# Difference between a good and bad Japanese chisel



## siavosh (Apr 11, 2013)

Novice woodworker here. I have 3 Grizzly Japanese chisels, and since I've never tried anything else I'm wondering what's the difference between a $15 and a $70 chisel? I spend a good amount of time sharpening them and I think they get sharp enough (?). I'm primarily restricted to pairing cuts for my joinery since I don't want to bang on them in my apartment and get noise complaints, and it's one of my least favorite parts of my woodworking currently: tedious, and sloppy results when chopping out waste etc. So I'm wondering how much of this poor performance/tedium is the chisel or if it's all me. Thanks.


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## Loren (May 30, 2008)

Grizzly's basic Japan chisels are "reform" chisels, for remodeling work.

In paring cuts, most chisels will stay sharp for awhile, but you 
have to get them really sharp to get the best results. If
you aren't able to shave hair off your arm at minimum, 
they are not sharp enough to pare well.

It's in chopping cuts that a chisel shows its quality by the
edge holding up.


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## RGtools (Feb 18, 2011)

I can't really speak to the differnce in Japanese chisels specifically, but I can offer my opinion on chisels in general when it comes to price. The difference is in the details. In the higher end tools generally have better steel (hold edges longer), better geometry (get into tighter spots), Flatter backs (more accurate in use, or less time spent lapping on the first go), and better balance overall (less fatiging to use).

You can get by just fine with some REALLY cheap chisels, but when you look at the whole package in relation to the amount of time they can cost you, it's may be worth shelling out.

As far as poor performance, its BOTH you and the chisel to speak in general when you are starting out. Getting a good tool just helps you eliminate one variable.


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## MrRon (Jul 9, 2009)

I only own one Japanese chisel and it is not the best available. I would compare Japanese chisels to Japanese knives. You can get a Japanese knife for a few dollars or hundreds of dollars. The difference is the expensive knife is hand made by a skilled craftsman using centuries old knife making techniques, like laminating many layers of steel together. The same may be true of chisels. The Japanese seem to have mastered the art of making fine edged tools. Price would be the best indication of quality.

When I worked in Japan, I watched a master woodworker using a giant wood plane with a sharp blade make paper thin shavings that you could see through. These shavings were not scrap. They were used to form laminations. The blade had to be incredibly sharp to do that.


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## waho6o9 (May 6, 2011)

http://lumberjocks.com/topics/25043

The above thread will help in your journey on chisels.

Which brand of chisels to you have?


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## JustJoe (Oct 26, 2012)

*I'm wondering what's the difference between a $15 and a $70 chisel? *
$55 and the size of the marketing guy's annual bonus.

But seriously….
*I'm primarily restricted to pairing cuts for my joinery since I don't want to bang on them in my apartment and get noise complaints,*
vs. 
*tedious, and sloppy results when chopping out waste etc. So I'm wondering how much of this poor performance/tedium is the chisel or if it's all me. 
*

So what are you doing with these chisels? First you say only paring (and it's paring with no i. Pa*i*ring is what you do with wine and cheese, and for that I recommend Velveeta with a good carton of Ripple.) then you say you have problems chopping. Two different actions require two different bevel angles on the chisels. Get one low and long enough for paring, and you'll turn the edge into a burrito if you try and pound out big chunks with it. Put a stouter angle on it for chopping, and you'll need a 5 pound sledge to get it started on the simplest of paring cuts. You can't chop down a redwood with a scalpel, and you can't perform heart surgery with a hatchet. (Well you can, but they won't invite you back to that operating room anytime soon.)
Decide what you're going to use it for, sharpen it to the best angle for that purpose, and stick to that purpose. Get a razor edge on it and practice in real wood - something decent like cherry - because the wood is a third variable you haven't considered. If you're working with modern pine, planted a couple of years ago and force-fed hormones to get it to market size as quickly as possible, then you might as well be trying to get clean cuts in a damp kitchen sponge and it doesn't matter if you are the chisel zen-master with a pair of $10,000 ginsu chisels sharp enough to split atoms, you're still going to get [email protected] results.


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## siavosh (Apr 11, 2013)

Thanks everyone, learned quite a bit here.

@waho6o9: Thanks for the link, also I've got Grizzly chisels, which thanks to @Loren now know are classified as 'reform chisels'. Here's a link: http://www.grizzly.com/products/G7093

@JustJoe: Haha, well put. I misspoke, I 'pare away my joinery waste'...no chopping. And I've been mostly working with 'sponge wood', so I think I'll pay more attention on how my chisels work on better stock. That said, I'll look into the bevel angles. Thanks for the tips.


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## Manitario (Jul 4, 2010)

I have a few of the more expensive Japanese chisels; they seem to sharpen to a sharper edge and stay sharper for way longer than my regular chisels.


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