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Thread: A "Shearing Chisel"
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24th October 2016, 10:52 AM #1GOLD MEMBER
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A "Shearing Chisel"
This was something else that I saw at the Lie Nielsen Hand Tool Event in Seattle this weekend during the Glen-Drake Toolworks dovetail demo.
After the demonstrator had sawed out the waste with a coping saw, he did his cleanup with a joinery chisel the likes of which I'd never seen:
a.jpg
It's, I believe, a 3/8" size and is kind of shaped like a fingernail. He called it a "bullnose chisel", and it was used for clearing the waste out of the socket prior to fitting. I felt like a more appropriate name for it may be a shearing chisel, as no matter what it's always shearing. Bullnose, to me, means that it's specifically for the end of something that's stopped, like a groove or corner of some kind. This is just a new take on a paring chisel, and it is definitely designed for continuous strokes as opposed to stopped.
Anyway, I thought it was kind of a nifty idea, and it would give me a good excuse to pick up a long paring chisel some time at an antique store and reprofile it with a low bevel angle and a ~1" radius so that I could give it a try. I don't expect it to be a game changer of any kind, but it caught my eye and I thought it was a fun new trick for the proverbial old dog.
Anyone have any thoughts?
Cheers,
Luke
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24th October 2016 10:52 AM # ADSGoogle Adsense Advertisement
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24th October 2016, 12:13 PM #2
I assume you'd have to pick up a different chisel to get into the corners.
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24th October 2016, 12:33 PM #3
Looks to me like an overpriced solution to a non existent problem. Just sayin'
There ain't no devil, it's just god when he's drunk!!
Tom Waits
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24th October 2016, 03:52 PM #4
Cant say as have never seen it done like that before but if you have an old chisel doing nothing why not give it a go. The guy doing the demo must like it or he would not have bothered.
Got me thinking now and a pointed shape would perhaps work the same and be easier to sharpen. You would also only need one pointed to replace right and left hand skews.
Regards
John
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24th October 2016, 04:14 PM #5GOLD MEMBER
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28th October 2016, 08:16 AM #6
We each find little quirks that suit us for one reason or another, so whatever works, etc.
Pushing a curved edge into a cut means (at first) there is only a small bit of edge cutting, which gives an impression of enhanced sharpness. For me, I think the slightly more involved sharpening process to get a curved edge really sharp would soon outweigh the small advantages it might have in some circumstances. And it would be hard to place that curved edge straight on a scribe-line, so I guess you'd still want to make the last chop or two with a conventional BE chisel?
As it is, I try to minimise the number of tools needed to do a job (though given the clutter on my bench, at times, you'd wonder how I could say that with any conviction!). But efficiency (aka laziness) impels me to try & use the minimum number of tools for a particular job. That way, I have a better chance of picking up the right one as I need it. However, since I like to vary the sizes of dovetails across a wide board, I commonly end up with half a dozen chisels on the bench at once, so it can become a bit of a lottery. Adding yet another to the mix would probably not improve my chances of winning.......
Cheers,IW
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28th October 2016, 09:53 AM #7GOLD MEMBER
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Well he did it in kind of the reverse order. He had already done his chopping when he reached for this. It was only used to clear that last little but if material out of the acute corners at the bottom of the tail socket.
You make a good point about the sharpening time outweighing the time savings in use.
I feel like this little "invention" may fall into the category of things that more than a couple of people have come up with over time, but the idea didn't have any longevity because it simply wasn't practical. Maybe if you were in a 19th century joiner's shop and you were the poor soul tasked with cleaning out all of the dovetails then this would be worth it, but who wants to be that guy...
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28th October 2016, 10:13 PM #8GOLD MEMBER
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A rounded shearing chisel might well be effective but I still worry about the sheep.
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28th October 2016, 11:13 PM #9
Y'know I often (mostly often) get the impression that Kevin Drake just uses different tools to be different - to market his "different" tools. As Ian says, it'd be a cow of a thing to hone. He makes "out there tools" to sell, so to keep up the image he uses other "out there tools", presumably to promote comment/discussion/questions at the various shows.
The two handled pistol grip DT saw has to be the grandaddy of them all. Even the "Wild Wild West" name reeks of a marketing ploy for a near to useless tool for beginners to be sucked in by.
OTOH, I could be wrong......
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29th October 2016, 08:15 AM #10
Well I tend to agree with your sentiments, Brett, 'tis hard to see the 'logic' behind some of the gadgets folks dream up, but 'one man's meat', & all that.
I guess we shouldn't be too judgemental (at least publicly! ). Occasionally, the way-out thinkers stumble on something valuable, and we take a small step forward. Not sure I'll be going anywhere with a two-handed backsaw any time soon, though.........
Cheers,IW
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29th October 2016, 08:37 AM #11
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29th October 2016, 01:24 PM #12
It was the pointed router blade that prompted my suggestion. It also manages fine getting into corners. I have been known to use a marking knife at times to get into those nooks the chisel cant get.
I was not aware that when I made the suggestion that the guy in question was also the inventor of the 2 handed DT saw. Kinda changes the outlook a bit.
Regards
John
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29th October 2016, 02:42 PM #13
I think a fishtail chisel does the job and would be easier to hone.
Franklin
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