Chisel Storage Questionnaire


P Walraven

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Hey everybody. I am a student studying Industrial Design at Virginia Tech. I appreciate woodworking and carpentry which I have done as a job and a hobby. Currently, I am working on a project that involves how to store hand tools. I chose to design for chisels, (not sure which type yet).

 

Preface for Chisel Cradle

 

When it comes to handtool storage, chisels present a special challenge. Their sharp edges can inflict damage as well as dull they are rattling around in a drawer, or still in its original packaging. The purpose of this project is to produce a design solution and  product for properly storing chisels. I will be focusing on storage for increasing the life of the tool and also convenience to the user.

 

I have a few questions and would like the help from professionals for my design research. I would appreciate any participants.

 

1. What type / sizes of chisels do you most frequently use? 

 

2. How do you store these chisels.

 

3. How does this type of storage work for you?

 

4. Are there any issues you have or have had with storing Chisels?

 

Also I know that making your own storage system is what a lot of woodworkers do, I would appreciate these too.

 

Last of all, If you feel comfortable I would appreciate it if you to email me some information, (name, job, years of experience), and a picture of your storage system and also of you in you wood shop or work environment.

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I'll be interested to see how this develops.  I've only had a few chisels until today and I kept them in the boxes they came in.  Got a full set of LN socket chisels today.  They seem to have an additional challenge still further because of the handle to steel interface.  I was just about to order one of the leather rolls from LN but now I'll see what the collective wisdom comes up with.

 

For the record, I use 1/4" and 3/4" as that was the two I've had.  Also for the record, a variety of little cardboard boxes doesn't work all that well.

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Hello P,

 

My most commonly used chisels are a general purpose "Beveled Firmer" Chisel 

e231dd2312883c7be53f22fc588ea9bc.jpg

 

They are stored in a leather chisel roll like this (although mine is a little more shabby than the image)

 

e4d3340fdacc845db1fa7541fa9ba3a2.jpg

 

I like it because they all get wrapped up nice and safe after they have been used and are then locked away in the tool chest.

 

The only issue I have is my Chisels are so sharp they can cut the leather  :ph34r:   :lol:

 

If you want some background on me go to my forum profile and if you want to see where they are locked away it's here

 

Hope that helps

 

G

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I have two waterproof Stanley toolboxes full of chisels. I assume we are only talking woodworking.  I'm not including the stone working ones in these two boxes.  Anything from large timber framing to small regular chisels.  Large ones in one box, everything else in the other box.  All in some sort of roll, from leather to homemade cloth ones.

 

1.  Hard to put any in the most used category.  It depends on the job at hand

 

2.  already covered

 

3.  Like a charm.  They can be left indefinitely with no deterioration.

 

4,  They used to be kept in a built in wooden drawer in a step van.  Had some rust to deal with.

 

 

 

Name:  Tom King    job shown in website link below   41 years making a living at it.

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1. What type / sizes of chisels do you most frequently use? 

 

2. How do you store these chisels.

 

3. How does this type of storage work for you?

 

4. Are there any issues you have or have had with storing Chisels?

 

1. The 1/2" (12mm) bench chisel and 1/4" (6mm) mortice chisel

2. As in the photo. It's a chisel rack that hangs on the wall or lies flat in the tool box

3. Perfectly. The sharp edges are protected (as are my fleshy bits) and I can see the sizes before picking the chisel.

4. Can't be expanded. I have space for 2 very small chisels - 2mm and 3mm, and for a couple of mortice chisels.

 

post-2037-0-55921600-1380623928_thumb.jp

In the tool box

 

post-2037-0-90957300-1380624361_thumb.jp

In the tool rack

 

John

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1. I have two types of bench chisels: Decent ones, and what I like to call "beat ons". I also have 3 mortising chisels.

 

2. As of now the decent bench chisels live in a leather roll (similar to Grahams), the mortising chisels live in another roll, the beat-ons hang on a magnetic strip inside my tool cabinet. My long term plan is to put a drawer together so that they can all live together in harmony and be protected as well.

 

3. The leather roll actually works pretty well. The magnet strip does too.

 

4. The only issue I think I have is the climate variability inside my shop may tend to make my chisels rust a bit more than expected... especially the beat ons. But that may also be because the beat ons don't get nearly as much love as the decent ones.  

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My bench chisels hang in a row in my tool cabinet.  This cabinet includes only my most often used bench tools.   In the cabinet are: firmer chisels (mentioned above) in 1/8, 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 3/4, 1" and 1 1/2", a pair of left and right 45 degree skew chisels, 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4" butt (like firmers, only short) chisels, and 1/4" and 3/8" #1 sweep fishtail carving chisels.  When I take some of them out of the shop, they ride in a leather roll.

 

My lesser used chisels are in drawers.  Carving tools are in one drawer in a roll, mortise chisels and other bench versions are in other drawers, with simple wood diividers 

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1. What type / sizes of chisels do you most frequently use? 

 

Japanese bench chisels and crank neck, Stanley everlasting butt chisels, Narex mortise chisels

 

2. How do you store these chisels.

 

canvas tool roll

 

3. How does this type of storage work for you?

 

yes

 

4. Are there any issues you have or have had with storing Chisels?

 

Not really. My workbench doubles as outfeed for the table saw. My workbench is fairly small. When I use the chisels at the bench, I open the roll on top of the table saw.

 

cheers,

wm_crash, the friendly hooligan

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I have some wrenches in those very tool rolls that stay in the toolbox on my truck.  They would work fine for chisels, but they would work better if you can get someone with a commercial sewing machine to shorten the bottom end, or chisels will get stuck down deep in the pockets, making it a pain to get them out sometimes.

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Thanks for all of the responses. I would like more answers and would a like it if you give me your job description and years of experience. I dont think I put my email in my original post but it is patrick@ravenswall.net so please send me a picture of you in your wood shop or let me know if I can use one from you website. Again thanks for all of the responses and i hope to see more.

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Here's something a little different that i came up with when I built my bench. Most of my chisels are stored in a cabinet above the bench. I take out those that are needed and then hang them in a tool tray that is attached to the wall (rather than the bench, itself) ...

 

TooltrayWithaDifference_html_m74f6cf70.j

 

Here you can see that chisels are always close to hand ...

 

Kist_html_6ba55a5.jpg

 

Others are stored in this cabinet ...

 

ImagesOfMyWoodshop_html_5f2efa7a.jpg

 

Regards from Perth

 

Derek

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So Derek, you've got Blue Spruce paring, Ray Iles mortise (handmade handles?), Iyoroi Oire-Nomi(?) bench, an unknown Japanese paring set, an unknown Japanese dovetail set and what else in there? 

 

Oh yeah... The wall cabinet is nice to :)

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Another question for you guys. How important is on a scale from 1 to 10 for 1) organization and 2) mobility.

As many different things as I do, organization on the 10 level of your scale is mandatory.  See the picture in this thread: As far as chisels go, having them in their rolls, in their labeled moisture and waterproof toolbox is plenty good enough.  When a job calls for one or several, it gets organized with whatever other tools are required for that job.

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Derek, so where's all the Veritas PM-V11 bench chisels, PM-V11 butt chisels, and prototype PM-V11 long paring chisels?

 

They are there (bench chisels, that is). That is an older photo that I thought may offer someone an idea for their own shop.

 

The Japanese dovetail chisels are Koyamaichi. I've been using them for about 10 years. The paring chisels are Kiyohisa - 3 year wait for those. 

 

Regards from Perth

 

Derek

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