Replies

1. 
   john_c2 | Jan 05, 2021 01:18pm | #1

   They look really cool?

   A couple of manufacturers made that style over 100 years ago. Its just marketing.

   Look at the sides of a chisel, then look dead on from the front. Do the beveled sides come to a point, or are there wide flats along the bottom of both sides? If there are flats, you will never be able to get the chisels into the corners of your dovetails. If the bevels one to a point, they should clean up dovetails nicely.

   Many cheaper chisels have wide flats, and need a ton of work, by you, to make them dovetail properly. Avoid those.

   Premium chisels should have this done for you, whether they say they are "dovetail chisels" or not. I know for a fact that Lie Nielsen chisels are perfect in that regard. In fact, the sides are often so sharp they need to be softened a wee bit to avoid cutting your hands.

   I'm sure other chisels also have the proper shape, but I can't tell you which brands.

2. 
   _mj_ | Jan 05, 2021 02:38pm | #2

   What JC2 said... marketing. Considering that the "back" of a chisel needs to be flattened and polished they will require a ton of time on a course diamond plate. (joking) Now if they were "round top" chisels it might make sense.

   Depending on the way those tops..errr...backs are polished, after a few sharpenings the leading edge corners might not be corners anymore. I don't see an advantage.

3. 
   Rob_Sp | Jan 05, 2021 03:03pm | #3

   I see no problem or advantage to the round back, and, as others have noted, there are many good brands out there. Chisels, for me are "personal". So all things being equal, if it's the handle, the rounded back, or just the cut of it's jib of one over the other go with your gut.
   If you are shopping at the "Tools for Working Wood" site, they carry high quality stuff there and if you are unhappy with what you get they will take it back. Ironically I bought a set of Japanese chisels some years ago from them and just didn't like the feel of them, they were returned without question.
   Happy Dovetailing

1. 
   Mist55 | Jan 05, 2021 05:32pm | #4

   Interesting response

4. 
   esch5995 | Jan 06, 2021 01:29am | #5

   I'll concur that I see no advantage to such a design and the fact that manufacturers stopped making the style long ago says something, not everything old is good and should be revived.

   FW did a comprehensive chisel comparison years ago and can be found in the archives.

   The key for dovetails is that the side bevels meet the back without shoulders. Good choices are Lie-Nielsen, Veritas, Blue Spruce, the Narex Richters are a fantastic value. Some to avoid would be Hirsch and 2 Cherries because they are have thick shoulders that would not be able clean out the corners of dovetails.

5. 
   lat_axe | Jan 06, 2021 04:05am | #6

   Perhaps the Ashley Isles round-top dovetail chisels use bar stock that begins in that shape. This would mean less working to the stock to create a working end that allows the corner of the chisel into the corners of the dovetails. Bar stock of that shape would only need the back flattening and the bevel put on, no work to make sloping sides.

   I don't have any of these chisels but all of the reviews seem to find their backs flat and their sides ideal for dovetailing work. Other features seem equally well-made. Perhaps the lesser work needed on the bar stock to make the chisel means a reduced chance of the chisel blade becoming wonky or otherwise failing to approach ideal functionality.

   Less work to make them also means the price can be kept down. Ashley Isles chisels are a fraction of the cost of Veritas and Lie-Nielsen chisels of similar function and size, for example. Yet the reviews seem to find their abilities and quality just as high.

   But as we know, there are many customer reasons for choosing what they buy besides functionality and quality of manufacture. Why else would anyone buy a Unisaw, for example? :-)

   Lataxe

1. 
   john_c2 | Jan 06, 2021 04:58am | #7

   Looking closer at the Ashley Isles round top chisels, they are pretty clearly not made from bar stock. The tops are rounded, rather than beveled, that's all. That is, they are not sections of a circle. The narrow chisels are quite tall,with rounded tops.

   Ashley Isles make great edge tools. I have acouple of their mortise chisels, and they are fantastic. But I really don't see what makes these "dovetail chisels." The rounded tops make for very steep sides, and they would never be able to reach into the corners of dovetails. Not any dovetails I cut, anyway.

   The Ashley Isles bevel edge chisels actually look far, far better suited for dovetailing than the round backs are.

1. 
   lat_axe | Jan 06, 2021 10:12am | #9

   The Iles blurb says that the rounded tops form "elliptical faces that form an acute angle along the sides of the blade; this design gives excellent clearance right into the corners of a joint".

   I assume "acute angle" means significantly less than 90 degrees ..... ?

   The full set of "dovetail chisels" (for so they are named) also includes some skew chisels for doing what skews can do when dovetail paring.

   Here's some pics and blurb from a UK retailer of the Iles wares:

   https://www.workshopheaven.com/ashley-iles-dovetail-chisels-full-set.html

   I'd like to try one, just to see ..... but I have more than enough chisels already, including plenty that get into those DT recesses.

   Perhaps we can find an owner-user who can give us the benefit of their experience - always the better source of opinion than best-guessing from adverts and web pics, even mine ... ? :-)

   Lataxe

2. 
   john_c2 | Jan 06, 2021 05:09am | #8

   While I think of it, Lie Nielsen chisels are actually made from bar stock. I watched at an open house one year, and it was fascinating.

   They chuck A2 round blanks in CNC lathes and then turn the sockets, inside and out, and mill the beveled end. All CNC, no forging. The computer actually alters the program as it cuts to compensate for the minute wear on the cutting tool.

   It's also the reason they only go up to one inch chisels, and why the price jumps so much for the two biggest sizes. There is a LOT of milling, and most of the steel is waste. You can see where a really large tool, say a 2 inch bevel edge chisel, being made from a 2 inch roundbar, would be almost all waste. You could certainly make a 2 inch chisel that way, but the cost would be astronomical.

   They end up making an almost perfect chisel, but using a method that is certainly non traditional.

1. 
   joeleonetti | Jan 07, 2021 03:01pm | #11

   My daily user chisels are Lie Nielsen. I have 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1". I really like them. I used to not like sharpening them as I use diamond stones like Paul Sellers teaches with coarse, fine, super fine then strop. Now that I added an extra extra coarse to start with they sharpen just fine. I really wish LN would do a run of O1 steel every now and then.

   I also have a set of Ashley Isle chisels in O1 steel, not the one with rounds. They work really good as well. The AI chisels reside in my mid-sized portable tool chest.

1. 
   john_c2 | Jan 07, 2021 04:00pm | #12

   I regret not buying some O1 chisels while they still made them.

6. 
   IrishBill_NY | Jan 06, 2021 10:26am | #10

   Here’s a photo...