Blue Spruce Dovetail Paring chisel

[Mike Davis]

http://www.bluesprucetoolworks.com/


Most folks, that know me, know I have a wife and four kids that I have supported for a long time. Two of the kids are graduated summa cum laude and working, one is still in college and the youngest is still in high school.

All that to say i don't have a very big tool budget. In fact I may be the most frugal hand tool user around. But, I decided I could do without a few lunches and treated my self to the finest chisel I have ever held.

David Jeske lives and works in Sandy, Oregon as Blue Spruce Tool Works. He has built his company up from nothing to now having one employee.

I finally got to meet him at WIA a few weeks ago and bought a 7/16 dovetail paring chisel. I have other chisels, a set of Stanley Sweetheart dovetail chisels and didn't really neeeed a new chisel. But when I picked it up I couldn't put it down. It just fit my hand and felt so perfect.

None of my chisels really make it easy to do the final fitting of small dovetails and this one is just perfect. The sides are not just beveled they are machined with a concave edge to completely eliminate and chance of dinging the wood in the wrong place.

As I am able over time I hope to add more of these fine tools to my kit. I hope you will consider Dave for your next tool purchase because i will need him to be in business a long time so I can complete my set.

 

[Hmerkle]

Mike,
I think that your experience underlines the old adage "You get what you pay for."

As you have told me many times you can get by using certain tools, but when you have one that really "Works" for you or "with" you the cost takes a back seat...

I think of that every time I use my diamond "stones" and I would have never spent that money until I used yours to sharpen a blade!

 

[golfdad]

I'd say you deserve it Mike......enjoy

 

[Roy G]

That looks like a great tool. i have a few Japanese chisels that are beveled on the sides to clear the wood when cleaning up dovetails. I always manage to cut myself on the side of the chisel when using it. Do you have a technique that lets you avoid damaging your fingers?

Roy G

 

[Mike Davis]

I hold the chisel between my first finger and thumb on the flat of the blade, not by the edges.

 

[Tarhead]

Attaboy Mike! I was mighty tempted in the exhibit hall and resisted.
I saw or heard a quote somewhere over the last month (maybe at WIA?) that applies here: (Paraphrased) "Tools are either an investment with dividends or a recurring cost. The hobbyist can't justify an expensive heirloom tool on cost alone. Ease of use, improvement in safety/efficiency/precision, joy, pride and resale value/ease of resale are the only justifications."

 

[StephenK]

I haven't seen paring chisels mention often on forums, but boy do they look useful. Watching Roy pare a tapered sliding dovetail in walnut on the latest episode of the Woodwright's Shop makes me even more interested.

Has anyone held the Narex paring chisels? I know there's no comparison between them and Blue Spruce, but yea - $100 vs. $30