cold chisel

[chichi]

I think we sometimes overlook the efficiency of some hand tools such as the cold chisel.Whenever I work with sheet stock up to about 1/8, I like to cut with a cold chisel whenever possible. It is fun and goes quickly as long as the piece is not too clumsy to work with. Do others use the cold chisel for heavier stock? I am not talking about a bar that gets scored and bent until it breaks. I am talking about more intricate shapes. Would 1/4 inch be feasible? Are there special techniques? The front jaw on my vise is slightly lower than the back. I can put a piece of sheet in the jaws and chisel almost horizontally using the back jaw as the back stop. Is that the intended purpose for the jaw or just a useful misalignment? I know you want a scrap piece on the avil to avoid scars and dulling the chisel. Anything else less obvious? What is the best blade angle?

Thanks.

[Charles R. Stevens]

The most obvius (to me) is that commertial chisels (like hammers) are generally to soft, and the wrong shape. Generally to "fat" and to "square" I faily pas up a old cheisel at a swap meet or yard sale, but most generally I have to re work then. If they are hard and shaped right they're generally so abused I have to rework them anyway, but most generally ther just to fat and soft, (just about all the newer ones) so I end up drawing them out a bit more, giving most of them a convex profile, heat treating them and sharpening them. I've had occasion to cut frame rivets to remove the radius bushing brackets from a ford truck, I re worked a cheisel (as I have a forge and anvil on the truck) and cut 8 rivets faster than my budy did with an air cheisel (air cheisel has the same problems, (poor profile and to soft) infact I cut the last two for him by hand.
Lately I've been cutting 1/8x1 1/4 peices to close up the ends on welding project out of square tubing, just as fast, if not faster than the chop saw and no clean up.

[MLMartin]

I make cold chisels from old files now and then, and the most use is in partnership with a file. Often a punched hole or welded joint will need some stock removal to achieve a very clean appearance. I will first use a hack saw to trim away excess, then I use very sharp chisels and lastly a file. Many times when I am making a half lap joint I do not forge it because of the surrounding elements and I am trying to avoid any distortion of the bar. Its a quick step to hack saw a few cuts into the bar then use a chisel to remove the lap area. 

[Stephen Olivo]

I use cold chisels a lot.  For taking out the knuckles in knuckle hinges I lucked into my first hand made caping chisel being made at the perfect angle for them to close nicely without light being seen.  I made it at a 55 degree angle.  Cold chisels often are used to cut plate steel using a sheering cut across the top of vice jaws (think scissors) Your vice jaw offset just happens to work in your favor.  I have a wide array of cold chisels that serve many purposes. I use fully hardened and tempered tools with an annealed 3 lb. sledge hammer.  I have remade many abused cold chisels for my use.    I agree with the above they always seem to be at the wrong angle and to soft for what I do with them.  They can also be used to carve steel in the same way as wood chisels.  everything from big and heavy work to light small engraving work cold chisels find themselves a home.  I am still finding out all the places I like to use cold chisels for.  Soon I am taking a copper in steel inlay class from Thomas Latane and It will be done with chisels.

[ThomasPowers]

I have a couple of old big brute chisels I use at the scrap yard with a 4# hammer to deal with rusted solid bolts.  Often I just want a piece of something and not the whole thing and the chisels and my 30" hacksaw usually will do the trick.

[SmoothBore]

Yes, sometimes simlpe is best.

 

 

Some time ago, I saw a video about a guy who was making tuned, "musical" Cowbells, ... for musicians who were interested in traditional Folk Music.

 

He was cutting his "blanks" out of the heads of 55 gallon barrels, ... using a cold chisel.

 

In just a few minutes, ... and with a minimum of fuss, ... he could easily cut 2 Cowbells out of a barrel head.

 

 

Obviously, that's not at all like knocking the head off a rusty bolt.

 

 

I'm sure it takes a bit of practice to develop the kind of hand/eye coordination, necessarry to cut those smooth, uninterupted, flowing curves, ... but he sure made it look effortless.

 

 

 

 

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[chichi]

It is good to see that others find pleasure and the efficiency in such a basic tool.

[Charles R. Stevens]

Mr.Bochanskie would be proud, like most kids in his shop class I wanted to play with the power tools. Now I much rather reach for the hand tools.