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Having used chisel a lot in guitar construction I can understand that a good chisel is essential for safety as well as being able to work effortlessly. I currently use a chisel that I bought locally, while it's ok (it says it's made in Japan but who knows...?) the hardness seems to leave a bit to be desired. I was wondering is there any recommendation for a decent chisel that are sharp out of the box but doesn't have to be the best of the best (40 dollars a chisel would be the most I'd spend) ?

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Properly sharp out of the box, Lie-Nielsen but even they may need touched up. Two Cherries are also good chiesls. Heck I could name 4 or five good chisels. but the thing is few come really totally ready to go. Two Cherries are about $30+/- per each depending on the chisel

I bit the bullet and bought me a 1/2" and 3/4" Lie Nielsen with no regret.
Lie Nielsen is $55 bucks a pop now. They have very nice feel to them...not to mention how pretty they are. Sometimes I just stair at them for several seconds before using. I'm starting to think I have TAS.

As far as paring chisel, Blue Spruce Paring chisel seems to be very popular but they are $75 each. But I'm thinking you only need one paring chiseld, 1/2".

Todd's advice about grinding back also applies to old tools as well but for the opposite reasons. A lot of old chisels have been burned by over zealous grinding and have been made too soft for use. Unfortunately this damage is sometimes complete. I have a lot of old Berg's where someone "cleaned" them up on a belt sander prior to selling. When I tune one up I always X my fingers hoping the damage isn't too severe.

Tai,
I have a lot of chisels I have collected. I know you don't have a lot of money so if you want I can send you a couple of nice Swedish chisels you pay postage. You might have to put a handle on them, depends on what I dig up. What sizes are you looking for ? I would think 1/4" and 1/2" and something around 1". That would cover a lot of ground.
Link

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Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

There are several very high quality Chinese, Taiwanese, and especially Japanese chisels out there -- all of those countries have strong traditions of woodworking.

So far, I have never succeeded in buying ANY chisel that was properly sharp as shipped.... that includes my Blue Spruce paring chisels.

I feel like Sharpening is the #1 concern. There are many many ways and systems to get excellent razor sharp edges on chisels. I use a Jig, others use machines or hand holding. These all work fine. Sandpaper, water stones, diamond stones, whet stones, and lapping compound all work.... you just have try them out and see which ones give you the best results.

That said....

Here is what I found so far:
Shaving Spruce, Cedar, and softwoods (Tops, braces, etc.) -- Requires Sharp more than Durable if you want to get good clean cuts without splitting or tearing out the wood. Most anything will work if it is *Super* razor sharp.... and Nothing will work if it is not.

Soft to Medium hardwoods (Mahogany, Sapelle, Luan, Walnut, Cherry, etc.) -- you can get away with chisels that aren't super sharp or super durable. A fairly sharp chisel that won't cut spruce will still work fine in Mahogany.

Hard, tough, hardwoods (Gidgee, Ebonies, Hard Maple, Most Acacia, some Oaks, etc.) -- You need Hard hard hard hard tough tool steel or it just won't cut for long. The wood is just too abrasive. This is where the Japanese "Blue Steel" and "Sword steel" blades shine.

Next observation is:
The shape of the chisel must match the job.

I can't get short, straight blade chisels to work at Brace shaving. I really like the old style Long paring chisels or long blade bench chisels with a large belly to the blade for Brace work... "Carving" chisels also work very well for this.

Chopping out neck mortises -- Doesn't lend itself to paring chisels -- they just can't take the beating and prying. Bench chisels work great here.

So... on your Japanese chisel....
What sort of chisel is it? The Japanese make fine chisels in a billion different patterns, but most have very short blades. Many typical Japanese chisels are made to be hammered with Steel hammers while chopping Impossible wood.... Not for fine paring or carving work. I haven't had good luck shaving braces or doing fine carving work with them (Blade too short)... but they are GREAT for most everything else. The shape is not right.... but they do make Paring and carving chisels for this sort of thing.

For recommendations:
Brace shaving... 1 long Paring chisel, 3/4" or 1" (20-25mm wide) Brands include Sorby, Blue Spruce, Henry Taylor, and probably a couple others. Old used long blade chisels are also great.
Also check out "Carving" chisels -- they are made specifically for this sort of work.

Cleaning out Binding grooves, neck mortises, etc...
Most any good Bench or Mortise chisel will do the trick. If you have access to good quality Japanese chisels -- they are hard to beat.

and Keep those blades sharp.

Good luck

John

Perhaps I'm missing something here, but my dad used to frequently harden and anneal tools he needed to keep in a precise shape. He'd anneal the steel, then shape it, then in turn harden and then sharpen. While I know you can't do this forever, but I can't imagine a mishandled tool being ruined. Anneal the material, reshape then gently reharden and sharpen.

Can someone share their experience as to 1/2" versus 3/4" on long paring chisel. I see few members recommending 1/2" and other 3/4". Is there a big difference or opinon as to why one would be better than others when shaving/ carving braces.

It's feel. I personally almost always go to a 3/4" chisel when I want to do shaping. I like to have that extra little bit of edge to allow a slight left to right slide of the blade against what I'm cutting. (I'm dominant right) A 1/2" feels too small to me for that kind of work. However, that said, there are times one needs the smaller blade because of where it needs to reach.

Tai, you need to stop looking for sharp and ready out of the box. It's not really relevant. If it did come that way, it won't be long before you need to hone or sharpen. If you don't feel that you know how to do this, getting those skills worked out should precede acquiring chisels.

I stopped buying new chisels years ago. There is so much good old carbon steel for sale (Ebay, mainly, but there are also lots of dealers) for less than half of what a comparably chisel costs new that the new ones don't seem worth it.

I'd avoid Japanese chisels for your general purposes. They can be great tools. But the flat part (where the cutting edge will always be) is harder than almost any American/British/European chisel. With steel that hard comes brittleness. The softer steel that this is forge welded to keeps the tool from breaking, but it does not keep the edge from chipping if you do any prying or lifting of your shaving. In theory one should not do that. In practice, we all do it a little. I have one Japanese chisel in my rack, and I only use it when I know I'm only going to be directing force straight on its long axis.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

I have a set of japanese chisels and use them the most.
then I have a set of finnish ones, very good for many things.

then I have a few russian ones, very good for opening the paint cans...

I think the chisel I have (and most chisels you can find in the normal price range) are made of high carbon steel... Thing is in Taiwan I find a lot of tools that are "made in Japan" but in fact are actually made in China or something. I'll see if I can find something good...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I am very happy with my Barr Quarton chisels, well worth the investment.

My first chisel was bought at B&Q and it sucks. I still managed to complete several guitars with it, tho. You can try some heat-processing with your lousy chisel because there's nothing to lose.

Any idea how it's done? Do I heat the thing until it's cherry red or something then quench in water? Where can I buy a propane torch in Taiwan, I don't mean that butane crap that you light BBQ with (it takes a butane can). I don't think it gets hot enough for proper tempering.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Tai, I don't know if you realize what a generous offer this is. Forget messing with the no good cheapie, tell Link thank you very much, and consider yourself lucky. Old Swedish chisels are about the best of the best (when they are good), people hunt high and low and pay good money for these.

I also agree with Howard, you need to forget about that 'sharp out of the box' business, that is about as relevant as requesting that guitars should be in tune out of the case.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

That crap works for me.

May I tell Link thank you very much? I might be able to get some D.nigra seeds to express my appreciation, Link.

Is it even possible to get D. Niagra in Taiwan?

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Yes.(I suppose you mean D. nigra.)

You can anneal, harden, and temper with a torch, and make it work OK. But it will be pretty much impossible to do it as well as you can with a forge.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Fine Wood Working did a great job of comparing bench chisels. I ended up going with a boxed set of Narex (Best Value, FWW.) I also love 2 Cherries and have picked a number of those up, gouges, and skews in particular. I will also be getting stuff from Blue Spruce (believe it or not, one of the awls is high on my list )

I believe that Narex is a great value. I also believe their prices will go through the roof in the next few years, so get 'em while ya can. Chisel acquisition can become a sickness, so be careful.

Mike

These Narex chisels look almost identical to my Garret Wade set which is also made in Czech. I thought they work oaky.

Sorry Howard heat treating with a propane or oxy-acetylene setup can give as good results if not better than a forge as you can differentially harden and temper to end up with a tougher blade this is unobtainable in a forge.

The most important steps in heat treating are thermo cycling this is bringing the article up to critical temperature (non magnetic) holding it there for a minute or too then quenching in oil or water depending on the steel this reduces the grain size in the metal, then temper like todd said until the colours run and I'd imagine a dark straw would be what your after as light straw can be a little chippy

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Formerly JJH

I learn more from my mistakes than my successes

Sorry Howard heat treating with a propane or oxy-acetylene setup can give as good results if not better than a forge as you can differentially harden and temper to end up with a tougher blade this is unobtainable in a forge.

The most important steps in heat treating are thermo cycling this is bringing the article up to critical temperature (non magnetic) holding it there for a minute or too then quenching in oil or water depending on the steel this reduces the grain size in the metal, then temper like todd said until the colours run and I'd imagine a dark straw would be what your after as light straw can be a little chippy but it's all dependant on the steel.

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Formerly JJH

I learn more from my mistakes than my successes

I bought 2 sets of the 6-piece-in-box Narex chisels a few years back when they were on special for appx. $25. They are now $50 from Highland Hardware but if you buy the 4-piece set and add the other 2 separately it comes out to $35. You are spending $15 on a box that will get used once.

When I bought these, the cashier said these are made by the same manufacturer as the $72 Garrett Wade 6-piece set. They are decent chisels for the money but I have bought many 100 year old steel chisels off eBay that I use more often. They are still useful though - not a bad buy.

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John Lewis
Wannabe builder owned by 2 crazy dachshunds