Bill wrote:
Steve B wrote:
I was at a local large craft store. They had a set of woodcarving tools,
about a dozen in various shapes of blades. They are a simple 1/2" dowel
with a piece of sharpened metal inserted into one end. Are these
intended
to be used with the pressure of the hand and palm pressing against
them, or
with some small hammer/mallet/hardwood rod to carve the wood. They look
like the blade would go right into the wood if you hammered much, and
there
is no ring around the end of the wood where the blade inserts.

Good chisel have the ring ("ferrule").

Long ago, from what I understand, chisels didn't come with a handle. The
craftman was expected to made his own handles. That wouldn't be all
that difficult, but it reveals how times have changed. The cost of labor
has gone up compared to materials, for instance. I'm reminded of the
flyer I received today from Rockler concerning a small $300 collection
of plastic tools from Kreg:

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...1&site=ROCKLER

I haven't tried them yet, but I'm sure they are a great value to
everyone who uses them! The are regularly $419, and will help sell a
lot of $16 glue bottles on the next shelf (seriously, they may!)

Yes, I do get frustrated when I walk through a retail store (like Koel's
yesterday) and see "sale prices" that make me feel like they think I'm
an idiot. But like Leon noted, the markup has little to do with the
actual value to the customer. Thus, it makes sense that the retailer
would put all of the value (that the tools possess) that they can into
their pockets. Although I'm not sure it's good for the customer-relailer
relationship in the long run. But this relationship seems be to be
viewed in a short-sighted manner these days.

On a similar note, more and more states are trying to draw more taxes
from state lotteries. Surely the price of a ticket is a small price to
pay for such a shortcut to wealth! : ) On the other hand, Hungary
made a law this week making slot machines in pubs illegal. Interesting
article he

http://www.boston.com/news/world/eur...ekL/story.html





I think one feature that would
distinguish that they are for a lathe is their size. My carving chisels
are 8 to 10 inches long, and I don't think my bench chisels are much
longer. I think a (regular) chisels for turning would tend to be a few
inches longer, at least. The difference in mass is significant.

My guess is that the craft store chisels would work okay on soft clay,
wax or Balsa wood (if they are the 10 for $10 variety that I have seen)
or with a short lifespan in other applications (but not turning on a
lathe).

Bill


I also have
some that have a chisel shaped handle, have the ring around the handle
where
the metal inserts, and I believe are for using on a lathe. Is that
correct?

Steve