Replies

1. 
   Jimurock | Jul 28, 2009 04:35pm | #1

   I think you may be comparing apples to oranges?  The Blue Spruce 4-chisel set are dovetail chisels, not designed to be hit with a hammer.  Their 5-chisel bench set is, as is the 5-chisel LN set.  LN costs $275, BS $435.

   I own the LN set, which can certainly take a hammering -- I use a Glen Drake #4 brass hammer on them.  They're beautifully made, don't need much honing out of the box, and keep an edge.  My one problem with them has been the handles, which are too small for my arthritic hands.  On the other hand, they're the right size for hammering.  The handles also tend to come loose in weather changes -- socket not tang -- but that's easily remedied.  I have BS paring chisels and a fishtail chisel which are a better fit for me, but then they're designed for a different job -- which they do beautifully.  The LNs are real workhorses for everyday use, for chopping out dovetails, and even for most paring.  The removable handles also make them versatile in that you can replace them with a different handle for paring.  I bought LN in the first place because I was able to try them out at a woodshow.  Here in Canada you don't get that chance with BS.  I'd try to get a hands-on comparison if possible.

   Jim

1. 
   Bill_Anderson | Jul 29, 2009 01:30am | #3

   Blue Spruce sells dovetail chisels and they sell bevel edged bench chisels.  The former are for paring and not meant to be struck with a mallet.  Unfortunately, the dovetail chisels were reviewed in FW (I believe) along with with bench chisels, giving people the impression that that is what they were.  The Blue Spruce bench chisels are in fact heavy duty, made to be struck.  Blue Spruce will be coming out with a couple of extra widths to round out the set as well.  I have Blue Spruce chisels and they are amazing in their quality and their beauty.

1. 
   djgaloot | Aug 01, 2009 05:54am | #13

   See the latest issue of FWW for a short review on Blue Spruce Toolworks' bench chisels. I am just about ready to introduce sizes up to 1-1/2 width. Dave

2. 
   Napie | Jul 28, 2009 07:44pm | #2

   FWIW I find chisels to be the one thing that is still a great flea market find.  Why buy new when for a maximum of $5.00 each you can get some great blades (Buck Bros., Greenlee, Stanley, Miller, old Craftsman, etc..) for very little effort.  My collection has at least 50.  You can have four ¼” chisels and have different grind angles or long time between sharpening.  The best part is you can regrind as needed like making right or left skews etc.

1. 
   GregoryPaolini | Jul 31, 2009 02:12pm | #6

   I'm with you - My go to bench chisels are Craftsmans, and I have a bunch of old stanley 750, many of which are the same size.. 

   Just like you mentioned, it's nice to have a $5 chisel... You don't mind taking it over to the grinder and modifying it.  I'm not sure I would do that with a $60 piece...Gregory Paolini

   http://www.GregoryPaolini.com

   Custom Furniture, Cabinetry, and Woodworking Instruction

3. 
   nboucher | Jul 30, 2009 03:59pm | #4

   Jimurock makes an important point. If you're buying new, if at all possible you should get your hands around the handles before buying. To me all the higher-end chisels will do what you need them to do, but the handles can feel quite different and hand size and shape vary a great deal. Not sure where you're located, but I would narrow the choices down to three or four and try to find someplace where you can see how each feels in your particular hand.

   Norman

1. 
   Tony Z | Jul 31, 2009 02:53pm | #7

   But even after using a new chisel for a bit that doesn't fit your hand as well after a few weeks, as it did on the first day, you can still re-do the handle.  Socket chisel?  Turn a handle that fits you!  Tang-type?  Smaller sizes, simply chuck up in your lathe, with the blade going into the spindle bore and support the other end with a live center in your tail stock, turn to fit your hand.

   Even with the expensive LN, Barr and Blue Spruce, these ain't collector items (at least not in our lifetime).  These are all tools meant to be used and if you got to carve the handle a bit, so be it!

   T.Z.

1. 
   nboucher | Jul 31, 2009 03:28pm | #8

   Absolutely right. Although I don't have a lathe, I wouldn't hesitate to take a rasp and file to a chisel handle. My go-to set of bench chisels are Two Cherries, which fit my hand perfectly and are less expensive than LN or Blue Spruce. Still, why do the work if you can find a chisel out of the box that fits your hand like, well, a glove?Norman

1. 
   Tony Z | Jul 31, 2009 03:58pm | #9

   Very simply, I have bought chisels that felt right at first, and then after a few weeks felt like crap! 

2. 
   Jimurock | Jul 31, 2009 04:15pm | #10

   I agree with you in general about replacing handles -- I've done that with my LNs.  In fact with a socket-type you can have more than one handle per chisel, depending on what you're using it for.  The Blue Spruce bench tools might be more problematic.  They have a tang, so you can't easily swap handles, and the originals are made of figured maple infused with acrylic to harden them for hammering.  Any substitute would likely be less tough, unless you could find some hornbeam.  I suspect that many BS owners would balk even more at losing their pretty matched set.  Perhaps it's possible to file them down, but you couldn't bulk them up. 

   Jim

3. 
   PaulC | Aug 01, 2009 05:32am | #12

   I think it was in Chris Schwartz's blog a few years ago he talked about cutting down the plastic handles of the Marples Blue Chip chisels.

   I cut about an inch and a half off, so they're reminiscent of the shape of the Lie Nielsens, and then I roughed them up a bit with sandpaper.

   Bit of a leap of faith to take the saw to 'em, but worked for me.Amateurs talk strategy, Generals talk logistics.

4. 
   idahoknotty | Jul 31, 2009 03:04am | #5

   Hello Tangible,

   Sounds like a wonderful dilemma!  Perhaps I'll muddy the waters some more if you're looking for dovetail chisels--I have a set of the AI round back dovetail chisels from Tools for Working Wood.  I haven't really put them through the paces yet, but they can be hammered on lightly and are light enough for paring. 

   Anyone else have experience with these--haven't see much talk about them?

   Good luck!  As others have said, at this level you can't go wrong and ergonomics will probably make the decision for you if you can get your hands on each before purchasing.

   Cheers,
   Chris C.

5. 
   Jammersix | Aug 01, 2009 12:49am | #11

   For my money, I'll say this: you can't tell in advance.

   When I was an apprentice, in the early seventies, I bought a chisel. One. I was buying one tool every payday, and it was all I could afford.

   It was a Stanley, with a fire engine red plastic handle.

   I took it to work on Monday morning, and my Journeyman took one look at it, and said "that's a piece of crap. Get yourself a real chisel."

   So I did.

   I went out the next payday, and replaced it with a Sorbey, with a huge wooden handle that wouldn't fit in my belt.

   The I relegated that Stanley to crap duty, as befitted its status as a piece of crap tool.

   Of course, the Sorby's handles broke within a month. (Did I mention that I was an apprentice at the time?)

   I did everything with the Stanley. I chipped concrete with it. I drove it under forms to break them loose. I hammered nails out with it. I used it as a short pry bar. I used it as a pad, holding it flat to pry against. I hit it with a surveyor's hammer to break things loose. I drove it under posts as a wedge. I cut wire rope with it. I learned to mortise door hinges with it, and I cut locks into doors with it. Of course, then I'd chip more concrete off of forms with it, and I'd have to sharpen it all over again.

   I sharpened it by flipping a belt sander upside down, and holding the belt sander's trigger down with one hand while I ground the blade against the belt for ten or fifteen seconds with the other. Then I was ready to drive it in as a wedge again. A nice, sharp wedge.

   It lived in my belt for more than ten years, in the weather, and has been rained on more often than some teenagers, it's been dropped, kicked, soaked, covered in paint, and once spent almost a week buried in snow.

   It's outlasted six trucks, one wife and a dozen girlfriends. Of course, one of the trucks was a Ford, so it's hardly fair to count it, but it happened.

   It's still around here somewhere. It's one of about three tools that has survived from my apprenticeship. It still takes an edge, and it's still ready to cut dovetails, mortices in doors, cut wire rope or break forms loose. Whatever you need.

   So I conclude with this: you can't tell until you put them to work, and everyone has an opinion. Once in a while, someone's opinion will match reality, and if you're very lucky, someone's opinion will match both reality and your opinion.

   Good luck!

1. 
   derekcohen | Aug 01, 2009 06:39am | #14

   What a great post!!!

   Regards from  Perth

   Derek

6. 
   derekcohen | Aug 01, 2009 06:56am | #15

   Well it's time for a chisel upgrade. I am trying to choose between the LN 5 chisel set and the Blue Spruce 4 chisel set.

   Since you have narrowed the choice to these two, you need to feel them in your hand to judge which you prefer.

   I am assuming that you are referring to the BS bench chisels, and not the dovetail/detail chisels. I have not used the former but own the latter, and also have used the LN (and owned the Stanley 750s from which they are modelled).

   When I was looking for chisels for dovetailing I compaired the LN and the BS (this was before the bench chisels were developed). Both have pros and cons, but I went with the BS because I preferred their balance and the size of the handle (which is longer than the LN).

   The advantage of the LN is that it can be used for chopping, while I would not do this to my BS (even though you said I could Dave - the handles are African Blackwood and were chosen for use as parers). This advantage is now void since the new BS bench chisels have handles with a reputation to take the heaviest abuse.

   The advantage that both LN and BS offer is that they have very narrow shoulders, which minimises bruising of sides when cutting dovetails. Of course a bench chisel is for a wider range of uses, and both the LN and BS have the best reputations in regard to quality of build and durability. I doubt that you could go wrong with either.

   For Aussie hardwoods I like the A2 steel. They are very durable and get just as sharp as my HCS blades. I do have other chisels, and the ones that get sharpest and hold an edge longest are Japanese (even the cheapies are excellent). Still, a lower range Japanese chisel is the same price as the LN and BS. One last point about the A2 of LN and BS - the best bevel angle is 30 degrees, which some feel is high for parers. However they do get very sharp and consider that most Japanese bench chisels are also honed at 30 degrees.

   Going down the vintage route is another matter altogether (I like my Bergs a lot), but that is not what you had on your mind.

   Regards from Perth

   Derek

    

   
   

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   Edited 8/1/2009 12:05 am ET by derekcohen

7. 
   Jimurock | Aug 01, 2009 07:38pm | #16

   One aspect I forgot was buying chisels in sets.  It's a bad idea for carving chisels, and not necessarily the best for bench chisels.  You might get a lemon, in the sense that you would rarely use one of the sizes.  If you are already a user of chisels, you probably have a good idea of what you use most.  In fact, you save either nothing (LN), or very little (BS) by ordering the set over individual sizes.  For now BS only has 5 sizes, from 1/4 to 3/4, a pretty useful range, though they are said to be expanding the choice.  The set of LN includes the 1/8, which I find I rarely use.  You could replace this with a different size if you wanted at no extra cost, except for the 1" size which is more expensive.  If I were ordering now from LN with the benefit of hindsight I'd buy the 1", and order the optional longer handles for a couple of chisels.  You could swap the handles around as needed.

   Jim