Australian Wood Review – June 2019

40 Australian Wood Review

TOOLS & EQUIPMENT

If you intend to do a lot of dovetailing

or other fine work, look for chisel

sets starting at 1/8” or 3mm and

increasing in size by the same

amount, up to about 1/2”–3/4” or 12–

15mm. I rarely use chisels above that

size but I use the smaller chisels all

the time. There are a limited number

of companies who provide sets of

chisels covering the smaller sizes so

this will limit your choices.

Choosing a plane blade

If you are buying a new plane you

may have the choice of O1, A2 or

PMV. If you have an old Stanley or

Record plane you can buy thicker

replacement blades in each of these

metals. Replacing the old thin blades

is highly recommended as is buying

a more efficient chipbreaker.

Each of these steels will perform well.

As noted above the main difference

is the frequency of sharpening and

the honing angle. With A2 steel

the recommendation is to hone at

35° and for bevel down planes the

blades will perform well at that angle.

However for bevel up planes either

O1 or PMV are better choices as you

can choose whatever honing angle

you want to give more of a slicing cut

(for endgrain) or a scraping cut (for

difficult grain). Indeed one of the

advantages of a bevel up plane like

the Lie Nielsen 62 is that you can

have two or three interchangeable

blades each sharpened at different

angles to have the plane perform

different functions. Veritas are now

offering a wide range of bevel up

planes in many different sizes, well

worth considering.

The photos shown here illustrate

some of many high quality options

available for woodworkers.

Peter Young is a studio furniture

designer and maker who lives in

Brisbane. Last issue he showed

how to vary a basic design for a

side table in several ways. Email

Peter at [email protected]

Another major advantage is that

PMV steel is not any more difficult

to sharpen than A2 steel and it

can be honed to any angle (20, 25,

30, 35, 40, 45 degrees) with no

problems with shattering of the

cutting edge. This makes PMV the

steel of choice especially for blades

used in bevel up planes.

Veritas have been the leaders in using

PMV in woodworking tools with great

success. The only downside is the

cost; expect to pay $120 – $150 per

chisel.

Choosing a set of chisels

So, with that background on steel

types, what should you look for when

choosing a set of chisels? This really

is going to be a matter of individual

preference and intended use. Cost is

largely related to steel type which in

turn is related to edge retention. You

can save yourself a lot of money by

becoming proficient at sharpening.

All cutting tools need to be

sharpened and it only takes a couple

of minutes to sharpen a chisel and

maybe a minute longer to sharpen

a plane blade.

Preferred honing angle is an

important consideration. I prefer to

hone chisels at 25 ° which provides

a lovely slicing action but that rules

out A2 steel.

9. Rentetsu chisel (upper) is used for
   paring and flush trimming. Used
   correctly the yari kanna or spear plane
   produces long spiralling shavings.
   Photo: Japanese Tools Australia.


10. Australian toolmakers HNT Gordon use
    O1 for their handplane range, except
    for their palm smoother blades which
    are made from T1 HSS. M2 HSS is also
    offered for bench planes when a more
    abrasive resistant edge is required.
    Photo: HNT Gordon


11. Good quality O1 chisels made by Ashley
    Isles (UK) in a size range suitable for
    dovetailing. Not all makers offer sets in
    this range starting at 1/8” or 3 mm and
    increasing by the same amount. Making
    a chisel tray is a good way to safely store
    your chisels. Photo: Peter Young

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