Blind leading the Blind

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Chris Hall
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Location: Greenfield, Massachusetts
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Re: Blind leading the Blind

Sun May 24, 2015 10:16 am

I think the best all around materials for chisel handles are white oak and gumi, at least insofar as the choices coming out of Japan. And with both of those there are further choices in terms of whether they come from the center of the tree branch or not, and whether they are lacquered or not.
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Brian
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Re: Blind leading the Blind

Sun May 24, 2015 12:39 pm

I haven't used Gumi yet, but I do like white oak with pith. It has a really nice dead-blow effect. Tomohito Iida seems to prefer white oak as well, I defaulted to his suggestion on handles for a set of dovetail chisels I'm waiting on and that's what he suggested. I used them on my striking chisels and really enjoy the effect.

I can compare to chopping with western chisels with hornbeam handles and a wooden mallet. That whole getup is brutal and, in my experience, does not deliver the blow as well.

Since the thread on your blog has been mentioned, I'm wondering, how did you like the Yamahiro chisel in use? It looked wonderful and the hoop was especially gorgeous.
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Chris Hall
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Location: Greenfield, Massachusetts
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Re: Blind leading the Blind

Sun May 24, 2015 1:04 pm

Still using the Yamahiro, and still like it.
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Brian
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Re: Blind leading the Blind

Sun May 24, 2015 1:39 pm

Excellent, glad to hear it!
jamie shard
Raw Log Import
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Re: Blind leading the Blind

Sat Sep 05, 2015 7:00 am

Chris Hall wrote:I have only one chisel handle on a timber chisel which is red oak, and I used the water and steam iron method to set the hoop- this is years back. That chisel handle has always been a problem in terms of fraying end grain, which I had put down to the material, as I've never had any issue with white oak or gumi in this regard. So, sorry to hear you had less than optimal results with your red oak handles using the oil, however I'm surprised that you had success afterward with boiling water, as I would have thought that it would have soften the wood fibers far more than any oil could do.
I have a basic/low quality chisel with red oak handles that crumbles/frays the same way. My solution was to let more material stick out past the hoop. The handle end takes on a bit of a domed shape, with more fraying around the sides, but enough intact material in the center to take the hammer strike. I suspect most of the issue is due to the material, but this a data set of n=1.

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