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forging shoulders in chisels?


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recently, i've become interested in forging some woodworking chisels; due to the find of a lovely old halts bruks wide mouth chisel, which is missing its handle. i'd like them to look, and feel fairly authentic, and intend to make some flat bit chisels first, as practice, however, the question i pose to you all is how i would forge the shoulder in the chisel tang to secure it: would i draw out the tang, then upset it into a tool similiar to a nail header?. or should i be going about this some other way? any ideas in fitting the handles would be appreciated, i'd really like to see any ideas that you have.

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recently, i've become interested in forging some woodworking chisels; due to the find of a lovely old halts bruks wide mouth chisel, which is missing its handle. i'd like them to look, and feel fairly authentic, and intend to make some flat bit chisels first, as practice, however, the question i pose to you all is how i would forge the shoulder in the chisel tang to secure it: would i draw out the tang, then upset it into a tool similiar to a nail header?. or should i be going about this some other way? any ideas in fitting the handles would be appreciated, i'd really like to see any ideas that you have.



Picture please,

But going by telepathy, I think you would probably require a fullering tool to seperate the shoulder to the step, and probably a spring tool for the collar (or combine these as one tool depending on the width of blade) then draw down the tang

Many of this type of chisel were made from drop forged blanks if they are what I think you are asking about
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I think what he is wanting to make is a tanged chisel with an enlarged bulb (shoulder) at the junction between the tang and the chisel... so that paring action pushes against the shoulder rather than overseating the tang. They can be made with or without a ferrule. My approach would be to draw the tang out from larger stock and then sharpen the shoulders in a bolster... similar to nail heading but with the tang tapered I would leave the bolster hole pretty much straight and flat topped (not domed like a nail header). An overgrown monkey tool would work also.

Personally I have abandoned such designs and don't use ferrules either as my hot seated tangs reinforced with Kwik-Poly in the mortices are strong enough to resist any abuse that I am likely to give them. I cannot recall one failing on me in the years since I began making my own.

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sorry, i forgot to add, that it was indeed a tanged chisel with a bulbous head. i tried to link an image, but apparently ifi doesn't use photobucket, i'll see if i can join a different sharer.

by the description, i was planning to do something similiar to bigfoot, would any of you recommend using a socketed chisel, as opposed to a tanged style?

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I have some nice English mortising chisels with socketed handles. They work. On the plus side there's no risk of splitting the handle by over-seating the tang. But the chisels do occasionally come loose from the handles.

I like the idea of a shoulder to prevent over-seating. Then burn the tang clear through the handle and bend the tip over into a slot in the end of the handle.

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i like socketed chisels because they don't snap off as easily, and as mentioned before, they don't split a handle in use. But they are, in my opinion, somewhat more difficult to forge. I prefer tanged for any chisels that are pushed or any that will not be struck terribly hard, but for any heavy chisels I make sockets and use a ferrule on the struck end so there is no way to split the handle. that is just a personal preference though, as i've seen tanged ones that work just as well as socketed ones.

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... i'm not great at forging sockets, but hey, i might as well give it a go, maybe make a cone mandrel to fit in the hardy....


A mandrel that matches your socket sounds like a great idea. You also might wish to take a piece of cardboard or posterboard and make yourself a template by forming the posterboard into a cone and cutting away the excess with scissors.
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if you are going to make multiple matching chisels, you should make a tin pattern, that way you can check it hot without burning it away. I have never used a mandrel when forging a socket, it is easier to use a bottom swage or similar to roll the socket.
I did a tutorial on a spear socket but it can be used for a chisel socket.

http://www.iforgeiron.com/topic/16457-spear-socket-how-to/page__hl__%2Bsocket+%2Btutorial__fromsearch__1

hope it helps

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Yeah, but if you had the tooling, you'd make more! Chicken and egg. By the forth or fifth one you'll be ahead.


The dies are on my TODO list, but so are many other things as well.... :) To put a bit more value to this ping-pong type of "arguing", maybe you could give ideas on how to easily make such dies (with standard blacksmithing equipment).
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The dies are on my TODO list, but so are many other things as well.... :) To put a bit more value to this ping-pong type of "arguing", maybe you could give ideas on how to easily make such dies (with standard blacksmithing equipment).


If you have seen the links to Hofi's method http://www.iforgeiro...orking-chisels/ then you should be able to determine what tools you need to make them, they are simple forms and simply made,


How quick you can make them as opposed to others is difficult to ascertain, however I would anticipate a morning or less to make a set.
All you would need is a Butcher or shaped hot cut/chisel, a hammer and a file
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If you have seen the links to Hofi's method http://www.iforgeiro...orking-chisels/ then you should be able to determine what tools you need to make them, they are simple forms and simply made,


How quick you can make them as opposed to others is difficult to ascertain, however I would anticipate a morning or less to make a set.
All you would need is a Butcher or shaped hot cut/chisel, a hammer and a file

Yep, carve a tool to that profile and drive it in like a chisel then some hand grinding and voila!
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