Japanese Chisels: I only thought I had the hoops set

[jgourlay]

I've got  jchis I've been using for about 15 years now.  When I first got them I very carefully followed all the instructions for setting the hoops and got results that look just like the pictures of conforming set hoops with the wood 'hammered over' the hoop slightly.  I've been using a cocobolo round mallet I turned with no problems for all these years.  Recently while wasting time in Woodcraft I got the hankering to move to the jhammer.

I've been mortising in cedar with it and...wow.   On the one hand, that metal hammer drives a 3/8" wide chisel like it's a nail.  On the other, the hoop that had been set satisfactorily for a decade is now not set anymore but it instead jumps around on the handle every time I smack it with that hammer.  It's clearly trying to work its way off.  Has anyone else seen this?

[JimReed@Tallahassee]

Funny you should mention it. I had my first Japanese chisel loose hoop issue just yesterday. ????? Don't know why, but it was on one of my gouges and they see little use. It might have been loose for a long time. I guess it is time to soak the ends in a jar of turpentine with a dollop of BLO. That is what I did after I set them.

[jgourlay]

Yeah, mine had that nice endgrain finish through all the years of me whacking on it with the mallet.  That hammer though....it's not pretty now.  Mechanically it hasn't done damage, but it no longer looks like a picture in FWW.

[Wilbur Pan]

It happens. The wood in the handle sometimes continues to shrink with time, as wood tends to do, and the hoop can become loose because of this. 

The best thing to do is to pop the hoop off the end of the chisel, and do the mushrooming process over again. This may mean carving down the end of the handle to get the diameter small enough for the ring to seat well again, and trimming off the end of the handle, leaving the handle a little shorter than it was.

I've seen a ton of old used Japanese chisels where the handle is quite a bit shorter than what's typically found on a new Japanese chisel. Clearly, these short handled old Japanese chisels were still useful tools, as the owner would probably have tossed them for a new chisel if they weren't. I bought a short-handled used Japanese chisel on eBay once, just to see how good/bad it could be. As it turns out, it's still a very nice chisel.

[Timberwolf]

I've got  jchis I've been using for about 15 years now.  When I first got them I very carefully followed all the instructions for setting the hoops and got results that look just like the pictures of conforming set hoops with the wood 'hammered over' the hoop slightly.  I've been using a cocobolo round mallet I turned with no problems for all these years.  Recently while wasting time in Woodcraft I got the hankering to move to the jhammer.

I've been mortising in cedar with it and...wow.   On the one hand, that metal hammer drives a 3/8" wide chisel like it's a nail.  On the other, the hoop that had been set satisfactorily for a decade is now not set anymore but it instead jumps around on the handle every time I smack it with that hammer.  It's clearly trying to work its way off.  Has anyone else seen this?

..........................
That's the reason God invented Epoxy!!!

[jgourlay]

Thanks Wilbur!

Timberwolf--glue solves all!