Mortice chisel sizes.

[Richard Brooks]

Does anyone have a set of mortice chisels and what sizes are they ?

Also, what relative depths are they ?

The reason I'm asking is that I want to order the steel blocks from a steel yard cut to make my own. Okay, this might sound a bit old fashioned as I'm sure they can still be bought but I want my own hand made set.

I've only seen one at a car boot sale and I've seen that the (side on) depth reduces from just after the cutting edge plane and assume this is to facilitate a small up and down movement in cutting deep mortices. Sadly, this was the only time I've seen one as I should have bought it.

Many thanks,

Richard.

[Andy Dingley]

Forge them. Pick your own width.

The usual sizes are to match whatever size you make mortices in. I'd say that 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2" was a typical set, with 3/4" if you make heavy casework. I also use really narrow ones a lot (1.5mm, 2mm, 3mm & 4mm) for clearing out work in 1/4" mortices but wouldn't fancy making those. Accurate and parallel widths are good, if you want to gauge an accurate mortice with them.

What sort of steel are you thinking ? O1 is a good steel for many workshop tool-making tasks, because it's easy to find (thus cheap, because you're not buying a truckload) and easy to heat treat. You can;t forge it worth a damn though. It comes in thickness ground bars, which is handy too, although not much use for a mortice chisel.

You ought to read the rec.knives FAQ too.

On the whole, I'd buy them and spend my workshop time making something less easily obtained.

[mike]

[Steve Knight]

well you won't find the steel at a steel yard most likely. and wait till you see the price (G)

a 7" blade is good plus the tang.

[Jim Wilson]

Richard Brooks asked some questions about making mortise chisels...

Hi Richard,

You might be interested in a couple web pages of mine on the subject.

They're just a brief overview of how I make them, but they might give you an idea or two. It really isn't all that hard, just requires some time.

Good luck, be safe, and have fun!

Jim