WWA Info Exchange

OK, so what do the Japanese Chisels do for me that my Sheffield-manufactured Marples don't do? (Other than screw up my Imperial solidarity)

Honest question. Just want to understand.

Hey Rockfish,

The Japanese chisels are truly amazing. Because they are made of two different steels laminated together, you get the amazing sharpness and edge holding character of the extremely high carbon steel, and the tough shock absorbing character of the low carbon steel, in one blade.

The extremely hard, high carbon edges are more delicate though than your Marples, so for heavy chopping I use my Marples, and for more precise work, I use my Japanese whites. I would like to have a set of Japanese dovetail chisels but I'm sort of in the same boat as TT.

Tom

_________________
"There is no path to peace, peace is the path."
Mohandas K. Ghandi

What he said... razor sharp and much easier to handle for me than my western ones...

_________________
* http://tomsworkbench.com
* Purveyor of the world's finest Weasel Spit
* Why do they call it a WORKshop if I go there to have fun?
* Founding member: WWAFLAUX#1
* Passed 16,000 posts 7/23/09 - 8:41 a.m.

Thanks for your thoughts Lawrence . .. . but I do have a couple questions about your Earlex.

- Do you have the 5000 or the 3000?
- Have you thought about using it to paint more than just furniture (i.e. paint a room)
- What are your complains about your Earlex?

I vote for more beer and nurses

I have the 5000 and got it about a year ago. I would be hesitant to paint a room due to overspray, but in a new build, perhaps....

I've used it with concrete stain and latex paint and the stock needle (thinned the latex paint with flowterol) and painted a bench and some interior trim with no problems-- other than maybe some overspray. The biggest advantage I saw was ease of getting into little crevases (in the bench for example) and that I used MUCH less paint/stain than I would have with a roller or brush.

With Zissner shellac based primer and it worked very nicely with the 2mm and the 1mm (there was a little "sputter" around the edges and I tried both to see if I could get finer atomization, It didn't really seem to make much difference but the finish quickly flattened before setting and I saw no negative effect on the final finish

I also used it with water-based poly on a very large project at work (tons of wainscoating... I mean TONS- the sprayer saved a LOT of time and since my boss was going to buy cases of spray cans of poly at an outrageous price, me jumping in saved the Air Force a pretty penny too), the first coat dried VERY rough, but I don't know if this was a by-product of the spray or the water based raising the grain... either way, after sanding the top coat, the next one went on much smoother (I used 2mm needle on the first coat and remembered to switch to 1mm for the second. I don't know if this was a difference maker or not)

Cleaning is a bit of a chore and is probably my only real "complaint"-- I used my standard "hose area" outside for the latex and other water based, the shellac took a bit longer to clean out and I really had to concentrate to make sure all was clean. This took about 15-20 minutes with the non-water based (prob only about 5-10 with water based) This is my biggest complaint (and that the hose from compressor to gun could be a little bit longer in my opinion) The compressor is also a noisy annoyance, but that is pretty standard methinks.

Mark Spag. did a video review a while back called "music to my earlex" you can find it at the wood whisperer site

Hope this helps,
Lawrence

Tom & Tom,

I went to woodcraft yesterday to check out the Japanese chisels.

One thing that concerned me was the fact that the backs were hollowed out. It seems like there is only about 2mm of sharpening room before the chisel is no longer useful.

Is there something I'm missing here?

Hey RF,

Yes, they are hollow ground. But just as with a hollow on the bevel side, you only use the very edge, so they can be used a very long time. Remember, the hollowed steel is the very hard, high carbon laminate; usually around Rockwell 68, so unless you chip it, you will have an edge for a long time.

The back can also be ground to reduce the hollow, if you should hone beyond the flat portion. But it's a real bear, remember R68. In general, these are chisels that you should never have to regrind, and because of their hardness, will hold their edge far longer, and require less honing. As an example, when cutting a set of dovetails for my goddaughter's school chest, I had to re hone my LN chisels with every board. After the first corner, I decided to switch to my Japanese chisels and only had to hone after I was done with the rest of the whole box, and only then because I like to put them away sharp.

Tom

_________________
"There is no path to peace, peace is the path."
Mohandas K. Ghandi

What he said...

Also, I had written an entry on my blog about what I learned from Toshio Odate... he had some VERY detailed info on Japanese chisels and plane irons... my eyes were opened...

http://tomsworkbench.com/2009/10/06/wha ... hio-odate/

_________________
* http://tomsworkbench.com
* Purveyor of the world's finest Weasel Spit
* Why do they call it a WORKshop if I go there to have fun?
* Founding member: WWAFLAUX#1
* Passed 16,000 posts 7/23/09 - 8:41 a.m.

Tom-san, my eyes are open. OK, now I feel good about the Japanese chisels. Makes sense when I think about the amount of time I've spent honing the back of western chisels.

When you learn from a master like Odate... well... that becomes the path to true enlightenment...

_________________
* http://tomsworkbench.com
* Purveyor of the world's finest Weasel Spit
* Why do they call it a WORKshop if I go there to have fun?
* Founding member: WWAFLAUX#1
* Passed 16,000 posts 7/23/09 - 8:41 a.m.