Recently purchased my first mortising machine (sorry, “orange” brand, had I only known… ) and am prepping/polishing the chisels per Bob Van Dyke’s instructional video. Question: how “nuts” do I have to go up on grits, so as not to go overboard? I take my bench chisels and plane blades to 2000 or 3000 grit, so I’m thinking something like 800 might be smart… (Just as an aside, the mortising chisels that came with the unit looked like shade, so if there’s recommendations on a more decent, domestic brand and source, please let me know).
-tonto
Hartford, WI
Replies
What is shade? And you can get mortising chisels just about anywhere; Rockler, Klingspor, Woodcraft. Look around, you'll find what you want.
Mikaol
Do a quick polish on the outside faces and test them. If they cut, you're good until they don't.
I found that until I honed the inside of the hollow chisels they didn't cut well at all - in fact, they were almost impossible to use with oak. However, once I picked up a cone-shaped diamond stone set made especially for sharpening hollow mortise chisels (I have a set of two cones with one interchangeable handle, if you happen to see that set for sale somewhere) and used it on the inside of each hollow chisel, they worked well and greatly reduced the amount of force required to push them into the wood. Much of what I use is white oak, and they work very well now. You are in Hartford, I'm not sure if the Madison or New Berlin Woodcraft store is closer to you, but they might carry these - it's where I bought mine a number of years ago. You might also check the Brookfield Rockler store.
Thanks, fellow Badger! I'll have the "cone hones" tomorrow afternoon; ordered them from Taylor Tools, which I've been impressed with over the last 2 years. (Similar from Rockler, but overpriced there...) Maybe those "orange" brand mortising chisels will work out once polished and honed, maybe not. Have checked out Woodcraft and Lee-Valley items, and man, they're pricey but I might have to go there eventually. Anybody out there got good things to say about the Fisch items from Woodcraft, or the Lee-Valley items?
-tonto
Hartford, WI
I use the Lee Valley chisels, and they are the best I've used. 90 percent of the time I use the 5/16. The other good thing is it is longer than the other brands in that size.
How did you contact Taylor Tools? I just went to their site and everything is labeled "Coming Soon", etc. Tried their e-mail contact option and this keeps popping up: "Oops! Unfortunately the message could not be sent at this time, please try again later." Hmm ... ?
taytools.com and I'm on their mailing list for "flash sales." The URL worked fine for me just a moment ago. Maybe they were down for maintenance when you made your attempt.
-tonto
Make sure you have Taylor Toolworks -- taytools.com
There are a lot of various Taylor Tool companies out there.
Use the cone shaped sharpener to get it ready and then lay a piece of 12 micron 3m lapping paper over the cone and using a light touch to finish the polish on the inside. Then very lightly clean up the outside. Careful here, because if you overdo the polishing on the outside you'll change the dimension of the tool. Be sure to keep the cutting edge of the drill bit clean and sharp. It's simple and easy to keep it maintained. Good luck.
Thanks, RevBob. Ordered the 3M lapping film from Tay-Tools also; it was on-sale "big time" last Thursday. Looking forward to trying out that stuff on plane blades and chisels, too. Haven't even looked at the drill bits yet, but anticipate some work on those as well.
-tonto
Hartford, WI
The mortise chisels sold as "premium" by Lee Valley and Grizzly are Nakahashi brand. These are very high quality chisels. They are worth the price IMO.
Fisch is also a good name brand, although I don't have any first hand experience with their mortise chisels.
I treat the outside of mine just as I do the back of any other chisel and wax them (I use renaissance wax).
Thanks, Ed. Not sure if the Lee-Valley set includes the 5/16" item or not, but that's the one I'd use most, like John_C2, above. Regarding the Fisch brand, I've got a set of their drill bits, absolutely wonderful. Either Austrian or Swiss, not sure, but those guys over there do some great machine work. Need to check out stuff from Garrett Wade, too.
-tonto
Hartford, WI
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