain now. And Shellawax is different to plain shellac; there's some kind of wax emulsion as the name suggests.

I did a batch of 6 serviette rings as a commission each out of a different native timber and that turned out to be a useful comparison. If memory serves, oily timbers and river red gum were hard to get a good lustre on (that said, red gum varies a lot itself).

Apart from that, open grained timbers like English Oak and Elm do much better with plain wax (and Ubeaut note this and produce the Shithot Waxstik for the purpose).

And for Huon I've found that n/c sanding sealer and wax work best. The wood's oily of course and oil-based finishes darken it too much for my taste.

More posts on this I guess in the Finishing forum.

I agree that it's handy for spindle turned finishing; this would have to be it's major selling point. It's just that comparing it with other finishes on bowls I came to the conclusion that DO (Rustins) gave a better result on average though with more work.

OK I've had a little shed time today while I isolate my flu ridden carcass from the rest of the family, so I've finally got around to re-handling my English firmer chisels.
As you can see, they are mostly Woodcocks, with the odd Sorby and Marples to make up the numbers.
Next step - re-sharpening.
Came up OK, and the smaller ones no longer roll off the bench.
I have added a small picture for your viewing pleasure.
Regards
SG

Very nice indeed Scribbly.

London pattern handles all of them ;-}

Turn them yourself?

Originally Posted by rsser

Very nice indeed Scribbly.

London pattern handles all of them ;-}

Turn them yourself?

I wish!
Boxwood is a little hard to find in these parts.
I saw some great chisel handles at the Sydney Wood Show that were turned from Cottoneaster.
Looked like pale boxwood or pale Huon Pine.
The Artiste said that it is quite hard as well.
Some local gardens might start missing some cottoneaster branches unless I can find a generous sponsor.

Gotta love that London pattern.
regards
SG

OK, OK, I need some more chisels. My poor old marples simply won't do.

All I can say is that the chisels I use most - for paring joints - are cheap new Stanleys that stay sharp for long enough.

Jefferson

Yeah, inquired of my local online blank supplier for boxwood and I could have a bit to make one handle for a mere 30 bucks

Got a couple of new small boxwood handles from Hans as patterns.

Have tried Cottonwood for turning which was a waste of time. Don't know whether that's the same as Cottoneaster.

Euro. Beech is the nearest equiv. to Boxwood it seems but I hate the stuff. Hard to finish well and it gives you nasal cancer.

Any idea what else might suit?

Hi Jefferson, and welcome.

Kiewa valley or township?

Spent a few years growing up in Mt Beauty.

Godzone valley ;-}
.