"Juergen Hannappel" wrote in message
...
David writes:
[ nothing, just a subject line ]

A registered chises has a kind of flange at it's tang, just at the
point where the tang enters the handle. This flange (or bolster) is
there to bear the brunt of the axial force exertet on the tang-handle
joint when the chisel is heavily hammered on. Usually there is a
leather washer between this flange and the handle to somewhat dampen
the impact (writing this sentence, i somehow start to question the
logic behind this: Why would you want to lessen the impact of the
hammer to the chisel blade?).
This kind of contruction is most often found in mortice chisels
because they have to take a lot more force than most other chisel
types.

--

This may not be right, but I was always taught that the leather washer was
to help keep the handle from splitting as the chisel was hit. It dampens the
effect of the wood striking metal at the tang shoulder.