John asks about making a fishtail chisel, and grinding lands.

John, the reason the fishtail does not appear on my website it is that it was
made more than 10 years ago, which is when I migrated from Wiktor’s fine site
(where I had the honour of being the first contributor) to start my own. There
are some tools that are really so easy to make, and the fishtail is one. As many
here will attest, grinding steel just needs a light touch and a coarse wheel,
and it will not burn. I chose a ratio of 1:7 for the shape of the fishtail,
since that is what I use most often. Mark the shape you want on the steel, and
then slowly grind away, dipping in water to keep it all cool.

I must mention that I have a few other fishtails, both shop made and production.
One does not need more than one of these chisels (… do as I say, not as I do!),
and the only size I use is a 3/8”. Wider than this is unnecessary since the
chisel is only used in the corner of the socket. A bench- or paring chisel is
used for removing most of the waste.

Grinding lands on chisels is a little more complicated. One could do this
freehand and get decent results, but a jig/guide is a better way of achieving
uniform results if you plan to grind the entire length of the blade. This is
increasingly difficult as the blade width becomes narrower. Wide blades have
more registration and are easier to orientate. But one wants narrower chisels
for skinny tails. Of course, one only really needs to ensure that the first 1”
of the blade has minimal lands, since the depth of a board is unlikely to be
greater than this.

The smallest chisel I have ground was made from a 1/8” wide HSS bar. I used a
bench grinder with a cambered wheel, and a Tormek track with Veritas small blade
holder …

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/Soyouwanttomakeadovetailchis
el_html_35d3f454.jpg">http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/Soyouwanttomake
adovetailchisel_html_35d3f454.jpg

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/Soyouwanttomakeadovetailchis
el_html_50398606.jpg">http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/Soyouwanttomake
adovetailchisel_html_50398606.jpg

Hope this helps.

Regards from Perth

Derek