Chisels

Who would have thought that anything as simple as chisels would be interesting? I suppose my fascination stems from the fact that so many tools are based on the simple chisel. And of course, it’s very useful in its own right.

A wood plane is just a device for holding and positioning a chisel. The teeth on hand saws are chisels, too. Same for drill bits, although the chisel is twisted. I’m sure you can think of other examples, as well.

Without waxing too poetic, the chisel is fundamental to the world of hand tools. And understanding the nature of the simple chisel can be very useful, especially when it comes to keeping hand tools sharp and useful.