Which Chisel size?

[Dirk Diggler]

A trim router would do it, they're reasonable in price compared to full one.
It's so much easier with a nice pattern bit.

If you must go the chisel route, make sure you use a Forstner bit to clear out most of the wood.

 

[Plain Old Barry]

Another one on the bandwagon of "that job needs a router".

No offense intended, but if you are also asking which chisel, then I have to presume you are also not familiar with chisels and their use?

Sorry to pile on, but... Buying the chisel is a small part of the job here. It needs to be correctly sharpened, and probably touched up on a very fine stone as you work.

Inexpensive chisels are often made of pretty bad steel and will have to be resharpened often, even during your seeming simple job, and may not even come ready to work out of the package. You won't find good ones at home stores or hardware stores.

Quality chisels will start in the $35-$50/ea price range and go up from there, and a basic sharpening setup (three stones, or thick plate glass and a bunch of sandpaper, and a decent guide) may run you another $125-200.

 

[RG55]

Thanks to all who took their time to comment, I appreciate it.

To ease some palpitating hearts:
I'm used to wield sharp instruments without endangering myself or others, and I'm even somewhat familiar with chisels.
Furthermore, if I get a router or similar, I'll use it instead.
You may breathe freely again

You might as well sharpen the old chisels, since the new chisel probably won't arrive properly sharp and will get dull even if it does. --- "Scary-sharp" will find some tutorials and likely some spammy crap barging in on the search results, so keep shields up until you verify actual old-tools content.

Following your suggestion, I also found some tutorials about some extraordinary inexpensive sharpening stones, that seem too good to be true. Further research will be needed.

By the time you buy all the proper tools and butcher your current bass you could just do like I did yesterday and buy this cheaper… View attachment 4785973

That's not what I want, but it looks very nice.
Don't worry, I don't intend to butcher anything... or anyone

I'd use a 3/4" chisel plus an 1/8" chisel with a rounded off back(in combination with a drill) for the round parts where screws go in. 3/4" is ideal because larger size are harder to control. Just be patient and go slowly.
View attachment 4786182
View attachment 4786184

It's doable.

Looks like you did an excellent job.

 

[Crawforde]

Get them sharp, take your time, and enjoy.
I enjoyed a bit of chisel work today arching the top of my ABG for the build-off.

 

[Plain Old Barry]

Following your suggestion, I also found some tutorials about some extraordinary inexpensive sharpening stones, that seem too good to be true. Further research will be needed.

Don't keep them to yourself. What are they?

 

[RG55]

Don't keep them to yourself. What are they?

There you go

 

[Bruce Johnson]

Sharpening chisels and plane irons is a hobby in itself. There are many different techniques, special products you can buy, and tutorials on the "very best" sharpening methods. I've tried most of them over the years and, in my experience, any of them will work fine when done correctly.

I usually use the Scary Sharp method; sheets of fine sandpaper on top of a big aluminum block. That's been my favorite. But I have oil, water and diamond stones that I use sometimes.

 

[dwizum]

I got hooked on Scary Sharp when it was first a big thing, but I've wandered away. I now use a set of cheap water stones I bought on Amazon for kitchen knives. It's all about convenience. I know where they're kept and I don't need to wonder if I'm out of a certain grit of sandpaper. I would agree with Bruce that there are a lot of methods that can be successful, it really just boils down to picking one that works for you, sticking with it, ignoring the temptation to jump ship if it's not perfect at first, and practicing technique. There's no golden ticket or secret method to shortcut the learning and effort that needs to be invested.

 

[Crawforde]

I use sandpaper water and piece of polished granite for quick touch ups and setting a bevel. Sometimes for fine sharpening, a diamond stone for similar jobs, and a series water stones for when I have a lot of blades to work on at once. When done I true the stones up, clean and dry them and put them away. They are a method that takes time to set up, but I love the control and the cut. diamond stones and ez hone sticks for quick touch up jobs.

 

[Plain Old Barry]

Over 30 years, having been through Scary Sharp, on both glass and MDF, a Tormek, diamond plates and pastes, waterstones, and other people's Shapton's...

I eventually settled on 800-4000-8000 Norton waterstones I leave soaking in a plastic tub, with an XXC DMT diamond plate for flattening the waterstones. The XXC is also great for forming bevels and flattening backs on old, or new and crappy tools. I use a tuned $10 side clamp, and several Veritas honing guides to get where I want to be.

I need to hone many chisel sizes and shapes and all kinds of plane irons, so it works for me. If I'm doing a lot of handwork, it's not unusual to touch up chisels at 4000 and 8000 as I work, and it makes things go far better and easier. Unfortunately, not a cheap solution, but it's worked by far the best for me. The Shaptons need less flattening, and a full set of DMT's never need flattening, but are far more expensive.

Most sandpaper based methods are cheap to begin, and perfectly usable, but get expensive fast.

 

[Max Bogosity]

I’m a recent convert from a honing guide and sandpaper on glass to freehanding it on those very cheap diamond plates. The result is maybe not quite as good, but it is much easier and faster. So I’m more likely to stop and sharpen when I should, and on balance spend less time suffering with dull tools.