Making some Homemade Micro-Chisels....

[JMLangford]

Hey Guys,
I've always wanted a set of Dockyard Micro-carving chisels but me being the Cheap Basta.....err, I mean Frugle Person that I am, a set just seemed too expensive to justify.
(Stewmac & Amazon had them listed at around $60 a set)

Now, In the grand theme of things, good quality tools are never really expensive if you want/need or use them regually.....

....So, that being said, I set out to see if I could make my own (inexpensive) Homemade Micro-Chisels!!!

I've looked on the internet for small chisels to use....Grizzy makes a set as well as Amazon has a few listed.
The one I've found ranged around $15 and up for a set of 6 that were from India or Pakistan and were mediocre.
Each listing stated that the chisels were not sharp at all in fact they were very blunt and needed a lot of work to get functional.

Well........I found a set of 6 (same quality as all the others) but this set was only $6.12 a set so, I bought 2 sets

My Frugal self realized I could work with that.....

(The company is Fire Mountain Gems & beads out of Grants Pass, Oregon...friendly service since 1973)

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Since these "chisels" had no edges I used a variety of items to make them useful....400 to 1200 grit diamond plates, leather strops with compound, and a loose course grained patch of leather.



Started out flattening the back and establishing a bevel on the front.





Good and sharp now.....the edge is super sharp but I've noticed they will dull quickly so I'll have to keep a strop close by when I use them





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[Firebrick43]

They dull quickly as they are made of SS.

SS is a lousy alloy to make chisels out of.

 

[JMLangford]

Time to put in the Dog-leg......




My Dog-leg weapon of choice....a Klein 1/4" hollow shaft nut driver


Time to make a handle!
I found a couple of 1/2" dowels (I plan on making at least 6 dog-leg chisel handles and I may even put handles on the remaining straight shank ones also)
The handles need a 3/16" hole....


I marked the chisel shank at 3 1/4" and the handle at 3 5/8"



Long 3/16" drill bit "flaged" and ready to drill....


Done....


I tapered down the end while on the lathe....now it's time to epoxy the handle on (I didn't really need the epoxy cause the shank fit snug by itself)




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[JMLangford]

All finished up and ready to use (just in time because I'm installing some bone nuts on a couple of guitars soon)
I might put some tung oil finish on after I'm done with the 5 other handles....





Gotta get started on the other 5 now.....


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[Jayman17]

Your hand in the final picture really shows how small they really are! Those look good for fine detail work

 

[DocsMachine]

They dull quickly as they are made of SS.

-This. They're probably 316 stainless, and as such, you're basically trying to put an edge on mild steel.

If you're only cutting really soft stuff, like model-parts sprues or carving very soft woods, they'll be okay for light work.

Doc.

 

[RoninB4]

If a magnet won't stick they're 300 series SS and are too soft to hold an edge for very long. If magnetic and resist rust from hand sweat they may be 400 series SS that's been hardened/tempered but still won't hold an edge as long as you'd like them to.

You did a nice job, they look good. Some O-1 or A-2 steel would have been a better choice of steel that's readily available.

 

[JMLangford]

If a magnet won't stick they're 300 series SS and are too soft to hold an edge for very long. If magnetic and resist rust from hand sweat they may be 400 series SS that's been hardened/tempered but still won't hold an edge as long as you'd like them to.

You did a nice job, they look good. Some O-1 or A-2 steel would have been a better choice of steel that's readily available.

The chisels are magnetic and they hold an edge pretty good (At least for what I need them for) I won't be chopping mortises or cutting dovetails and such with them (I have plenty other ones for that type work) but they will be useful for cleaning out the occasional glue residue in the nut slots of guitars and maybe glue squeeze out in hard to get at areas, etc.

I can restore the edge pretty quick with just a few swipes on the compound covered leather strop

They won't be used every day that's why I can't justify the Dockyard ones....these will work just fine.

 

[JMLangford]

I added some pazazz to the next handles I turned....


Glamour shots......




This is the smallest/slimmest one, I ought to be able to get into some pretty tight places with it

And if the bends or handle gets in the way, I still have the other straight ones to use






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[john.k]

I made some tiny half round chisels from broken SnapOn crosspoint screwdrivers ...........the hard tip is plenty hard enough for a chisel for gunstock inletting ...........you do need to be careful grinding them to shape ,not to draw the temper of the steel.

 

[JMLangford]

I made some tiny half round chisels from broken SnapOn crosspoint screwdrivers ...........the hard tip is plenty hard enough for a chisel for gunstock inletting ...........you do need to be careful grinding them to shape ,not to draw the temper of the steel.

Small pocket screwdrivers sounds like a great idea....Thanks, hadn't thought of those.

I'm not grinding them, I'm "sanding" them by hand on several grits of diamond plates. Very little to no heat involved.

 

[RoninB4]

The chisels are magnetic and they hold an edge pretty good (At least for what I need them for) I won't be chopping mortises or cutting dovetails and such with them (I have plenty other ones for that type work) but they will be useful for cleaning out the occasional glue residue in the nut slots of guitars and maybe glue squeeze out in hard to get at areas, etc.

I can restore the edge pretty quick with just a few swipes on the compound covered leather strop

They won't be use every day that's why I can't justify the Dockyard ones....these will work just fine.

-Might not be 400 series SS, it's only used in limited product applications (knives, machinist rulers/scales, measuring instruments, etc.) where it will be subject to corrosion. A spark test would reveal more about the metal but that's not important if they're working well for you and it sounds like they are.

They're not SS but hex keys can make decent small tools like screwdrivers, chisels, punches, etc.) They're already heat treated, you just have to avoid ruining the temper with excessive heat from grinding. If the hex key is already ruined then it's free material.

 

[JMLangford]

I made handles for 5 of the straight chisels....
Even though I cut all the handles to the same length somehow they came out different lengths

The first handle I turned, I measured out the spacing of the rings but after that I just eyeballed them....it adds to the homemade/handmade appeal




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[MoonRise]

Interesting project. And they are small.

Now that you've proved out the concept, it's time to make some micro chisels out of some tool steel. You know, something made of hard steel that takes and holds an edge. O1 or A2, maybe D2, maybe some M42, how about Magnacut if you want/need stainless.

 

[mike93lx]

Very cool

Interesting project. And they are small.

Now that you've proved out the concept, it's time to make some micro chisels out of some tool steel. You know, something made of hard steel that takes and holds an edge. O1 or A2, maybe D2, maybe some M42, how about Magnacut if you want/need stainless.

If they do what he needs, why add the difficultly of making them with another material?

 

[JMLangford]

Interesting project. And they are small.

Now that you've proved out the concept, it's time to make some micro chisels out of some tool steel. You know, something made of hard steel that takes and holds an edge. O1 or A2, maybe D2, maybe some M42, how about Magnacut if you want/need stainless.

Yeah, I think I'm going to try maybe a couple of small pocket screwdrivers (Like iohn.k suggested )

Very cool


If they do what he needs, why add the difficultly of making them with another material?

But, you know I gotta try


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[MoonRise]

If they do what he needs, why add the difficultly of making them with another material?

pssst, Mike. Turn your sarcasm filter settings down a little bit. They filtered out too much of my sarcasm for you to detect my sarcasm.



No sarcasm here though, but I like my cutting tools to be hard enough for the task, be able to be sharp or sharpened enough for the task, and to hold that sharp edge for an acceptable amount of use. For a hand chisel (paring chisel, not for chopping mortises which usually needs a sharp but stronger less acute sharping bevel angle), that usually means a pretty hard steel that is sharpened REALLY sharp so that I don't have to push the chisel much and the tool can shave off thin parings when I want to take off small amounts. Once I used a SHARP hand chisel I was like "Oh yeah! This is so much nicer to use."

But if the OPs modified micro chisels are working for the tasks he is using them for, then it's all good.

 

[rlitman]

I made some tiny half round chisels from broken SnapOn crosspoint screwdrivers ...........the hard tip is plenty hard enough for a chisel for gunstock inletting ...........you do need to be careful grinding them to shape ,not to draw the temper of the steel.

I've used old worn out screwdrivers to make new tools. A 1/4" round shank fits perfectly in place of the pilot drill bit for hole saws, and is much stiffer for this use than the mild steel rod you can get at the hardware store. My favorite seal puller was forged out of an old screwdriver too.

My CP9361 air scribe has a 1/8" hex collet meant to work with 1/8" hex shank chisels as the world's smallest jackhammer. I've been meaning to pick up a bunch of 1/8" allen keys and do the same thing as the OP for years, but life has a way of delaying projects.

 

[RoninB4]

Even though I cut all the handles to the same length somehow they came out different lengths

-That falls under the "I've cut it twice and it's still too short" department. Yeah, I've never done that either.

 

[gahrajmahal]

JMLangford, those are some very fine chisels you made there. Turns out I am even cheaper than you are though. I was re-caning a rocking chair and once I removed the cording holding in the cane sheets I needed a sturdy chisel to clean the groove of glue. Looking through the tool box I noticed the tang of my files was just the right width so I grabbed one and took it over to the grinder and put a bevel on it. Well that file metal is plenty hard and good for holding a sharp edge. I wrapped the file with a rag and gouged out all that old hardened glue. I’ve since used my tiny chisel (when I can find which file I’ve chiselized) on many other projects.

Wish I had a small lathe. My grandson wants to make some wizard wands.