What chisel sizes and types do I actually need?

Chisel ranges look intimidating and the useful subset is small. What actually differs between types is the cross-section of the blade and the construction of the handle, and both follow directly from the job the chisel is designed for: paring flat, chopping deep, or levering waste out of a mortise.

Step by step

1. Start with bevel-edge chisels.The sides of the blade are bevelled up to a narrow flat back, so the chisel can reach into an acute corner — a dovetail socket, the corner of a hinge recess. This is the general-purpose chisel and what almost everyone should buy.
2. Understand the firmer chisel.Square-sided, thicker, stronger. Better for heavy chopping where you are not working into a corner, and common in older sets. Not the first thing to buy today because the bevel-edge does most of the same work with more access.
3. Understand the mortise chisel.Very thick in section, often deeper than it is wide, with a heavy handle designed to be struck hard and to lever waste out of a deep mortise without bending. If you cut mortises by hand, one in your usual mortise width earns its place. Otherwise, skip it.
4. Understand the paring chisel.Long, thin and flexible, sharpened at a low angle, and never struck — it is pushed by hand for controlled slicing cuts. A specialist tool for fine joinery.
5. Choose the widths by what you actually cut.6mm for cleaning small joints and getting into corners. 12mm as the everyday size. 18mm and 25mm for hinge recesses, paring wide surfaces and removing waste. A 3mm is occasionally useful for fine work. Beyond that, extra widths sit in the roll unused.
6. Judge the steel by how it takes and holds an edge.Any chisel is only as good as the edge it will hold. Mid-price chisels from established makers hold an edge well; very cheap ones go blunt in a few cuts and are frustrating to learn on. Second-hand chisels from good makers are excellent value and only need sharpening.
7. Match the handle to how you will use it.Wooden handles are comfortable and can be replaced, but a plain wooden handle splits under a steel hammer. A handle with a steel hoop or ferrule at the striking end takes far more punishment. Modern impact-resistant resin handles are designed to be struck and are effectively indestructible.
8. Use a mallet, not a hammer, unless the handle says otherwise.A wooden or resin mallet has a large soft face that spreads the blow and does not mushroom the handle. A steel hammer face concentrates the blow and splits a wooden handle. If a chisel is sold as impact-rated with a resin handle, a hammer is fine — the manufacturer will say so.
9. Store them so the edges cannot touch anything.A chisel edge is destroyed by one contact with another tool. A tool roll, a rack, individual plastic edge guards or a block with slots — anything except loose in a drawer.

Tips

• New chisels are ground, not sharpened. Every one needs the back flattening and the bevel honing before first use, and this surprises people who assume a new tool is ready.
• One very sharp chisel beats a set of eight blunt ones. If you own a set, sharpen the two you use rather than all eight.
• Japanese chisels have a laminated hard steel face on a soft body and a hollow-ground back, which makes flattening the back quicker. They take a superb edge and are less tolerant of levering.
• A chisel is not a screwdriver, a paint can opener or a pry bar. That is how most chisel edges are destroyed.

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