Thread: Harold & Saxon Chisel & Tool Co

Hello

Harold & Saxon Chisels are made by Trent Powrie in Queensland. His Chisels are made from D2 steel and are ideal for Australian hardwoods. Trent currently makes pairing chisels and Firmer chisels. He sometime exhibits with HNT Gordon at the working wood shows. By all account his chisels are amazing. He styles them on the famous Australian Titan chisels. He sells them individually at $90 something or in sets of 6 for around $500.

Here is some information on him. Find attached a photo of his pairing chisels. His email address is [email protected]. Nice guy. As soon as I get re-employed I will be placing my order with him.

• Harold & Saxon Chisels are all individually hand made, the handles are hand turned not CNC copied, as are the ferrules and hoops in solid brass.
  
  The blades are cut, milled and ground from Billet Tool Steel, not forged or mass produced by computerised machines. These are individually machined and ground by hand to very fine tolerances.
  
  When researching steels to find the most suitable, durable wear resistant tool steel, well renowned Australian Blade & Saw (Academy Saws) maker Paul Williams recommended we use D2 Tool Steel which if High Carbon, High Chrome, Molybdenum & Vanadium and with its unique chemical composition makes a very hard, tough and wear resistant blade, most wood working tool manufacturers are using A2 Tool Steel quite successfully, which has been around since WWII.
  
  At Harold & Saxon we wanted to make the best blade possible, (As you know Australian timbers are some of the hardest in the World). D2 has triple tempering capability and dimensional stability it also responds to the cryogenic treatment better than any other tool steel which converts Martensite to Austenite enhancing the blades wear resistance and edge holding ability, as we all know a good blade is one that requires less sharpening and gives more cuts per sharpen.
  
  D2 is more commonly associated with the metal working industry for such things as metal punches, stamps, dies, metal guillotine, blades, roll forming bars etc. So when used for woodworking, some would say it is ìover killî, but we wanted to bring you a superior chisel at an affordable price.
  
  Currently we are taking orders for sets of six chisels either our GP Bevelled edge chisels or our Firmer/Mortice chisels. The standard timbers used are Cooktown Ironwood (Bevelled edge) and Australian Crows ash (Firmer) both are very tough and durable Aussie timbers. We will take custom orders for other timbers either customers own or supplied by us, provided they are suitable for tool handles.
  
  Another option available is the additional cryogenic treatment for all chisel blades, however this is not standard and we believe not necessary but none the less is available on request for all orders.
  
  In the future we are aiming to provide a full range of specialty chisels including Cranked neck pairing , heavy duty Mortice, palm/ butt and skews chisels etc all hand made here in AUSTRALIA. For any further information don't hesitate to call us.
  
  Kind regards Trent Powrie HAROLD & SAXON Chisel and Tool Co Aust

thumbsucker,
Thank you so much for the reply. I've heard a lot about D2 I have a friend who is a hobby knife maker and raves about it. This is great I think I will buy a set of their chisels they look beautiful I have a few Titan firmer chisels and I love this style great!!! thanks for the info

Do you know what it takes to sharpen D2 steel?

D2 is great for high impact chisels, such as mortice chisles (as used by Ray Isles), but I have grave reservations for paring chisels.

Frankly, I would rather have a blade that lasts a moderate length of time and then hones easily and quickly.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Do you know what it takes to sharpen D2 steel

This is where Lignum and Matthews "slow speed timber disk and rouge" set up would be fantastic.

Clinton

I doubt that it would make much impact on D2.

Ray Iles chisels:
http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com/M...gory_Code=TBMC

To sharpen D2 I would be considering a grinder and diamond stones. You may be able to strop a micro bevel on a hard felt wheel (or similar).

Regards from Perth

Derek

Hi Derek,
I've emailed asking him about the sharpening of his chisels I own a lot of A2 plane blades and I've spoke to people that have a lot of trouble sharpening it but with water stones I've found I get a really razor sharp blade from what I know my hobby knife making friend uses a silicone carbide bench stone and wet&dry paper to sharpen his D2 knives but I will ask him too about what he thinks. I sharpen my A2 blades up to a 10,000 grit stone I was using my lie-nielsen spokeshave not long ago to make a handle out of huon pine http://www.woodworkforums.ubeaut.com...ad.php?t=47076 and it still left the timber nice smooth but D2 is meant to be tough. But I've never had much trouble with the Alloy blades when it comes to a fine edge even in the very softwoods. If he is willing to sell them individually I will buy one and do a little review. I have two diamond stones You've got me thinking about this Derek I think a test is needed to see how the Alloy tool steels perform when sharpening a fine edge. But I have a feeling you are right these chisels would be rough work tools I will look at getting some fine paring as well. But I do wonder how sharp is truly sharp and how fine of a fine edge is useful??? One thing I was told over the years I've study sword arts that too fine an edge is a bad thing as it tends to fail faster I don't know how true this is but this did come from a very well known sword smith. This is starting to feel like the meaning of life hehe

Ikkyu

I doubt that it would make much impact on D2.

Its the rouge that does the cutting, after all D2 is sharpened in industrial applications, so why not at home?
Be worth asking Trent or Paul if they have access to a slow speed grinder, and what they reckon.
Anyway, not worth another 1000 posts on sharpening..... someone will have to try it.....

everyone, send your D2 chisels to Matthew or Lignum!

Here are some photos of Harold & Saxon Chisel & Tool Co.

I made some enquires and got this mesage back:

We are currently in the process of moving our workshop and have ceased production temporarily till hopefully November/December this year.
Our range will be Bevel Edge Socket Chisels from 1/8 right up to 3".
Firmer/Mortise Chisel up to 1.5".

We are also testing a new design with a cranked handle and also testing a
new M2 high speed steel design which will be a World first if sucessful.
The prices for the Bevel Edge are approx $85 each. Firmer $89 each. Both of
these are sold in a box set, this includes 6 Chisels. The sizes are made to
order, depending on the type of timber used for the handles and
availability, the prices may vary. The display box in the set is optional as
is a leather wrap.

I know a 3" bevel edge chisel for $85 is a steal considering how rare they are.

I wish they did socket chisels like the LN chisels.

Interestingly they have a Bolster Style (Pig Sticker) Chisel. Maybe an experiment?

I cannot decide if I like the look of them. Not sure.

Will send another email and ask

I emailed Trent a bunch of questions at Harold & Saxon Chisel & Tool Co. These were his responses.

• Yes to pig stickers in the new year approx $80-90 each.
• Yes to custom to order chisels.
• Yes to socket chisels with high tensile brass socket with chisel insert threaded into brass socket (very strong and the brass adds a little colour and class compared to a plain steel socket).
• Yes are available for sale separately.

On the question of sharpening very hard steel this was his response.

To set the record straight their are alot of misinformed woodies out their who have decided that you cant get an egde on hard, tool, and high speed steels.

I will give you some working examples of this myth,
1 paul williams acadamy saws worlds best plane irons(M2 hss)
2 HNT Gordon planes (T1 hss,and O1 tool steel)
3 Veritas and lie Neilsen planes A2 tool steel
4 Australian industrial paper mills ( D2 steel)
5 Harold & Saxon chisels ( D2, T1, M2, ST4) depending on type
* Firmer & pig sticker D2
* standard bevel edge ST4
* top of the range bevel edge M2
* Paring chisels T1 hss.

I agree hard steels as above are very wear resistant hence harder to sharpen but with the right attitude, technique, equipment its a peice of cake first a hollow grind on a white allox wheel on a bench grinder or tormek wet grinder etc then with progressive grits on waterstones or diamond plates flatten the back to a mirror finish (allready done on H&S), then using a good quality honing guide hone your secondary micro bevel using progressive grits to a mirror finish.

Our chisels are already honed from factory right up to 10000 grit ready to use THE SECRET IS GOING THROUGH THE GRITS, it takes disipline and patience at first but will retain its edge longer and will only require quick lick on a fine water stone to maintain that razor edge. its ridiculous to me that modern metalurgy can produce these tool and high speed steel with many alloying elements that sole purpose is to strengthen and refine the carbides in the steel and give it finer grain.

So I will place an order for a 3" pairing chisel, may even do a little bit of a review. I think it is important to support Australian tool makers.

TS

I am interested in a D2 Oval Bolstered Mortice Chisel. Ask them what angle they grind the primary bevel (needs to be 20 degrees), and whether the sidesof the chisel are tapered (preferred to rectangle).

Regards from Perth

Derek

Will do Derek I am sure he can do anything you like as a custom order.

I thought the forum rules said
No .
This thread is about as decadent as anything I've ever seen.
The gleam, the hardness, the curves.
I want one of each. (set that is)
Oh you are naughty boys.
I thought I had these primitive urges under control.
And Aussie made to boot.
I can see a divorce coming up, but also a 50th birthday. All depends on how it is approached I'd say.
What can I sell?

Very impressed with these chisels. What beautiful tools, and Aussie made to boot. I'm going to have to save up for these, but seems to me they'll be worth it.

Originally Posted by Clinton1

This is where Lignum and Matthews "slow speed timber disk and rouge" set up would be fantastic.

I would agree

I can't honestly see what all the fuss is about since I saw the light . I've sharpened M2, T1, A2, O1 with out any problems what so ever with the MDF disk and a stick of white buffing compound. I don't even bother with stones anymore, not even off a fresh grind. I've found I don't even have a problem with tool steel that isn't even tempered back, that's much harder than M2. If I'm not mistaken D2 is softer than M2 so there shouldn't be any problem with it.

I have mine hooked up to a VFI so I can dictate rpm from 0 to somewhere around 5000 plus rpm. My wheel spins at about half speed where as Ligs is full speed. The only difference is you have to be more aware of heat build up as it causes the wax in the buffing compound to stick to the back of blade limiting it's ability to lap it at high rpm.

If you're having problems sharpening HSS with jap stones, it maybe because they're digging in on the push stroke. When honing the bevel side only pull the blade back toward your self until you've established a reasonable micro bevel that will resist digging in. There shouldn't be a problem on the back side if you don't both with micro bevels.

I like the socket type chisels! Anyone got a website for him...