I was wondering if someone could explain something to me. The shop I work at is currently cutting a white oak frame. My boss and I have both been using Barr chisels but his is getting shiny and mine is turning black. I am acquainted with the black funk from white oak but i don't understand why my bosses chisel is getting shiny.
Any thoughts?
Bloveland

He cleans his? LOL...

actually his is far dirtier in every area except the last inch or so of the flat.

Ok I give

You clean yours? With what? Perhaps your boss secretes a protective patina.

I don't know about protective patina, but he does "secrete" quite a bit.(If you don't believe me come check out the children's workshop at the next conference. He will be leading.) Maybe that is the answer.
I was cleaning mine every day until I got curious about the way his chisel is reacting. Now I am letting mine stay dirty for a little while to see if the accumulative affect of the oak changes the look of my chisel. Mine is practically brand new(6 months old) and his is several years used. Perhaps I will get to the bottom of this and maybe not. Thanks though,
bloveland

This is very intriguing. I think it must have something to do with the tannic acid from the oaks. When I saw oak logs, I get purple stripes where the cant touches the backstops, this can happen in mere minutes. Unless you are working like a tazmanian devil and drawing temper colors into your chisel, the acid makes the most sense.


Dave

Are you leaving your chisel sitting in a mortise overnight?

From years of use and what i believe is lack of cleaning, my bosses chisel has a dull black color at the beginning of the day and my chisel is, because of its relative newness, shiny. I think that it has everything to do with the acid in the oak. could it be that my bosses chisel has already seen its fair share of tannic acid and is now on the other side of reactivity because now that i have let my chisel stay dirty, after a week of use, i think that it is starting to turn back and look a little bit polished.

thanks for the responses
bloveland

I believe that the experiment is at an end. For reasons unknown, my chisel has started to polish itself. So there must be some sort of "around the horn" principle at work here. Maybe someone can figure out why. I would love to know.
bloveland