CT's Most Excellent Workbench Adventure

[FordPrefect]

Wow! That's looking real nice. Slap a nice coat of white paint on it and nobody will see your mistakes

Seriously, a very nice looking bench so far, "girlie" or not.

[Bob Zajicek]

Crooked Tail said:

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There was a casualty.

I guess it is hard to see in the pic, but I split the handle all the way down. I did that chopping the sockets' end grain. I only have these chisels, but if I had a whole bunch I certainly wouldn't use my good dovetail chisels. I'd use mortise chisels.

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Ouch. Using a butt chisel for chopping DTs... you get a C-.

FWIW, if you want a good (and cheap ) chop and go chisel, score yourself a new or used Blue Chip some place. They'll letcha get into the corners and places like Woodcraft sell them indivudually. The blue plastic handles are virtually indestructable. They're not the most elegant out there but they'll do the job.

[Crooked Tail]

Now I have to ask... what exactly are butt chisels for, anyway?

I initially got three butt chisels because it seemed like they would be easier to manuever. But they certainly were no good for dovetails this big in wood this hard.

[VTAndy]

Crooked Tail said:

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Now I have to ask... what exactly are butt chisels for, anyway?

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They are for chopping the shallow mortises for door hinges, for instance.
-Andy

[Bob Zajicek]

Crooked Tail said:

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I initially got three butt chisels because it seemed like they would be easier to manuever. But they certainly were no good for dovetails this big in wood this hard.

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No they weren't. This is why chisels and other ww'g tools come in varying sizes. You've now learned to size the tool for the job you're going to attempt.

You know, you're pickin' up things left and right!

A veritable sponge... spongette?

[Crooked Tail]

Bob Zajicek said:

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A veritable sponge... spongette?

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LOL "spongehead" is probably more like it.

This was one of those times where you think "Hmm... I wonder if I ought to get bigger / better / different tools for this job... but that costs money..."
*CRACK*
"Dammit!"

Live and learn.

[T.J.]

Crooked Tail said:

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*CRACK*
"Dammit!"

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Oh, man, I've been there.

[Funky Space Cowboy]

On the bright side chisel handle's are pretty easy to make, especially if you have a lathe. Smalser has written a few articles on making chisel handles with and without using a lathe, pretty straightforward.

Great work on the new bench so far, BTW. This has been a very instructive thread for me since I'm planning a similar adventure this fall (hopefully). Keep the updates coming!

Cheers,
Josh

[Crooked Tail]

(OT gloat warning) As it happens, a guy at work recently gave me an old, but well-running Craftsman lathe... Manual arrived yesterday.

Now I just have to go buy about $100 worth of turning tools so that I can make a $10 chisel handle.

[mpphoto]

Hey CT, you always take the humble road but I'm quite impressed with the whole affair. Well, except for the chisel incident

I also noticed you poking around in the turning forum at about the same time I was poking around in the turning forum (darn you CedarSlayer! Now I have a lathe). I got some good advice from a few folks who recommended the HF lathe chisels as a decent starter set. I know the mere mention of HF can start holy wars but at $34.99 I picked up a set. Haven't used them yet though. I'm told there's also a similar red-handled set that sell for $45 that are slightly better. Both sets are high speed steel. No firsthand info here, just reporting my findings.

Michael