Thread: How much use is an out-of-square mortise chisel?

I don't know how you resurrected tis thread. Normally you can't re start a thread over a year old. Wouldn't you be able to grind it square?

TT

The thought had crossed my mind to grind it, but I don't have the means or experience, and certainly not the time. If you've done something like this before, is it quick and easy and what tools do I need? And how to keep the grind nice and straight along the face edge?

Keep it for opening paint cans.

Originally Posted by wolfdogg

Wow this thread is now very old but its aided my sanity check after wondering about a recent chisel I brought at a market tool trader. Beautiful old Ward mortice chisel with no signs of usage, however on closer inspection once home I found the profile to be very skewed. That is, all opposing sides are parallel but very out of square. What a waste! Now to find another use for this tool...can't bring myself to demote it to a life of paint tin opening and glue scraping.

Originally Posted by wolfdogg

The thought had crossed my mind to grind it, but I don't have the means or experience, and certainly not the time. If you've done something like this before, is it quick and easy and what tools do I need? And how to keep the grind nice and straight along the face edge?

If you are describing some sort of rhombus then I would re-grind the tip of the blade square with the sides. A pic would help. Is it a 1/4" blade?

Originally Posted by Cliff Rogers

Keep it for opening paint cans.

If you don't have a bench grinder then it is all probably moot. In which case I agree with Cliff

TT

TT yes it's a definite and very obvious rhombus (rhomboidal!) shaped cross section. The blade is 1/2" wide with some hefty thickness to it. Alas I don't have a bench grinder, though I do know someone who works with metal now that I think about it, so will see what they could do.
Cheers,
Simon

Originally Posted by Twisted Tenon

I don't know how you resurrected tis thread. Normally you can't re start a thread over a year old......

There has been a modification to older threads where members are able to reply to older threads as more members were requesting to reply to older threads.

Why bother to make something that it isn't? If the chisel has anything of a skew to it, why not make a skew out of it? I have 2 pairs of 1/2" x 20* skews for wood carving that had other past lives.
Doesn't matter if the cross section is a hernia. Shape it as you need it. Or, at least, use the metal to practice making something that you might need to make in future.