I’ve been looking at some new chisels in the “affordable” range and saw Footprint makes a series 85 with red handles. The company website shows manufacured to BS 1943. Does anyone know what hardness they are? (Yes I did email the company but no response yet)
Any good or bad words/experience with Footprint tools?
Thanks
Read
Sacramento, CA
Replies
rr,
I have their square and marking guage and so far I have not been disappointed with either. I checked the square against a known one and it was right on. I haven't used the marking guage all that much though. I did have to sharpen the points but that's not uncommon. Marking out mortises with it has been fine so far.
No they're not Starret or Tite Mark quality but they work for me. When I get rich and famous I'll upgrade 'em.
Regards,
Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
When it comes to chisels I recommend the flea markets. You can find some really great stuff for very little money. My “set” has Buck Bros., Stanley, Union, Greenlee, etc and they are great tools and usually do not require a lot of work to get them flat and sharp. Even if they need new handles at $2-$5 each you can have a lot of spare ones around, plus you sometimes find cool stuff like the cranked paring chisels I got for a dollar each.
Read,
I have the blue handled footprint chisels.
I have them in a rack above my workbench along with a set of Lie-Nielsen's.
I reach for the footprints most often.
The balance and "feel" seem a bit better to me.
I would have bought the red handles if I had seen them, simply for the color - I really like red!
Mike
Good to hear you are pleased with them. The company states the red handles are tougher, who knows. I cringe each time I whack the vintage 1970 plastic handled Craftsmans I have. They feel like they are going to shatter at any time.Read
I bought some of the blue ones for use around the shop. I also have some fancy LV ones as well.
Besides things like cocobola handles, etc., my understanding of the difference between 'good' chisles and 'value' chisels is the out-of-the-box quality of the edges.
If you think sharpening a chisle with a grinder or oilstone is the way to go, you'll be happy with the Footprints. Robbin Lee will probably hunt you down if you do that to Lee Valley chisles.
Sure enough, it took hours to flatten and sharpen the Footprint chisels with waterstones, etc.. My fingers were raw afterwards. But they are flattened and sharpened and they cut and hold and edge pretty good.
I'm sure there are differences in the blades and so on, but the wood doesn't seem to notice.
I too have the blue, and LN chisels. The Footprint need more work out of the box, and they don't hold an edge as well, but they're not bad at all. I find them more comfortable to hold, because they have a fatter non-slip (rubber?) handle. LN handles are slippery, too small for my hands, and they fall off every time the weather changes. But you can't fault the blades.
Somebody gave me a Footprint plane once, and after a decent interval I slipped it discreetly into the garbage. Couldn't get it to work.
Jim
ive got a set of the footprint blue handle chisels from home depot, ok the're not leevalley, but they sharpened up nicely, and im making some nice handles for them
edge retention? dont really have anything to compare to, but the waterstone is only a few steps away!!
Amazon has some nice looking wood handled Footprint chisels. I have never used any Footprint tool but I like wood handles better than plastic. I would think that they would probably be about the same price.
Thanks to everyone for the input. I have a few more things to ponder until my next paycheck arrives.Read
FOOTPRINT UPDATE I bought a set of red handled chisels from Amazon a while back. Some of the backs took longer than others to flatten but eventually I got them all taken care of. Sharpened them razor sharp to 25 degree bevel on my Tormek.In terms of quality and feel my perception is they are better than the new crop of blue Marlpes. I like the oval handles on the Footprints rather than the round Marples.They are considerably larger than my old Craftsman- longer blades and much thicker by about 50% holding them side to side.I am working on a Shaker style drop leaf table in Alder and the chisles have worked well for me. I pleased with the quality and moderate price.rr
rr -
Glad you like the chisels.
However, regarding the shaker table, no pictures - didn't happen! (grin)
Post pics, inquiring minds want to see!
Mike
I have the wood handled version and really like them.
blue handles
This year at Sears, I bought a set of 4 Footprint chisels with blue plastic handles for $50 (~1/4" ~1/2" ~3/4" ~1"). I wasn't sure if they were the same as the ones reviewed in FWW #200 (which have wooden handles) but the price seemed very good so I decided to try them. I only have limited experience with a few different chisel brands but here is what I discovered:
I expected to do some work tuning them up, like any tool. How much work makes a hassle for the tool owner is a matter of preference but I like puttering around and seeing how different tools shape up against each other. These weren't too bad and the end result of a comfortable chisel that holds a very good edge makes it worth the money and the work.
All needed sharpening and three had nicks in the cutting edges and looked like a poor set. The 1" chisel had a ding almost 1/16" deep in the cutting edge. They were not polished and had the expected machine marks. The longwise edges of the blades needed to be rounded a little prior to flattening because like the FWW review said, they were uncomfortably sharp to handle (about as sharp as the blades were prior to sharpening, actually). The paint on the handles rubbed off once I picked them up, but the handles are very comfortable and ergonomic and I love the shape. The backs were out of flat on the 1" and 3/4" but flattened quite quickly by hand. They all sharpened with very little effort. Less work was needed for the two smaller sizes, which were flatter. They hold an edge nicely, I'm satisfied and for the money they're a deal.
FWIW they are socket chisels so you can make new handles if you don't like the plastic ones they come with. I admit the plastic handles do feel a little funny when I connent with the mallet, and do not give the satisfying connection I prefer with wood handles but this will probably change as I get used to plastic. Footprint claims the plastic handles can be struck forcibly with a hammer, but warn against prying out heavy waste. All work considered, if they were made a little thinner for dovetail work, they'd be a pretty good starter set for 50 bucks, and they are excellent for general work.
chris, (right?)
those chisels sound fine. so much is personnal preference-huh? for a long while, and all the while i was learning, i used a mish-mash of chisels to cut d-tails. then one day i came in to a little money and got those blue spruce beauties. i also had to stone the edges as they were very sharp and i had found this out the hard way.
did you notice that this thread is two and one half years old? they sort of pop up now and then. i often respond and frequently notice that i'm speaking to people who jumped ship long ago. i even unwittingly greet them-"hey! how ya doin" "long time no..." i call them flying dutchman threads. kind of creepy.
eef
Mary Celeste chisels
Creepy? C'mon, this is the internet! When is the net ever creepy?
A while back I found the forum as the result of old threads haunting my Google search results, though I just recently signed up to participate. I commented not in spite of the thread's age, but because of it -- no point in creating a new thread for an old topic when recent posts are sorted to the top of the list (something that chafes the members of other forums). But more importantly, products of the same name do change. Today's Footprints might be substantially different than those reviewed in the past. Marples and Stanley: two cases in point. I thought it would be helpful to others who had the same questions I did about these chisels and couldn't find more recent reviews.
For the record, I don't find moderate tune-up work to be that much of a hassle - within reason. Some degree of tuning is always necessary, even with expensive tools. Certainly the less that is required to bring a tool to its optimum performance level, the better! I imagine that if I shelled out $300 for a plane and had to spend hours flattening the sole, I'd be pretty miffed. But the Footprints required only the expected labor to achieve a finished product that performs like one that is much more expensive -- if only for its high flats, it'd be terrific for all sorts of work.
Come to think of it, this is coming from a guy who enjoys setting up instruments as much as he loves playing them.
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