Traditional Muzzleloading Association

Craftsmanship => Gun Building and Repair => Topic started by: Adam Wetherington on April 26, 2012, 08:17:49 PM

Title: Lets talk chisels....
Post by: Adam Wetherington on April 26, 2012, 08:17:49 PM

I'd like to get a conversaion started about wood chisels with you guys with more experience than me.

I've put together several of the really stupid simple kits and decided to take the next step and bought a Track of the Wolf kit. I was taking my time and all was going well except it seemed my chisels were going dull extremely fast, and I was getting more and more frustrated because I couldn't seem to resharpen them well enough to keep from over doing things so to speak.

Humbly, I admit I don't have good chisels. I got them from Sears and they weren't very expensive. :salute

Adam

Title: Re: Lets talk chisels....
Post by: ridjrunr on April 26, 2012, 08:55:26 PM

When I get home i'll try and post a link or two for some chisel sharpening  tutorials. Consistancy is real important when sharpening, but first they must be trued up, but if they are new craftsman tools they should be pretty good . You can go buy a super sharp 2000 or 3000 but you can do it almost  as well with a $10 jig from woodcraft or rockler, and 3 or 4 different grits of sand paper on a flat surface. Now I havent built many guns, but I have sharpened tools for over 27 yrs. Sharpen often with a hone so it never gets real dull.
The more I talk to experianced builders, the more I am told, sharp tools are ESSENTIAL.(I believe it )
If you are near a rockler or woodcraft store, see if there is a local craftsman that can give you some hands on lessons with sharpening. Thats what I did a couple of weeks ago for my wood lathe tools which I was unfamiliar with. A guy met me at the store and spent an hour or so with me and we sharpened all my lathe tools, and he explained many other things about lathe work to me. He was very generous and didnt want to charge me anything, I was very fortunate.
Good luck.

Title: Re: Lets talk chisels....
Post by: Adam Wetherington on April 26, 2012, 09:03:44 PM

Quote from: "ridjrunr"

The more I talk to experianced builders, the more I am told, sharp tools are ESSENTIAL.(I believe it )

I truly believe that! When they were sharp I was cruising! I was actually a bit intimidated by the prospect of having to use tools and do some shaping and inletting but once I started using sharp chisels I was very relieved. And then they got dull...LOL

Adam

Title: Re: Lets talk chisels....
Post by: BEAVERMAN on April 26, 2012, 09:13:11 PM

Adam, I have a Worksharp 3000, best investment I ever made, this thing should be called sharpener for dummies, since I bought mine and did a report on it here a couple years ago, some of the other fellas have bought them including Pathfinder and Captchee and they also have had very good results, now when it come to chisels, buy the best that you can afford, I have a set of Woodcraft bench chisels German made, and various Lamp Brand (German carving chisels) along with Swiss brand carving chisels, all hold an edge very well and come back to and edge quickly with a strop or buffing wheel, hope this helps, Beav

Title: Re: Lets talk chisels....
Post by: ridjrunr on April 27, 2012, 02:16:52 AM

Beav, Thats the name I couldnt think of, worksharp, not super sharp lol
thank you for the correction. One of those is on my short list.

here are a few links

http://www.fine-tools.com/G10004.htm (http://www.fine-tools.com/G10004.htm)

http://antiquetools.com/sharp/ (http://antiquetools.com/sharp/)

http://flintriflesmith.com/ToolsandTech ... niques.htm (http://flintriflesmith.com/ToolsandTechniques/tools_and_techniques.htm)

http://www.davidcalvo.com/wood_carving_tools.html (http://www.davidcalvo.com/wood_carving_tools.html)

http://www.vintagetools.net/product.php?p=344 (http://www.vintagetools.net/product.php?p=344)

Title: Re: Lets talk chisels....
Post by: trg on April 27, 2012, 09:02:44 AM

I think as mentioned the real trick is to keep them sharp as you go with frequent touchups, I also did this with my knives when skinning/fleshing Beaver, I had stones, ceramic rods and opther sharpening devices all over the shop and touched up the edge quite often, some chisel shapes do require extreme care as to not loose the shape so it is definately not a race type attitude to go with.

Title: Re: Lets talk chisels....
Post by: Bruce Bogart on April 27, 2012, 09:28:07 AM

Look up scary sharp on the interweb. Low cost method of getting extremly sharp chisels. Us cheapskates use the most economical methods.  

Title: Re: Lets talk chisels....
Post by: ridjrunr on April 27, 2012, 11:03:06 PM

And one more

http://americanlongrifles.com/WorkShop_frame.htm (http://americanlongrifles.com/WorkShop_frame.htm)

Title: Re: Lets talk chisels....
Post by: Captchee on April 27, 2012, 11:26:41 PM

Like the other fellas said . Sharp tools are a must have .
 I will also add another 2 thumbs up for the work sharp . I bought the 2000 as it was only 99.00 . Worth every last Penney.
 Mostly I use Swiss brand chisels and gouges .  They come factory sharpened  at a 20 deg angle .  I also have some German made chisels  but I prefer the Swiss .
 Since the WS 200 is set to sharpen at 20 deg  , I saw no need to go with the 3000 that was over 200.00.
 Past all that . I also  make my own chisels and gouges out of cheep  micro screwdrivers .
 Yep that’s right , the  ones you get for 1.00 -2.00 a set at the dollar store .
 The flats make great little chisels and the Philips make reasonable  micro gouges .
 They do need sharpening and touching up often , but so what   . Justa  couple pulls across a diamond stone and your back in business .

Title: Re: Lets talk chisels....
Post by: Adam Wetherington on April 28, 2012, 04:05:02 PM

Thanks guys. Great leads there for me to ponder and peruse....

Title: Re: Lets talk chisels....
Post by: Supercracker on May 01, 2012, 09:10:55 AM

Adam.
For mine I spent time and established a really good edge one time and then just never let them get dull again. I made strops and keep them right there. Whenever I'm using the chisels I touch them up on the strop CONSTANTLY. They stay maybe not scary sharp but certainly crazy sharp.

I have gobs and gobs of scrap leather if you want some to make up some strops.



(This is Shane btw, in case I hadn't mentioned that   )

Title: Re: Lets talk chisels....
Post by: Adam Wetherington on May 01, 2012, 11:19:17 AM

Weeellllll, well. There's goes the neighborhood boys!!

Glad to see you on here. Yeah, the whole time I was working on that I kept thinking, "Man I wished Shane was here to sharpen these dang things!" LOL

Title: Re: Lets talk chisels....
Post by: pathfinder on May 01, 2012, 11:58:46 AM

I did all the vodoo and magic trick's for years when it came to sharpening,then I bought the Work Sharp 3000,and haven't looked back! Awsome tool!

Title: Re: Lets talk chisels....
Post by: Hank in WV on May 01, 2012, 05:11:48 PM

This is a little off topic but if you have chisels with round handles, use a belt sander to make at least one good sized flat spot on it (the handle). It helps it to not roll off your bench and onto the concrete floor. You know which side will hit first.

Title: Re: Lets talk chisels....
Post by: pathfinder on May 03, 2012, 08:54:25 AM

Nice tip! There's pun in there somewhere.