Chisels

[Uncle Alvah]

I am going to have to purchase some tools in order to build my first Longrifle, a project just in the very beginning of planning stage.
I have a birthday fast approaching and I'm thinking it might be a good idea to ask for some chisels as a gift.
Without getting into more complex tasks such as carving, I would appreciate ya'lls thoughts on what the absolutely essential chisels for the task would be. I anticipate starting with a blank with the barrel channel cut and ramrod hole drilled and going from there, so I'm guessing the lock mortise would be the biggest chore for the tools.
Also, would you suggest buying the chisels individually, or as a set? It would seem to me that a set may contain X number of chisels that would have limited or no use on the project, so I'm leaning toward purchasing individual pieces, but would surely be interested in opinions on this as well.
Thanks!

[rich pierce]

There have been some good posts on this in the past and everyone has their preferences.  I make most and bought the rest over the years, antique and new.  I think of getting chisels for these tasks:

Ramrod thimble tabs and trigger inletting: needs to be narrow and strong, homemade is best
Front radius of lock plate : buy a gouge to fit
Front radius of mainspring: buy a gouge to fit
Smaller radius for sear spring inlet, assorted bridle curves : buy a gouge for this task
Then workhorse straight chisels, 1/16, 3/16, 7/16 or 1/2", 5/8".  You need a range, precise sizes notntHat important.

[PPatch]

I would go with individual chisels for sure, you are correct about a set having mostly useless tools. look into the Ashley Iles chisels from: www.toolsforworkingwood.com

On that website I believe there is a chart showing the London Pattern carving chisel shapes, it is quite accurate. Print it out and use it to choose shapes.The Ashley's are quite well made and somewhat less expensive than the Pfeil's. The Ashley's I recently bought came sharpened and polished, all I had to do to finish them was put a heel on them and polish that. You will need a few flat chisels also, from a half inch down to an eighth inch wide is good for a start. You will want to make a scraper for working in that barrel channel, I made one from a 3/8's inch bar of flat mild steel, bent it into a crook and sharpened the end like a chisel.

As for carving chisels some useful sizes and shapes are a 3/32nd or 1/8" "V" parting tool with a palm style handle. Another useful tool is a 3/8ths wide gouge with just a slight radius - in the Ashley Iles that would be a No. 4 Straight - 3/8".

Hope that helps - others, more experienced carvers, will have more information.

Good luck on your build and Happy Birthday!

ADD: Here is the link to that carving chisel chart I mentioned, it is the first one on the top:

https://www.google.com/search?q=london+pattern+carving+chisel+chart&rlz=1C2LDJZ_enUS498US526&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=zJz1UbC3AYT68QSCwoGoAQ&ved=0CCsQsAQ&biw=1280&bih=685#imgdii=_

[Mark Elliott]

Please check out Tool List at this link: http://www.americanlongrifles.org/WorkShop_frame.htm   I made up this list years ago when i was running this site.    I have been meaning to update it on my web site, but just haven't gotten around to posting it.    The only thing I would change offhand,  would be that I now recommend a set of different grit diamond hones as opposed to natural stone.    Diamond hones have drastically improved my ability to sharpen my tools because they cut so much faster than natural stone and they don't need to be dressed.    A lot of my chisels have come from Woodcraft (Pfeil), but just as many were bought at antique shops and off ebay.    The quality of cutting tools (chisels, planes, saws) prior to 1900 was much better than they generally are today and you can have them for a song.   You can pay $20 for a used 19th century chisel, or $40 for a roughly equivalent quality modern tool.    Why pay $300 for a Lie Nielson plane when you can buy a servicable version of the Stanley plane it was based on for one half to one third the price.     Dents, scratches and missing paint have no effect on the usability of tools.    It just make them less attractive to collectors.   Shop around, do a little reconditioning, and you can have a nice collection of quality traditional tools for much less money than they would cost you new.  You can even find specialized gun stocking tools from the 18th and 19th century.   I have a couple original 18th and 19th century gun stocking planes that I use to inlet my barrels.   That was their intended purpose.   I believe the most expensive one was $40.  Just shopping for antique tools can be an enjoyable hobby in and of itself.   I have certain antique malls I stop at when I travel because I know they tend to have good tools.   It is often the hightlight of my trip, especially if I find something nice at a good price.   Just try not to spend more than $20 for any given item.  

[SuperCracker]

Why pay $300 for a Lie Nielson plane when you can buy a servicable version of the Stanley plane it was based on for one half to one third the price.       

Or even less than that if you don't mind spending a little time cleaning and reconditioning it. I think I paid about 15.00 for my antique Stanley. About 2  hours of cleaning, sharpening and reflattening and it's as good as new. As a bonus, the process of bringing the tools back to useable condition will help familiarize you with how they work and make learning to use them a smoother process.

To a degree the same thing can be said about original wooden planes. It's a little more work to get them back to working shape but I find I really prefer the feel of wood on wood and they're just satisfying to use once you get the hang of adjusting them. I just picked up a nice little mini coffin smoother for not much. An hour and a half of sharpening, putting a wood insert at the mouth and flattening and I can take a shaving that light will pass through. Good, nearly useable, wooden Shoulder and a round planes can be had for less than 15.00. Same thing goes for original, friction set, wooden Spokeshaves too. I find I like them wayyy better than the more modern shaves.


It might also be worthwhile to learn how to make small scrapers, chisels, gouges, etc and keep some drill rod around expressly for that purpose. Concrete nails are made from surprisingly good steel for doing this.

[Gaeckle]

Flea Markets are great places to find good chisels....you can also make very small inletting chisels from old allen wrenches (it's easy, if I can do it, so can you) that work great in narrow, small spots. Antique stores will often have unkown goodies for real cheap prices (I found a 3 inch wide slick for 9 bucks at one....the edge was dinged, but a stone took care of that)....look on some internet sites like Flea-Bay or that List from Craig....lots of places to pick up good tools without breaking the confines of a family budget (The Lil' Missus will like that)


Happy hunting!

[Mark Elliott]

I want to reiterate what one of the other posters said about sizes of chisels.   You need a range of shapes and sizes, not specific shapes or sizes.   To start, particularly with carving, you conform the carving/design to the tools you have.   You can see how the original makers did this.    When you need something specific to implement a design you really want to implement, then you will know what you need and can go buy or make it.    I wanted to make this clear, because, in the beginning, I bough exactly what teachers, etc... had on their lists.   Frequently,  these tools were not used.    Follow the advise given by others here to buy a few general sizes and shapes and use those until you realize you need something else.   You can always spend money on all sorts of expensive tools and supplies.   We have all done it, and we have all wasted a lots of money.   If you can make do with what you have,  make do.   If not, then buy exactly what you need and only what you know you need.     

[necchi]

I    Follow the advise given by others here to buy a few general sizes and shapes and use those until you realize you need something else.,,
   If you can make do with what you have,  make do.   If not, then buy exactly what you need and only what you know you need.     

Now that's solid,, sage,, advice.
ya kinda gotta use a few basic tools for awhile, before ya know what ya need