On Monday, November 30, 2015 at 9:00:29 PM UTC-6, -MIKE- wrote:

How deep could any pitting be? Give me a grinder and 30 seconds and the
pitting is gone. Then another couple minutes to "scary sharp."

Most chisels that actually get used a lot end up an inch or so shorter
than they started from sharpening over and over and over again over
their many years of use.

Preach it, Mike! All true.

Decades ago, before you could stop at the local big box and buy new set
of disposable chisels for 30 bucks, cabinet shops had to use theirs down
to the nubs. It was very common to see chisels ranging from a foot long
down to a couple inches. They sharpened and sharpened for years and
years and used just about every inch.

I am a sharpening (near) fanatic. All chisels, pocket knives, hunting knives, machetes, planes, kitchen knives and my woodturning tools must be nasty sharp. Always. I sharpen my kitchen knives every single time I use them, and my pocket knives (I carry two) usually about once a week or so.

You learn that the time invested on those mirrored edges prized by some are only worth the effort on some cutting instruments, and they are few. I will set aside fine carving tools and certain specialty chisels, but the rest, not a chance.

Most of the carbon chisels are 10XX, usually something like 1084 0r 1087, and hardened only to about 55 RC or so... usually less. Makes a good cutter for a short bit, but nothing spectacular. Some are lesser steels, hardened to even lower points, and worse, incorrectly hardened. This is unlike a good plane blade (like a Hock) which are I believe 1095, and IIRC, hardened to about 57-58RC. Harder and better steel, but harder for some to sharpen. The reason they don't harden the steels to higher RC points is because most people can't sharpen properly anyway, and people like me that use a cutting tools a lot sharpen (and plan to) frequently.

Since 10XX chisels won't hold their edge to my satisfaction, I usually only sharpen to 320gr on my rougher chisels, and 600gr on my finish. Now on a couple of my pocket knives that have VG10, 154CM, and even D2 that are hardened up to about 60RC, one a bit north, the mirror finish on the edge is worth it.

You used to see those chisels ground down like you described because in some uses a toothier edge yielded better results for cutting. But even a more coarse edge requires sharpening. So off the tradesmen went to their favorite sharpening device, and the chisels paid the price for poor sharpening technique. Like so many pocket knives that have been ground to nothing, the same happens to wood chisels. Until they were stolen, I had a great set of SEARS chisels that were made in the 70s, and they were my favorites. Hard enough to hold and edge pretty well, but soft enough to sharpen in the field.

I just got a set of Buck Bros. chisels earlier this year at HD, and they aren't even good enough to call junk. They are worse than awful, completely useless. You can get a razor edge on one, and it is gone in a few cuts. I am trying out some new ones from Amazon as I need a good 3/4" chisel in my kit, always.

Seeing your post made me think of some of the told timers I worked with in the 70s and 80s that had ground off about 2" on some of their chisels and they looked like some kind of specialty chisel. I didn't know for some time that they actually had sharpened those bad boys that much.

Robert