What a chisel is
A woodworking chisel is a steel blade with a flat back and a bevel ground at its end. The flat back is the reference: laid on a surface or against a knife line, it tells the edge where to go. The bevel forms the edge and, because it is a wedge, pushes the chisel away from the wood it cuts. Every kind of chisel works this way; the differences are in how thick the blade is, how its sides are shaped, and whether it is pushed by hand or struck.
Those two ways of working divide the tools. Paring removes thin shavings with hand pressure, for fitting and trimming. Chopping drives the edge with a mallet, for cutting across the grain and removing waste. The chisel technique guide covers both; this page covers the tools.
The four main kinds
Makers name their chisels in many ways, but most bench work is done with four kinds, whose blades are shaped for different loads (see the plate above).
| Type | Blade form | Typical geometry (makers’ figures) | Common use |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bevel-edge (bench) | Sides bevelled to leave narrow flats at the edges | Lie-Nielsen: ground 30°, a secondary bevel of about 35° advised. Veritas: 25° (30° at 3/8 in and narrower) plus a 2° micro-bevel | General bench work: paring, light chopping, dovetails and tight corners |
| Firmer | Rectangular section with square sides; thicker | Veritas suggests 25–30° for firmers in softwood and 30–35° in hardwood | Heavier chopping and levering where corners do not need to be reached |
| Paring | Long, thin blade | Narex: 9-5/8 in blade with a shallow bevel. Veritas suggests 15–20° for paring | Trimming joints to fit with hand pressure; not struck |
| Mortise | Taller than it is wide, with parallel sides | Lie-Nielsen: 30° plus about 5°. Veritas suggests 30–35°, or 35–40° for heavy use | Chopping and levering out mortises — see the mortise chisel guide |
Angles are each maker’s recommendation for its own chisels. How to grind and hone them is in the sharpening guide.
Why the shapes differ
- Side bevels trade strength for reach. Lie-Nielsen describes the edges of its bevel-edge chisels as very narrow so the chisel gets into tight places — the acute corners of a dovetail socket, for example. Less steel at the sides makes the blade less stiff when levered.
- Thickness buys strength. A firmer’s square sides and a mortise chisel’s depth resist bending when the chisel is struck hard or used as a lever. Robert Sorby describes its registered firmer as thicker than a conventional firmer so it can chop and lever out waste.
- Length buys control in paring. A long paring blade can be laid flat across a wide surface and guided by both hands; its thin section cuts with little force.
- Height keeps a mortise chisel straight. Lie-Nielsen grinds its mortise chisels with parallel sides and makes them taller than they are wide, so the sides register on the walls of the mortise.
Japanese chisels
Japanese chisels divide the work the same way — Covington & Sons describes tatakinomi, striking chisels, and tsukinomi, push or paring chisels — but they are built differently from most Western chisels:
- Laminated blades. A layer of high-carbon steel is forged onto a softer iron body and forms the edge. Covington gives the hardness of that layer as typically 62–67 Rc.
- A hollow back. The back is hollow-ground behind a flat rim, which Covington explains makes the hard steel layer easier to sharpen and keep flat.
- A hoop on the handle. A steel hoop, the katsura, is fitted to the struck end. It takes the force of the blow and keeps the handle from splitting.
- A steel hammer. Striking chisels are made to be driven with a steel hammer, the gennou, rather than a wooden mallet. The hoop is what makes that possible; see the mallet guide.
Specialty chisels
A few chisels exist for one awkward job each. They are worth knowing about, but they are additions to a set of bench chisels, not a substitute for one.
Two common specialty chisels
- Fishtail
- A blade that flares toward the edge, so it reaches into acute corners. Lie-Nielsen makes them in 3/8, 1/2 and 5/8 in for the back corners of half-blind dovetails and other hard-to-reach paring, ground at 25°.
- Corner
- A blade with two cutting faces at a right angle, so it pares both walls of a corner at once. Lie-Nielsen’s 3/8 in corner chisel, ground square and parallel on four sides, is for squaring the corners of a mortise after it has been roughed out — for example, the round ends left by a slot mortiser — and is not meant for cutting into solid stock.
Blade geometry
Parts of a chisel
- Back
- The flat face of the blade, and its reference surface.
- Bevel
- The ground face at the end of the blade that forms the edge.
- Edge
- Where back and bevel meet; the only part that cuts.
- Lands
- The narrow flats left along the sides of a bevel-edge blade.
- Tang or socket
- Where the blade joins the handle — a spike into the handle, or a cone around it.
- Ferrule and hoop
- Metal bands that keep a struck handle from splitting, at the blade end and at the struck end.
Three surfaces matter. The back must be flat near the edge, because it is the reference for every paring cut; Lie-Nielsen grinds its chisel backs flat and finishes them by hand at 400 grit. The bevel sets the edge angle. The sides set how far into a corner the chisel reaches and how stiff it is.
The edge angle is a trade-off. A lower angle cuts with less force but the edge is thinner and less durable; a higher angle lasts longer under a mallet. That is why makers recommend lower angles for paring and higher ones for mortising, and why Lie-Nielsen advises taking lighter cuts and using a higher secondary bevel on very hard woods.
Handles: tang and socket
How the common constructions compare
- Socket
- The handle seats in a cone on the blade, so a blow drives it tighter. Lie-Nielsen notes that its socket handles can be removed by tapping the side on a board.
- Tang
- A spike on the blade enters the handle. Ferrules keep the wood from splitting: Veritas fits a stainless-steel ferrule and domes the handle end against glancing mallet blows; Narex fits its mortise chisels with two steel ferrules to withstand mallet blows.
What can be struck
Not every chisel is made to be hit. Paring chisels are pushed by hand; Narex states that its paring chisels are not meant to be struck with a mallet. Chisels that are struck should be driven with a wooden, leather or urethane mallet, not a metal hammer — Lie-Nielsen says so plainly for its chisels. Japanese striking chisels are the exception: their hooped handles are made for a steel hammer. Follow the maker’s guidance for the chisel in your hand. The mallet guide matches mallets to chisels.
Safety— Chisels and damage
OSHA lists misused and poorly maintained hand tools as the main hand-tool hazards: a chisel used as a screwdriver can break and throw its tip, a struck tool with a mushroomed head can shatter, and a loose or splintered handle can fail. Keep handles sound, and keep edges sharp — Lie-Nielsen notes that dull chisels are more dangerous than sharp ones.
Which chisel for which job
| Task | Chisel | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Chopping and paring dovetails | Bevel-edge | Side bevels reach the acute corners of the sockets |
| Fitting a tenon or trimming a shoulder | Paring, or a bevel-edge used by hand | A thin blade and flat back take fine, controlled shavings |
| Chopping a mortise | Mortise chisel | A thick, square-sided blade survives striking and levering and stays straight |
| Heavy chopping where corners do not matter | Firmer | Square sides are stronger than bevelled ones |
| Cleaning out a housing or rebate | Bevel-edge, flat back down | The back rides the floor of the cut as a reference |
Choosing sizes, steels and sets is covered in how to choose woodworking chisels. Whatever you choose, a chisel only works when it is sharp: start with the sharpening guide.
Sources
Blade and handle details are the makers’ published specifications for particular chisels, given as examples; other makers differ. Bevel angles vary between makers, and the ranges quoted are their recommendations, not fixed rules.
- 1.
Bevel Edge Chisels. Lie-Nielsen Toolworks.
Used for: Socket bevel-edge chisels based on the Stanley 750: 1/8 to 1-1/2 in, A2 or O1 steel at Rockwell 60–62, ground at 30° with a secondary bevel of about 35° advised.
- 2.
1/2" Bevel Edge Socket Chisel. Lie-Nielsen Toolworks.
Used for: Narrow side lands for tight places, backs ground flat and finished at 400 grit, socket handles that come off with a tap, and not striking with a metal hammer.
- 3.
1/4" Mortise Chisel. Lie-Nielsen Toolworks.
Used for: Mortise chisels with parallel sides, taller than they are wide to stay straight in the cut; dull chisels are more dangerous.
- 4.
Veritas PM-V11 Bench Chisels. Veritas Tools Inc. / Lee Valley.
Used for: Primary bevels of 25° (30° at 3/8 in and narrower) with 2° micro-bevels; tang handles with a ferrule and a domed end to resist chipping from glancing mallet blows.
- 5.
Narex Imperial Paring Chisels. Narex, as listed by Infinity Tools.
Used for: A 9-5/8 in paring blade with a shallow bevel, and paring chisels not meant to be struck with a mallet.
- 6.
Narex Mortise Chisels — Imperial Sizes. Narex, as listed by Taylor Tools.
Used for: Mortise-chisel handles with two steel ferrules to withstand mallet blows.
- 7.
Registered Firmer Chisel (284). Robert Sorby.
Used for: A heavy firmer chisel: thicker than a conventional firmer, tapered from shoulder to edge, made to chop and lever out waste.
- 8.
Mk.II Honing Guide — instructions. Veritas Tools Inc..
Used for: Bevel-angle ranges by tool and use: paring chisels, general bench chisels, firmer and mortise chisels.
- 9.
Stan Covington. The Varieties of Japanese Chisels Part 1: The Main Categories. Covington & Sons, 2019.
Used for: Striking and paring chisels; laminated blades with a hard steel layer of typically 62–67 Rc; hollow-ground backs; the katsura hoop; striking with a steel hammer.
- 10.
Fishtail Chisels. Lie-Nielsen Toolworks.
Used for: Fishtail chisels in 3/8, 1/2 and 5/8 in for the back corners of half-blind dovetails, ground at 25°.
- 11.
3/8" Corner Chisel. Lie-Nielsen Toolworks.
Used for: A paring tool for squaring the corners of a roughed-out mortise, not for cutting into solid stock.
- 12.
Hand and Power Tools (OSHA 3080). Occupational Safety and Health Administration, 2002.
Used for: Chisels used as screwdrivers, mushroomed heads and splintered handles as hand-tool hazards.
About this guide
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