Just realized I've been using my chisels wrong for 10 years

I was trimming dovetails on a job in Austin last Tuesday and a retired carpenter watched me for a minute before telling me to stop paring with the bevel facing down. Switched it up mid-cut and suddenly everything was cleaner... has anyone else had an old timer call them out on a basic habit?

2 comments

2 Comments

nathan_thompson6214d ago

Hmm, that's not quite right actually, bevel down is standard for dovetail paring.

andrew714d agoMost Upvoted

My buddy Mike tried paring dovetails with a bevel-up chisel last weekend at his shop in Portland. He spent like 20 minutes fighting with it before realizing he had it set up backwards, chipped the edge on a hard maple pin. I gave him a hard time about it, told him to flip it over and suddenly everything went smooth as butter.