I got a set of Marples chisels based on word of mouth recommendation, opened the set, and was disappointed in the inital machining. It's taking forever to flatten the backs of these things, and I haven't started on the first bevel yet. I'm using a pretty new coarse poly diamond plate from Woodcraft, wet with a little water.
I guess my questions are: are the Marples always this poor to start with? And what can I do to speed up this flattening process? My hands are cramping big time.
TIA.
All I can say is thank Godyou never worked in a 19th century cabinet shop with literally hundreds of edge tools
320 - 400 wet-dry on plate glass, wet, will be fastest. Shouldn't lap a tool on a new diamond plate. The high crystals will scratch too deep to easily repair.
I lapped the back sides and sharpened the chisels using silicon carbide paper on glass. It took 3 to 4 hours to do the entire set. Not a bad job. My gripe is that it they need to be resharpened too frequently.
RB
snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote:
guess you missed the thread I started recently about Marples chisels...
dave
snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote:
I just picked up a set of Sears chisels and they are holding up very well. (bear in mind I'm no Sears evangelist )
dave
RB wrote:
Sounds like you got a bad set of chisels. My first set of marples had an
1/8" chunk out of the middle of the bevel in the 1/2" chisel. Took it back and had them open the packages for me until I found one that wasn't too bad. Yeah, some of the machined jobs were crap but I found a set that finally was acceptable.FWIW -- I use ScarySharp and start at 100 and go up to .5 micron and finish with the green honing compound from Lee Valley. I think I honed all the backs on my chisel set (and a set of the skew chisels from LV) in about an hour. So if you're having that much of a problem I'd swap the set for another (and open them to check for flatness -- bring along a straight edge too).
Good luck, Mike
I bought a set a few years ago, and they seemed ready to go out of the package. I bought one more size a couple weeks ago, and it was a real POS: dull, nicked and a slanted bevel. It only took 10 minutes or so the fix it, which tells me the steel must be softer than the ones I bought before(?)
:>(
I have a set of splitproofs (same blade different handle) 20+ years ago and they where never ready to use out of the package.over the years I`ve added and lost a couple but the last 1"1/4 was pretty crap compared to the first one ...doesnt keep its edge for long but the 1" i got last year is superb.They dont seem to have any kind of control over the production but hey they`re cheap enough and still represent good value.I have never lapped or polished my chisels in fact was never taught to do that in my apprenticeship and still get them sharp enough to cut anything put in front of me......or I do it subconciously when backing the bur off. Russell
You don't really have to go too nuts with lapping the back, you're making it flat for the sake of edge geometry. Just an inch or so at the end should be enough. You'll still be to hitting the bit at the end to remove the bur every time you sharpen. FWIW, I did lap mine over most of the back using sandpaper on glass, but I don't remember how long it took. Of course, compared to how long you'll be using them, it's not much time.
Every other cut it seems like. They don't stay sharp for long.
As far as the OP's complaint, it took me forever to get my backs done too. The up side is that you don't have to do it again. I used sandpaper on granite to do the job. When I need to knock the burr off while sharpening, I keep a piece of 2000 grit on a dedicated block just for that purpose, and I always use 2000 grit, no matter what grit I'm using on the bevel end of things at the time.
It works well for me. They all have a mirror shine, and they're extremely sharp when I'm done. For a cut or two. Until they get dull again.
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