Thread: Kerfing Chisels

Kerfing chisels are used for deepening the saw kerf in half blind sockets, such as when joining drawer sides to drawer fronts when building drawers.



There is an article here if you wish to make your own.

While dovetailing 10 drawers this week, I had requests for information about the kerfing chisel. It has been 10 years since I made one, and I wondered how easily others could do the same. So I began experimenting, and made a few. The article, in the link above, will take you to the construction.

Frankly, it is not so easy. I sourced stainless steel from paint scrapers at Bunnings, but these are 0.030" thick, and I found this to be too thick (or, thicker than desired). Have you tried thicknessing stainless steel to 0.24"? It is not fun! (Incidentally, most dovetail saw plates are 0.02" thick, and then add a 0.003 set on each side).

Then I discovered the hard way that the blades will wiggle loose if they are just epoxied in. Consequently, I (double) pinned them in with steel dowels. Drilling stainless steel was also fun!!

In the end I wound up with 5 extra kerfing chisels. I am not planning on making more - they are very labour-intensive! These are offered to forum members ...

The handles do not require a ferrule as they are all really hard, tough timbers. I have been wacking them with a steel 225g gennou all week without doing any damage (steel is best you use as you can hear the change in tone when the blade bottoms out).

There are 3 made from Fiddleback Jarrah, one from USA Hard Maple, and another from some WA Casuarina-type, the name of which escapes me. All beautiful woods, finished with Ubeaut (of course!) Shellawax.



Fiddle back Jarrah ...



Hard Maple ...



WA Casuarina-type ...



Price (includes postage in Australia) is $110 each.

Regards from Perth

Derek