Is it possible to find mortise chisels which *really* are imperial measure?

[wood_newbie]

I know there are some who will find this question anal, and hell...I'm not sure I'm not one of them myself.

I would like to acquire a good set of mortise chisels, but so far every one I've found is sold as both metric and imperial.

Yes, they may market their chisels as imperial, but they are marked metric as well, and a set of calipers says they actually _measure_ metrically.

Anyone who has any Robert Sorby chisels knows what I'm talking about.

Is there anyone out there who sells a registered 1/2" mortise chisel that measures 12.7 mm? Or heaven forbid a 3/8" that measures 9.53 mm?

TIA.

[Larry Blanchard]

I went through that futile search a few years ago. No luck. There was someone who made custom chisels but, IIRC, he quit doing it - and they were, as you would expect, quite expensive.

Let us know if you find any true imperial ones.

OTOH, if you cut your tenons to fit the mortise, the actual size makes no difference.

[AAvK]

That's been my thoughts, I think the Henry Taylors do measure properly in inches. I bought the set of four from Traditional Woodworker, a great price, sharpened two of them very well, only to find the steel is rather poor. Didn't take much for there to be a flat on the cutting edge so I sent them back. And this was after much hype about them in this ng.

I have learned about Japanese chisels as being very easy to sharpen and that they hold an edge really well because they make their steel masterfully, so I believe it would be easy to simply buy one at a metric size that is just larger than any given imperial (SAE?) size and use the 'scary sharp' way to carefully grind down the sides to the desired size. Because of prices compared to quality these are the ones I decided on but haven't done it yet:

all the comparisons I have done, this is the price. As well, for the same general price range, Lie-Nielsens are sized imperial: shoud be superb but take longer to sharpen as they are made of A-2 steel.

[charlie b]

snip

Jim Wilson was making them, sold through Steve Knight's site. He quit making them but I recall he'd started again. HIs mortise chisel page is still up

check it out and perhaps ask/beg him to start makig and selling them again. Beefy suckers. Get one started and not only does the "cutting edge" cut wood, but the edges of the bevel at the sides of the chisel cut as well. Yields nice clean sides on the mortises.

charlie b

[Lobby Dosser]

Hartville has some German chisels they claim are True Fractional. Manufactured by MHG Messerschmidt. Don't have any, but the price is right and I'm cogitating on it.

[wood_newbie]

DAMN..."beefy" is not the word! Those things look like the mother of all mortise chisels!

[wood_newbie]

Thanks for the tips, everyone. The Lie-Nielsens aren't available for another FOUR *&^% months unfortunately. But I wasn't aware of the HMGs over at Hartville tool...I'll probably try one of those out first.

I appreciate all the help!!

[AAvK]

I saw the page of them at Hartville, the sale of 5 in inch sizes for $109. At RC 61 and with hornbeam handles (Hoffornbeam, european ironwood), serious good deal. I will consider it myself, poor as I am, it's good til 01/10/06.

[Tom Banes]

I took advantage of the HT special on the mortise chisels. Wil advise on what I find when they arrive.

Regards.

[Lobby Dosser]

GREAT! Try to let us know Before January 10th! :o)

You'll find that they are pretty quick on shipping. I ordered some 3" casters from them about a month ago and they arrived very quickly. They also included a catalog with the chisels prominently displayed on the first page. Until I saw the catalog, I hadn't been looking for chisels. Then there's the Adria saws and ....

[Australopithecus scobis]

I got my first HT catalog a couple of days ago. Those MHG chisels and gouges do look interesting. I love the racy black lacquer on the gouges. Who was the clever lad who suggested that one needed more than just one set of chisels?