Thread: Fairly large set of 26c3 (White steel equivalent) chisels

A planemaker here in the states (not steve voigt and not larry williams) asked if I would make them chisels - to be used with a wooden handle and no ferrule. i like the idea of making tools that will be used more than making tools that will be "had" without being used. So I agreed. I thought he might like 3 or 4. He asked for a set of 8 (!).

If I were a real maker, this would be no big deal, but each of these is hammered freehand and made entirely by eye after forging with a belt grinder and a pair of calipers. That's it. The pattern for each toward the tang is just a rough trace from anything nearby and then the rest is by eye.

I was glad to make them, though.

They are made of a steel that's got a spec similar in pureness to white steel (the maker publishes the results of each batch, and despite their spec, they're actually very easily under the purity specs for hitachi white steel), and the carbon level is between white 1 and white 2. You might think that this would make them brittle if they're solid steel, which I suppose it could if they were 67 hardness, but I temper them back some, and they are full hardness only up to an inch or so short of the bolster, so they can be adjusted for straightness when the handles is on and nothing will break. They're probably 62 or 63 hardness, but it really doesn't matter what hardness they are as I test them to make sure they have good edge strength without chippiness. I know everyone likes hardness numbers - I have to guess based on how they respond on a stone. They're hard (harder than I probably like to use day to day for most things, but I'm always happy to tell someone what temperature to set the kitchen oven (checked by a thermometer, of course) to bring them back a click or two.

Attachment 498922
jKTgFyZ.jpg
CTxtEgO.jpg
uQjJiJ1.jpg
Attachment 498923

Attachment 498924