# Wood Chisel



## trentwilson43056 (Nov 10, 2015)

Can anyone explain the difference between a standard bench chisel,a pairing chisel and a firming chisel.I have run across these terms while looking for a set of chisels.I am looking for a set of wood chisels and am guessing that what I am looking for are bench chisels,assuming that these are general purpose as is a bench plane.At what angle should a bench chisel be ground?


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## woodnthings (Jan 24, 2009)

*great question ....*

Here's a brief explanation of the various types:
http://www.listoftools.com/handtools/wood_cutting_tools/wood_chisels.html










Then there are slicks, gouges, spoons and scorps....


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

Actually I've never heard the terms. According to the wisdom of google a paring chisel is a long lightweight chisel you never use a mallet on. A firmer chisel is a thick heavy duty chisel you can beat the H out of to get the job done. 

Just get a set of chisels with plastic handles. Even the master woodcarver I took classes from said they were better.


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## BZawat (Sep 21, 2012)

Standard bench chisels have a hefty blade with beveled edges, and are relatively heavy in comparison to the other two. Most times they will have a striking button on the end of the handle; cheaper ones are tang-style with plastic handles. I have some beater Buck Bros bench chisels with yellow clear plastic handles and steel strikes that are pretty good. I think they were maybe 35 bucks for a set of 4?

Paring chisels are much lighter in weight and are not intended to be struck with a hammer or mallet. Edges are beveled for clearance when reaching into corners. Their blades are usually a bit longer than bench chisels, giving you more reach when paring a joint to fit, for example. A sharp paring chisel would be used to trim a tenon to fit in a mortise. I have a set of Stanley socket chisels that I use as paring chisels. They are very light weight and kept sharp enough to shave with. 

Firmer chisels have square, parallel edged blades, that taper in thickness from handle to cutting edge. Most of the firmers that I have seen are socket type chisels with hardwood handles intended to be struck by a mallet. I have a couple "registered" firmer chisels that I use when defining the width of a mortise.


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## Brian T. (Dec 19, 2012)

When the edge has a sweep, a curve to it, they are called "gouges."
The shapes follow a guide called the "London Pattern Book." 
Some people refer to this as the "Sheffield List."
In any case, this defines the shapes of gouges and V-carving tools.

Then, you get into gouges with bent shanks for various carving applications.
Are you ready for "bent," "short bent," "spoon bent" and "tracery bent?"
Next, there are all the "back bent" forms.
This means that the whole LPB number system runs up into the 70's.

Examples =
A 1/12 is a flat chisel edge, bevelled on both sides.
A 5/35 is a nice curved edge about 1.7" wide.
A 7/30 is a distinct u-curve, about 1.5" wide
A 9/15 is a really distinct U-shape and just more than 1/2 " wide.

Can you predict what the sweep will be for 11/15? Get the idea?

You will not change this. The foolish bladesmiths who have tried have failed.
A global standard that you can use to predict the shape(s) of the tools that you want to buy.


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## Jammer (Jul 15, 2009)

One man's survey: http://contrib1.wkfinetools.com/bSmalser/woodChiselSurv/woodChisel2.asp

Bob could be a little full of himself, but a lot of what he said agrees with what I was taught. So I agree with a lot of what he says. 

Different terms in carpentry, the toolshed and woodworking in general change from jobsite to jobsite. Jargon is meant to communicate a large amount of information in one or two words, but it's flexible. What a word means on one jobsite can be different from what it means on another. That applies to the parts of a door, finish trim, chisels and a lot of other handtools. What matters is that when someone uses a jargon term out in the rain or up on a roof, everyone he's talking to understands what he means. Doesn't really matter if everyone is using the term correctly or incorrectly, it's the communication that matters.

So when a guy is showing off his prize set of matching Swan "firmer chisels" that he collected one by one off ebay, re-handled in matching maple, painstakingly re-shaped and sharpened, when I look at them and think "those aren't firmer chisels", I don't say anything. He can call them firmer chisels if he wants to.

Off topic: when I was an apprentice, they told me I needed a chisel the next payday. So I bought one of those Stanley butt chisels, 3/4" wide. It was one of those hideous red, plastic handled chisels with a steel striking cap that would get beat over until it was sharp. When I showed up with it on Monday, my journeyman took look at it and said it was crap. He said I wasted my money, and I needed real chisel if I was going to hang doors.

So I went back out and bought a long, heavy bench chisel with "Sheffield" steel (whatever that is) and a wooden handle that was about a foot long. It met my J-man's approval. And the red Stanley, I threw in my toolbox and forgot about it. It was crap. My J-man had said so.

Of course, I split the handle of my million dollar Sheffield steel prize winning chisel within a couple weeks hitting it with hammer, and I had to dig my Stanley back out of my toolbox and use it in spite of the fact that it was a piece of crap.

As time went on, I beat the hell out of that chisel. I had no respect for it, because it was a piece of crap. It lived in my belt for a while, and occasionally got left out in the rain. I used it to drive in between forms and concrete to strip forms. I scraped concrete off forms with it. I split stakes with it. I pried with it. I put it under doors and stood on it to lift the door. When it got dull, I flipped a belt sander over and made it sharp again. If it turned blue, I just ground the blue off it and then sharpened it again. I drove it into the ground to tie off stringlines. I wedged it between steel and concrete to hang plumb bobs. I drove it under rebar with a surveyor's hammer. Oh, yeah, I mortised hinges with it. Many, many hinges. It started in the mud on the foundation of Two Union Square in Seattle and topped out with me two and a half years later setting cabinets in a law firm.

It was one of two tools to survive my entire apprenticeship, and it's still around here somewhere. Probably needs to be sharpened, but that's okay. I have a couple belt sanders.

I wish I'd bought a dozen of them.


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## Jig_saw (May 17, 2015)

I agree with what woodnthings has posted on this.


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