Are there any counterfit Hirsch mortise chisels out there you think? After much reading and research looking for mortise chisels I landed on the Hirsch 1/4″ and 3/8″ models. Granted I work almost exclusively white oak but the edges on these two chisels seem to almost crumble under the abuse, quite the opposite of what I had read and what I expected from these reportedly tough, top quality tools. On the other hand, I have a cheap Marples/Irwin blue handle bench chisels that I had been using which did not suffer the same chipping from the same abuse. ( I know, I know: Why didn’t you just stick with what you had? Well, as I tried to tell my wife, ” I just want some new tools”. You know how that went over) These things were quite pricey too as you all know which I really had to consider but my production has been steadily been increasing and so considered the investment to be a reasonable one. I read that adding a secondary bevel would help and did to a small degree but they are still chipping out and I am very disappointed. Anyone else ever experience a similar, or the same, problem with Hirsch mortise chisels? Thanks for any input.
Bill B
Replies
Grind them back
Bill:
I'm not a fan of Hirsch chisels. Highland Woodworking has sold them for years. They never compare well in tests to other chisels on the market. That said, sometimes you get a new chisel that is brittle at the edge. Grinding them back some usually cures the problem. Mortise chisels should be ground no steeper than 30 degrees for the edge to hold up to pounding. I have LN, Sorby, and Narex mortise chisels. All worked fine new out of the packaging. The Narex are cheap compared to Hirsch, but have much better steel.
gdblake
Hirsch
gdblake,
Thanks for your thoughts. Unfortunately, they come too late to help me (no fault of yours). I had just read sooo many good things about them and based my purchase on that information having limited knowledge of chisels myself. I was shocked, to say the least, when after a small amount of usage I looked down at the edge of the 10mm one to see mulitple bits of the steel missing. I am sorry, but for the money, it is a shame that someone would have to do anything to them to get satisfactory performance from them.
Like I said above, the secondary bevel did help out some but still......
I am not confident enough to go regrinding them (read; newbie woodworker here) so maybe after enough touching up of the edges I'll get to the decent steel. Don't get me wrong, they work and all, but I just think it is frustrating having to constantly have to tune the edge.
Bill
Sharpen them back a bit--you'll hit good steel. May as well get comfortable now with grinding because with any chisel, sooner or later you have to sharpen them. Get yourself either Leonard Lee's or Ron Hock's book on sharpening.
With that said, years ago I had a few Hirsch chisels, but sold them. The steel was good (can't remember how they were out of the box, but after a few sharpenings, they were as good as most). I did not like the "buffed" edges and found the sides so polished that they were a bit rounded over. I also did not like the feel of the handle.
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