20 degree angle on chisles??

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medic

New User
john
I got several chisles at a garage sale yesterday that are ground to a 20 degree angle. the faces of all the chisels were chipped and look like they had 32 tpi on the face. well I cleaned they up and tried one, edge rolled and chipped , the chisles have a blade about 6 inches long and thin. all have nice wood handles . I thought that they might be paring chisles , Is that the correct angle, or did I just end up buying nice wood handles.
 

froglips

New User
Jim Campbell
From you experience already, sounds like 20 is too acute for these chisels.

Instead of regrinding a new bevel, you might consider playing with a secondary bevel/micro bevel. Tip the chisel up and just put a bevel on the very tip of the bevel.

You can do it free hand or with a honing guide or whatever system works for you. You can experiment by gradually increasing the angle until it holds the edge you want.

If you feel bold, I've lately found a convex bevel helps with really unruly edges. http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/f30/freehand-sharpen-convex-bevel-28397/

Dumb question, are you striking the chisel with a mallet? No pairing chisel will survive long if you got out your 20lb sledge hammer :)

Jim
 

cpowell

Chuck
Senior User
Ditto what Jim wrote.

I bought a set of Ashley Iles chisels and was disappointed with them at first.

I kept increasing the secondary bevel until I got to around 27 degrees or so and the edges held up. I went with 30 degrees next time I had to redo the primary bevel and they are holding up fine.

It is possible that the chisels were never sharpened and the factory edge just needs to be ground back a little bit.

From your description they are probably parers. BTW, we love to look at pics of nice paring chisels!! :gar-Bi


Chuck
 

Bill Clemmons

Bill
Corporate Member
Again, ditto what Jim said about the secondary bevel, or "bezel" as it is sometimes called. A good paring chisel will have a primary bevel and a very slight, secondary bevel right at the tip. The angle of the primary bevel is whatever feels best to you, though it is usually between 20-25*. You can grind this one on a grinding wheel (8" is better than 6") and don't worry about getting it perfectly flat. A slight concave is okay.

When you place the chisel on your sharpening stone, or whatever flat surface you use, let it rest on the primary bevel. Then, as Jim said, tilt it up on its leading edge just a few more degrees, and begin the sharpening process. Personally, I use sandpaper on a granite block, and rather than moving the chisel forward and backward, I work it from side to side. I've just found this is more comfortable for me and I like the results. There are multiple ways to sharpen a chisel, and the best way is whichever one you feel most comfortable with.

Bill
 

tjgreen

New User
Tim
If you feel bold, I've lately found a convex bevel helps with really unruly edges. http://www.ncwoodworker.net/forums/f30/freehand-sharpen-convex-bevel-28397/


Jim

Interesting, wish I'd seen that before I removed the convex bevel from numerous old plane irons. This makes intuitive sense - you're focusing the pressure on a much smaller area of the bevel at any given time, rather than flattening the entire surface, so you should remove material quickly and get to the edge much faster. Plus I like the idea of doing it free-hand.

To avoid the hijack - +1 for a 30d chisel bevel plus a micro-bevel, seems to work fine even on my el cheapo BORG chisels.
 
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