[Woodcarver] Personal opinion on chisels.

[Joe Dillett]

Hi Maura,

I have used the Pfiel Swiss full size chisels for many years and still use
some. They are a good quality tool. They are similar in design but with some
important differences between them and the full size Stubai. The Stubai, I
believe, has hornbeam handles and the Swiss ash handles. Swiss handles are
more likely to split. The end of the Swiss handle is more square making it
more prone to start splitting. The Stubai handles are larger diameter and
fit the hand better for better control. The Stubai has a double ferrule with
a unique metal ring inside the handle that gives extra strength against the
tool coming loose or splitting the handle. The Stubai is hardened to 59
Rockwell and Swiss to 62 Rockwell, both having very fine grain carbon steel.
I believe the slightly thinner metal thickness of the Swiss along with being
slightly harder tends to be more brittle. I've heard of more breakage with
the Swiss than Stubai. My students have chipped the cutting edges of my
Swiss chisels and even broke some but never chipped or broke any Stubai.
(All 6 of my apprentices own and use Stubi almost exclusively.) I have found
the toughness and stiffness of Stubai to be superior to Swiss with a far
superior handle design. The edge holding qualities are about equal with the
exception of the Swiss chipping easier. When comparing the Hirsch, Two
Cherry, Lamp, Swiss, Buck, Henry Taylor and Stubai, Stubai gets my vote for
number one. Hirsch, Two Cherry and Lamp come in second because of their
Hornbeam handles, stiffness and toughness are equal to Stubai but their
handles are slightly smaller and not as comfortable in the hand, their metal
thickness is slightly thicker than Stubai making Stuabi a little easier to
sharpen and Stubai has a little less mass to move through the wood with less
force. The Pfiel Swiss I would rate as number three for the reasons stated
above. I know Hirsch and Two Cherry are made by the same company. I think
Lamp Brand may be the same company as Hirsch and Two Cherry.

Full size Swiss chisels are high quality tools, don't get me wrong. Swiss
has always stood behind any tool, replacing it if it was defective, with no
questions asked. They even sent me free tools to try. Swiss is a fine
company that makes good tools. Swiss is made from very high quality steel,
good quality handles and excellent design. My personal preference places
Swiss third behind 1) Stubai and 2) Hirsch, Two Cherry and Lamp.

All the tools that I mentioned above are good quality tools and my comments
are based on my personal opinion. Your opinion may be different depending on
how you carve, what you carve, how you sharpen, what you use to sharpen
along with other variables. This opinion only includes full size chisels. I
use full size tools and don't have enough experience with other sizes to
make any comparison. Flexcut and other brand tools were not mentioned
because I do not have enough personal experience with them to make any
comparison.

I don't sell tools but by last count I had 189 chisels and about 20 knives
so maybe I should sell some of them. LOL.


Joe Dillett
The Carving Shop
645 E. LaSalle St. Suite 3
Somonauk, IL. 60552
(815) 498-9290 phone
(815) 498-9249 fax
http://www.thecarvingshop.com
jdillett at thecarvingshop.com
http://www.carvingmagazine.com Carving Magazine web site and Readers Forum
http://community.webshots.com/user/joe_dillett
http://www.citizenactions.org
**************************************************
----- Original Message ----- 

From: <Linehan718 at aol.com>
To: <woodcarver at six.pairlist.net>
Sent: Wednesday, October 27, 2004 1:01 PM
Subject: Re: [Woodcarver] Want to start carving


> > price wise, you can get pfiel swiss made full sized tools for 2/3 the
cost of
> stubai.  In my opinion they are just as good.  You can order them from
> canada(the exchange rate gives additional savings) do a search for KMS
tools.  They
> will ship from their stateside office, but you will pay canadian price.
good
> deal.
>
> Maura carvin' in nyc
> http://www.picturetrail.com/whiteknight718