A busy day....My Ashley Iles chisels arrived today, and having felled a decent sized birch, and hauled it up the fields to the yard, I set about splitting it and preparing a billet.
This gave me the chance to try out the shavehorse, and newly resurrected drawknife.
Finally the moment of truth, and I got to try the new chisels - a m a z i n g. I knew that my old carpenters chisel wasn't going to be terribly good, but having the proper tools makes such a difference. The 1 1/4" gouge is nice and easy to use, but the skew is proving more of a challenge - however a few moments where it behaves.
The big disappointment was the 2" flat, which I couldn't get anywhere with, until it dawned on me that it had arrived pretty much blunt as a badgers arse.
This however gave me the chance to have a crack with the diamond sharpening flat, and lo and behold, the chisel is a real joy to use.
So sharp in fact that I caught one finger a glancing blow, opening up a bloody great gash, and so am typing with 1 finger bound up. I've never encountered anything so sharp - it didn't even hurt, but my god it bled.
So the chisels have been Christened, and I've sacrificed a few drops of the good stuff to the lathe, which is as good a way as any to get started.
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