On Fri, 23 Feb 2007 19:41:26 GMT, Pat Barber
wrote:

It is always better to have a sharp chisel to drop on the
floor. It would make no sense to nick a dull chisel ???

Sounds like you've been in my shop.

--
"We need to make a sacrifice to the gods, find me a young virgin... oh, and bring something to kill"

Tim Douglass

http://www.DouglassClan.com

Mike Dembroge wrote:

This is not a serious issue. Having sharp tools is serious, but the fact
that it's only mentioned explicitly when using chisels and implied with
seemingly everything else is just curious to me. That's all.


Ya know something ... when you use a dull chisel, you just whack it
harder. And the next time you use it, you whack it still harder. And
harder and harder.

Long past the point of cutting, you've been pinching and yanking fibers
free for quite a while.

It's very difficult to leave a clean edge when you do that. Your control
has been marginal (at best) for quite a while. And still the tendency is
to just whack it a little harder because you only need to make two more
cuts.

A plane will FORCE you to sharpen it. A dull circular saw blade will
send up smoke signals. A dull hand saw blade will work your tail ragged
and give you nothing much in return. And who can be certain how the
shovel was supposed to feel with that particular load of dirt, anyways?

But a chisel will keep making cut-shaped marks in the wood as long as
you can keep whacking it harder and harder.

Of course, when you lay aside the mallet and try to make a hand-powered
paring cut, that dull chisel is gonna look at you and just grin.

Use a sharp chisel. ;-)

Bill
--
I am disillusioned enough to know that no man's opinion on any subject
is worth a **** unless backed up with enough genuine information to make
him really know what he's talking about.

H. P. Lovecraft


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On 22 Feb 2007 21:39:07 -0800, "Father Haskell"
wrote:

On Feb 22, 8:33 pm, "Mike Dembroge"
wrote:
"Father Haskell" wrote in message

ups.com... On Feb 22, 6:56 pm, "Mike Dembroge"
wrote:

It has always struck me as odd that writers and authors always mention
"sharp" when discussing the use of chisels and not other tools.

Then you're not reading enough.

Really? Do you have an example of something in a recent article or
publication where a tool, other than a chisel, was mentioned as needing to
be sharp?

Yes. Bench planes. Card scrapers. Files. Handsaws.
Shovels...


I think ya'll are missing Mike's point. What I am reading from his post
is that he does not disagree that tools need to be sharp, just that the way
articles are written, only chisels seem to be singled out and specifically
called out to be "sharp" chisels. What (as I read it) he doesn't see is an
article that uses the words, "with a SHARP scraper ... " or "with a SHARP
shovel ..."



+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

Bill in Detroit wrote in
:

*snip: Wacking the chisel*


Of course, when you lay aside the mallet and try to make a
hand-powered paring cut, that dull chisel is gonna look at you and
just grin.

Somewhere I got the impression that a good woodworking chisel was one
that could cut through the wood with no help from a hammer or mallet.
Perhaps that was one of those "happiness is..." moments?

Use a sharp chisel. ;-)

And a sharper wit. ;-)

Bill

Puckdropper
--
Wise is the man who attempts to answer his question before asking it.

To email me directly, send a message to puckdropper (at) fastmail.fm

OK, how about this:

chisels *look* a bit like screwdrivers, or paint scrapers, or pry
bars, or flower garden digging tools... and sometimes get used for
those things, especially by beginners. so in beginner level tutorials,
it makes a lot of sense to *specify* that a chisel needs to be sharp,
where it's not so necessary to specify that jointer blades need to be
sharp.


nah, that couldn't be it.....

On Feb 23, 9:06 am, "splinter" wrote:
Just curious....how much time do you guys spend sharpening....say a
1/2 in. chisel that has dulled from normal woodworking.....

20-30 seconds at a pop.



what grit stones do you use/ brand/ water/oil......

for my at-hand chisels, I keep a 600 grit diamond stone close and
touch the edge up before it gets dull. for some specialty chisels I'll
go to a finer stone, but they cut pretty well at 600 grit.


and what do you use to keep them from rusting?

I keep 'em dry.

wrote in message
ups.com...
for my at-hand chisels, I keep a 600 grit diamond stone close and
touch the edge up before it gets dull. for some specialty chisels I'll
go to a finer stone, but they cut pretty well at 600 grit.



Does anyone know(or where to find) the equivalent grits between oil, water &
ceramic stones, diamonds and sandpaper? Rod

"Rod & Betty Jo" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
ups.com...
for my at-hand chisels, I keep a 600 grit diamond stone close and
touch the edge up before it gets dull. for some specialty chisels I'll
go to a finer stone, but they cut pretty well at 600 grit.



Does anyone know(or where to find) the equivalent grits between oil, water
& ceramic stones, diamonds and sandpaper? Rod


I believe stones are all reported in CAMI terms, which is to say
grains/inch.

On Sun, 25 Feb 2007 14:09:09 -0800, "Rod & Betty Jo"
wrote:

Does anyone know(or where to find) the equivalent grits between oil, water &
ceramic stones, diamonds and sandpaper? Rod



http://www.cs.rochester.edu/u/roche/...rit.sizes.html

On Sun, 25 Feb 2007 18:22:25 -0500, B A R R Y
wrote:

On Sun, 25 Feb 2007 14:09:09 -0800, "Rod & Betty Jo"
wrote:

Does anyone know(or where to find) the equivalent grits between oil, water &
ceramic stones, diamonds and sandpaper? Rod



http://www.cs.rochester.edu/u/roche/...rit.sizes.html



Even better:
http://users.ameritech.net/knives/grits.htm

Now that someone has given you a link, be aware that comparisons of that
type are of very little value. The cutting characteristics are very
different between materials.

"Rod & Betty Jo" wrote in message
...

wrote in message
ups.com...
for my at-hand chisels, I keep a 600 grit diamond stone close and
touch the edge up before it gets dull. for some specialty chisels I'll
go to a finer stone, but they cut pretty well at 600 grit.



Does anyone know(or where to find) the equivalent grits between oil, water
&
ceramic stones, diamonds and sandpaper? Rod

On Thu, 22 Feb 2007 23:56:18 GMT, "Mike Dembroge"
wrote:

Why is it that whenever I read an article that describes using a chisel for
something, the chisel always has to be "sharp"? "Clean out the mortise with
a sharp chisel." "Square up the corners with a sharp chisel". Why does
everyone, it seems, single out chisels as the only tool that needs to be
sharp.

I never see them say or write, "rip into strips on the table saw using a
sharp blade." "Flatten the boards on the jointer using sharp knives.",
"Run them through the planer with sharp knives installed.", "Use a block
plane, with a sharp blade, to clean up the edges."

It has always struck me as odd that writers and authors always mention
"sharp" when discussing the use of chisels and not other tools. Is it
really more important for a chisel to be sharp than any other tool?

Just an observation.

Mike



Try comparing the two: a sharp chisel and a dull one. It's almost
like two different tools. Power tools show less differences: slight
bogging down, burned wood, hairy cuts, etc.

"B A R R Y" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 25 Feb 2007 18:22:25 -0500, B A R R Y
wrote:

On Sun, 25 Feb 2007 14:09:09 -0800, "Rod & Betty Jo"
wrote:

Does anyone know(or where to find) the equivalent grits between oil,
water &
ceramic stones, diamonds and sandpaper? Rod



http://www.cs.rochester.edu/u/roche/...rit.sizes.html



Even better:
http://users.ameritech.net/knives/grits.htm


Thanks much for both links......There's a reason this group is a "must
read".... Rod

"Mike Dembroge" wrote in message
...
Okay, you guys are missing the point. Never did I say or imply that it's
not important for other items to be sharp (shovels included I guess. I'm
not sure I would classify a shovel as a woodworking tool. Maybe if your
chainsaw won't start though ;-) ). My point was that nobody states that
they need to be sharp in order to use them with the same regularity and
zeal
that they do chisels. Of course a scraper and plane iron need to be
sharp,
but it's never mentioned explicitly. It's implied.


Oh, I don't think anyone really missed the point Mike. In fact I think the
fact that everyone really did get the point is evidenced by the humorous
responses. Who can really answer the question seriously, though? It's kind
of like people calling the thing in your basement a Hot Water Heater. Hot
water needs no heater, but that's what it's called. In like manner, for
some reason the admonishment for a sharp chisel has taken on a life despite
the obvious redundancy or inexplicability of it.

--

-Mike-

I more or less agree with you Mike, although I would hope that most informed
people just refer to a water heater. But then again I am probably naive.
Waith, I better go "unthaw" something.
"Mike Marlow" wrote in message
...

"Mike Dembroge" wrote in message
...
Okay, you guys are missing the point. Never did I say or imply that it's
not important for other items to be sharp (shovels included I guess. I'm
not sure I would classify a shovel as a woodworking tool. Maybe if your
chainsaw won't start though ;-) ). My point was that nobody states that
they need to be sharp in order to use them with the same regularity and
zeal
that they do chisels. Of course a scraper and plane iron need to be
sharp,
but it's never mentioned explicitly. It's implied.


Oh, I don't think anyone really missed the point Mike. In fact I think
the
fact that everyone really did get the point is evidenced by the humorous
responses. Who can really answer the question seriously, though? It's
kind
of like people calling the thing in your basement a Hot Water Heater. Hot
water needs no heater, but that's what it's called. In like manner, for
some reason the admonishment for a sharp chisel has taken on a life
despite
the obvious redundancy or inexplicability of it.

--

-Mike-

On Mon, 26 Feb 2007 09:51:56 -0500, "Mike Marlow"
wrote:


"Mike Dembroge" wrote in message
t...
Okay, you guys are missing the point. Never did I say or imply that it's
not important for other items to be sharp (shovels included I guess. I'm
not sure I would classify a shovel as a woodworking tool. Maybe if your
chainsaw won't start though ;-) ). My point was that nobody states that
they need to be sharp in order to use them with the same regularity and
zeal
that they do chisels. Of course a scraper and plane iron need to be
sharp,
but it's never mentioned explicitly. It's implied.


Oh, I don't think anyone really missed the point Mike. In fact I think the
fact that everyone really did get the point is evidenced by the humorous
responses. Who can really answer the question seriously, though? It's kind
of like people calling the thing in your basement a Hot Water Heater. Hot
water needs no heater, but that's what it's called.

Maybe because, in times past, before all the insulation on the things,
they really were hot. So they were hot, water heaters :-)

In like manner, for
some reason the admonishment for a sharp chisel has taken on a life despite
the obvious redundancy or inexplicability of it.


+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+

If you're gonna be dumb, you better be tough

+--------------------------------------------------------------------------------+