When I am considering what next tool I am going to write about, every option seems so mundane at first. However, if I just stick with one option, and really chip away at all the boring bulk, I always find a way to make something interesting from it. This week I will be talking about a deceptively simple but difficult tool to use: the chisel.

Chisels have been around for thousands of years. Primitive chisels were nothing more than a piece of rock, flint, or even just wood, with a narrow end at one side that is brought as close to a point as possible (resembling a wedge). However, when combined with another rock or large piece of wood, one could strike back of the tool and carve out a shape.

A successful chisel needed an extreme change of technology. You see stones, while they are very hard, were also very brittle, making the profile of the cutting edge limited for more refined use. Metal, on the other hand, was the perfect substitute.

*Egyptian Chisel

Improved designs withs metals included the technology at the time-  bronze and copper, It is their ductility that made metal chisels so useful. They were much easier to produce, instead of literally banging blunt rocks together to make a pointer rock, and the metal chisels could be “reused”  by simply resharpening it. The edge could also be made much more narrow, while also still being useful for extended periods of time without sharpening.

As metal technology increased, so did the quality of chisels. Once iron or steel was introduced as a cutting blade, the chisel became one of the most important tools in a sculptor or woodworker’s toolbelt.

Modern chisels (specifically woodworking chisels) are comprised of a hardened, rectangular piece of metal, with a narrow handle on one end and the blade tip on the other. The bottom of the large chisel blade is kept as flat as possible, and the tip of the metal blade has one or multiple bevels.

As you can see, there is a large bulk of metal material behind the cutting edge, which allows chisels to be sharpened over and over again, as mentioned above. When I sharpened them at the woodshop, I used a wet stone grinding wheel. A primary bevel is brought back to consistency first. Then, the chisel is moved back so the point of contact is at a sharper angle, and the secondary bevel is made, which acts as the cutting edge. The accumulated metal on the back of the blade, called the burr, is polished off with a leather polishing wheel. The burr would make the tool jagged in cutting, and removing it makes for a smooth, consistent cut.

To make a cut, a hammer is not necessary. When sharp, a chisel can have its flat back on the material, and the blade pushed forward to remove any material above this plane, similar to a hand plane discussed in Passion Post 1. I would highly recommend looking up videos of chisels at work, and see how complex the geometry and planning of cuts are, and how they are more graceful than banging rocks to make pointy rocks.

Sources:

History of the Chisel (sfgate.com)

Hand Tools Throughout History | Spec Ops Tools

Making Chisels – Hardening and Tempering Tool Steel (mgs.edu)