Who makes a decent set of paring chisels without sending me to the soup kitchen?

You are likely going to get a lot of advice from forum members on this topic!

I thought I would get the ball rolling and give you some resources to chew on in the mean time.

One option would be to start collecting older paring chisels from eBay / flea market sources and go thru the rehab process. There are some good resources for this in the Fine Woodworking archives. Garrett Hack did a video series that addresses this issue.

Garrett Hack - 10 Question Video Series - Bench Chisels

Another great paring chisel resource at FWW is the article Paring Chisel Basics which can be downloaded (subscription required).

Paring Chisel Basics - by Michael S. Podmaniczky

You can also check out the Paring Chisel section on Tools for Working Wood for a sense of manufactures and prices for new paring chisels.

Tools for Working Wood - Paring Chisels

Being from Oregon, I can't resist plugging a great local company that makes a fine set of paring chisels that will put you in the soup kitchen but at least you will have a fine set of sharp edges!

Blue Spruce Paring Chisels

Hope this helps!

David

Good topic, and nice input David.

Assembling a nice set of paring chisels has been on my "tool list" for a long time, I just haven't accomplished it yet.

The problem with paring chisels is that it seems that only the better producers make them. That in it self isn't a problem, but it does tend to make them pricey.

I for the last 7 or 8 years have been using Japanese chisels, in some ways I find them to be superior to western types. My Matsumura's are designed so you can pare with them without the handle getting in the way. But, being Japanese chisels they're pretty short and sometimes that's an issue. So I've been coveting the long handle dedicated paring chisels, but as you can guess they're once again, expensive.

But I may have found, at least for my needs, a solution. Japan Woodworker offers a set in white steel that are less expensive than the Matsumura's and other name brand Japanese chisels. Here soon I'm going to start assembling a set. They can be purchased one at a time and have nice long handles.

http://www.japanwoodworker.com/product. ... t_id=12796



Rick

Thanks for all the input guys!!!!! Blue spruce must be the caddilac of paring chisels huh? Who has that much $$???? Guess I'll stick to my Two Cherries for awhile...

Nothing wrong with Two Cherries chisels. Do they make paring chisels? I don't remember seeing any.

Anyway, I think the big difference between say Two Cherries and Blue Spruce, is two fold. A: Blue Spruce is a smaller company and you run into an economy of scale deal. B: I think Blue Spruce lavishes more time on the refinement of their products.

I've seen people grouse about how much work some of the Two Cherries chisels need before they're ready to use. But if you don't mind doing that then they're good. I've never heard such comments regarding Blue Spruce.

Rick

I probably sound like a broken record here but I think the sharpening is the most important part. You could probably get by with a less expensive chisel as long as your sharpening technique is good. I have a set of Lie-Nielsen chisels and a set of Irwin (formally Marples) Blue Chips. Fresh off the sharpener both work just fine. The Lie-Nielsens hold an edge longer but I am really not a high production guy so the Blue Chips would have been enough. So you ask, why the Lie-Nielsen and I would have to say that I am a sucker for a pretty face. They are beautiful and high quality tools. I did not need them, I just wanted them. Don't let the lack of funds hold you back though because there is good quality stuff for a lot less money.

Steven Naslund
Chicago IL

You make a great point, edge retention. That's the thing I like about laminated Japanese chisels. They both take and hold an edge superbly. They are not much to look at, and the handles are funky, but man do they work.

Rick

I spent about five years in Japan in the Air Force and worked with some Japanese woodworkers (Shoji makers) to learn what they do and also did some remodelling work with Japanese friends. I was in Okinawa which is home of the world's finest Japanese sword makers (see the movie Kill Bill for details). They have some nice tools. Their planes and chisels are nice. Their saws are really good too, just not always the best for our hardwoods. They tend to work with a lot more softwoods than we do.

Their hammers are completely different from ours. There was nothing funnier than watching a Japanese guy use one of my American framing hammers. You see, Japanese hammers have a textured face and work best on untextured Japanese nails. American hammers are determined not to drive those straight because our framers have smooth faces, but with American nails a good Stilleto framer will blow away anything they have for speed and power. The Japanese do admire a lot of our power tools. They loved my Dewalt stuff and went absolutely nuts for the crazy little battery operated circular saw. At the time there was no equal on the Japanese market. I left that saw with the Shoji guy as a gift since he loved it so much on the job site. They also loved my Porter Cable router and air nailers. They thought they were way better than their versions. I had a Lie-Nielsen block plane and they were really impressed with that. Their planes were all wood bodies but they could see that the Lie plane was well built and they said its weight was a real plus in a small plane like that.

The thing we had in common was everyone thought the Chinese tools were the worst. The oldest Shoji guy used to call them "paper tools" in broken English, because the metal was so bad.

One thing I know about Japanese chisels is that they will not tolerate any abuse at all. They are really, really hard steel laminated to a softer back piece. When they are sharp, they are super sharp, when they are dull, they are blunt as a sponge. The Japanese take blades very seriously and you need some great sharpening technique for those. Don't wait too long or you will be sharpening them forever.

Steven Naslund
Chicago IL