OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

275871 Michael Blair <branson2@s...> 2022‑07‑04 Re: successful failure
Chuck Taylor asked:

> For those of us who lack the skills to make a tool like that, what would you
think of using a "Batoning Chisel", available from Lee Valley, for similar
functions?

Probably could.  But froes are knife "sharpened" (recalling Scott's
phrase, "dull as a froe'), not chisel sharpened.  They're meant to
divide the fibers of wood, not cut them. A bit of time with a file can
turn a few inches of mild steel into a froe edge.  I think most of us
are capable of that. 

But the "batoning chisel" strikes me as (inverting Mick Jagger's
immortal words) "the things they used to do we think are new."  

One day a Japanese-American co-worker showed up with an odd looking
tool, blade about six inches long, that had belonged to his father (born
circa 1920).  It looked like a very short tanto in shirasaya mounts. 
https://www.lot-art.com/auction-lots/Tanto-Tamahagane-Antique-Japanese-hira-
zukuri-tanto-yoroidoshi-in-shirasaya-Japan-Muromachi-
period-1333-1573/32621773-tanto_tamahagane-21.12.19-catawiki


But the blade was straight with no taper to the tip, and the tip was
about 75 degrees to the back of the blade.  All chisel sharpened.  His
father had been a carpenter.  Well, I was hooked! A few months later I
found one on eBay.  It's sitting on my desk as I type.  Samurai wood
working! Before "batoning."  The blade on mine is 7 1/4 inches from the
hilt to the tip. Does wonders cleaning up a mortise. Can be used like a
drawknife, pulled or pushed, or a paring chisel. It's a long version of
a batoning knife long before anybody thought up the name and announced
it as a new invention. 

Mike in Woodland

Recent Bios FAQ