Chisel Recommendations

DrBob

With the festive period looming I’m being asked for gift ideas. I am looking to get back into building do thin king maybe some decent wood working chisels would be a good addition to the arsenal. 

Kind of looking for the Venn diagram crossover point of quality & value. Would love to go mental and buy Veritas (or whatever the equivalent is is the chisel world) but I think I’d be proving myself out of the game so any suggestions ?

Headphones

I'd strongly recommend well built, hefty, sharp edged items as the perfect device for those exciting Christmas discussions...

Corvus

I got a set of Narex chisels and added some single separates. They seem good, the backs are nicely ground and can get super sharp. I think the set was less than £50 at the time, no idea what they are now though.

TTony

DrBob said:

 I am looking to get back into building do thin king maybe some decent wood working chisels would be a good addition to the arsenal. 

Not sure how much you really need chisels in guitar building (assuming that's the sort of building you're thinking getting back into), unless it's the specialist things like nut slot chisels.

Some more router cutters.  A few dozen sheets of MDF for all the templates.  Some nut slotting files.  A better soldering iron.  Clamps (you never have too many).  A cordless drill (ditto).  
?

Funkfingers

TTony said:

Not sure how much you really need chisels in guitar building … unless it's the specialist things like …

… carved tops and backs. 

more

 A lot of pople believe, old  is good new is bad . It is  not true, especially if your talking about things made  from  steel . Even relatively cheep chisels  from tool station can be not  bad quality. The difference is, cheaper chisels don't have such nice handles and the range is small. Administer tools have a nice range of chisels and if money is no obstacle , than I would go for Japanese's made chisels , but not everybody likes them . One thing I  have spent money on , regardless of the chisels you buy , is a set of water stones . Easley the best way to  keep chisels razor sharp. 

TTony

Funkfingers said:

TTony said:

Not sure how much you really need chisels in guitar building … unless it's the specialist things like …

… carved tops and backs. 

I've made a few, and never needed a chisel.

OK, maybe for trimming the braces of an acoustic, but other than that, I've just used routers and rasps.  Guess it's what you're most comfortable using though.

Maybe some gouges?

WezV

Funkfingers said:

TTony said:

Not sure how much you really need chisels in guitar building … unless it's the specialist things like …

… carved tops and backs. 

gouges yes, chisels no

Corvus

Maybe it's like other tools, when they're there you find a use. I wouldn't want to be without mine, always finding a job for them and the main ones are kept shiney & sharp ready to go.

Roland

TTony said:

Not sure how much you really need chisels in guitar building ...

I’ve used a chisel twice on an electric guitar. Once when tidying up the sides of a control cavity. The other time was tidying up a binding channel around a forearm chamfer.

TTony said:

Some more router cutters.  A few dozen sheets of MDF for all the templates.  Some nut slotting files.  A better soldering iron.  Clamps (you never have too many).  A cordless drill (ditto).  

All good ideas, as is a set of Forstner bits if you’ve haven’t got any. 

Andyjr1515

It does depend on what you already have and @TTony offers some good suggestions - but I personally couldn't do a build without chisels. 

These are the ones I use exclusively for guitar making - I find the stubby ones much, much easier to handle for this kind of work:
Crown 4 Piece Butt Chisel Set | Axminster Tools

But, as @more says above, they do need to be kept razor sharp.  Skilled folk can get away with just a two-sided waterstone, but I'm not and use the Veritas Honing System jig with a couple of double sided diamond stones...which, together, cost more than the chisels...