Hi Ren and Folks,
No expert on bevel angles here, couldn't even tell you what
the angles on mine are, as they are all done by hand and never
measured. That said, I have rescued ~50 chisels and gouges in
the last ten years for personal users, so still have some
suggestions for Ren.
Witherby is a fine maker, I have several of these, and
my luck with them has been good. If you have some kind of lathe,
making handles is a fun place to start turning, and if you are
already good at it, they can be turned out amazingly quickly(I am
the worst turner I know...) Second is that I actually prefer
to make handles for the socketed chisels more than the tanged
ones. I have problems with tanged ones in getting the tang
taper right, and getting everything to line up the way I want.
With socketed ones I measure the depth of the socket and its
inner diameter at the greatest, and turn a taper that looks
about right to me. Then I leave the handle in the lathe and
do a test fit. I just put the chisel loosely on the handle
and wiggle it and rotate a bit to find where it is tight and
loose. The rust on the inside leaves good marks on the wood
where you should remove material. When I am close to having
a snug fit I work with a file and the lathe turning slowly(the
only way mine turns in any case). When I am happy I cut the handle
blank off, turn it around and clean up the part where your hand hits,
finish sand a bit, and tap it on the chisel. It is amazing how well they
stay on. I usually make the handles so the taper extends between
1/16'-1/8" beyond the shoulder of the chisel socket. Last year
I made a set of about a dozen in two weekend afternoons, so it
is not real time consuming. Another upside is you get to use
whatever wood you want, and handles don't use too much, so it
can be really nice wood.
At that point I am ready to sharpen them, and here I
offer another suggestion. That is - set the bevel angle according
to what type of chisel you have, and what you want to use it
for. I have an old 1 3/4" Sorby bevel edge paring chisel that
is very thin, and I have a quite shallow bevel on it. It is
marvelous for razor sharp cutting, and that handle I put on it
has not seen a mallet since I first tapped it on. The end grain
just leaps off the wood in fright when it sees that edge coming.
At the other end of the spectrum(excluding mortice chisels),
I have a 1 3/4" socketed Witherby firmer that is massive, and has a
large rosewood handle that loves the mallet. Don't know the
exact angle, but I would guess the bevel angle is 10 degrees
more on it than the Sorby, and I use it for different work.
If your Witherby's are all firmers, and I was doing it, I
would shoot more towards 30 degrees for a bevel angle. If they are
fine, bevel edged paring chisels, go somewhat shallower, and remember
to treat them more gently. Of course you need both kinds, as well as
a set of mortice chisels, and it is nice to have some butt
chisels as well, then there are the specials that you will grind
at odd angles for dovetails, etc., - the SGH is here for you...
Anyway, that is what I do, there are lots of other
ways to rehab chisels that also work well for people. Hope it
helps.
Best regards, Mike Lindgren
On Mon, 24 Mar 2003, Ren Tescher wrote:
> Hello again fine Galoots,
> Last month I was digging through a box in the basement
> of the local antique store and dug out 6 rusty chisels.
> A couple of the chisels had their ends broken, it took me
> an hour on Saturday (using an *l*ctr*c grinder) to put a bevel on
> the stubs. Checking the bevels when I was finished put them
> between the 25 and 30 degree marks on the guage.
> 2. What would be the "correct" bevel? The others may not be
> of any help as they've all been reground in the past.
>
> Most need their handles replaced. I'm thinking of maybe making
> my own, but it may be better if there are pre-made replacements.
> 3. Are pre-made handles available? Where?
>
> I'm not looking for antique value(yeah,right!) just reviving some chisels.
>
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