Buying a Chisel? - Pro's and Con's of the Major Chisel Brands - Part 2

Another favourite brand of chisel in the workshopbend very slightly down its length. Sorby have
are the blades made by Robert Sorby. These bladesattempted to rationalize this by saying that it is a
are made in Sheffield on the traditional Europeangood sign of a good chisel. This in my opinion is not
pattern. They offer a choice of either Londontrue, worse than that it is misleading.
pattern handle or the carvers handle both inAn exceptionally good chisel ruined for me by
Boxwood. The size of blade is matched to the sizedeceptive marketing and indifferent manufacturing.
of handle and the fitting of the blade in the handle isThese would however have to be my purchase of
cushioned by a leather washer. Nice.choice if I were forced to buy a set of chisels right
The blades are made from a cold rolled steel and thenow. This would commit me to spending probably
bevels ground on these blades are well formed andfive or six hours putting them right, assuming they
well executed. The cold rolled steel takes a goodwould come to me like deformed steel bananas.
sharp edge and holds it for a moderately long time.To do this I will have to find a flat surface probably a
The challenge that we have with these blades is, insheet of plate glass, place that on another flat
our considerable experience, they are not alwayssurface maybe a kitchen worktop to support it. Then
straight. If you place a straight edge on the back ofI would have to stick with a spray contact adhesive
the Robert Sorby chisel good chances are that you'lla fine abrasive sheet on the flat glass. I would
be able to see daylight beneath it. This seems to beprobably start with 150 grit wet and dry. As the
created during manufacture.blade is probably bowed I would try applying very
It seems to us that a flat surface is ground on thelight pressure. As I rubbed it up and down the sheet
backs of the chisels. They are then put into aof abrasive the more downward pressure I applied
magnetic vice and held flat whilst the bevels arethe more chance I would have of bending the blade.
ground in place. The heat created in the blade duringThis is not the objective.
the grinding process then causes the whole blade to