I like the slick to be thin not heavy, in general. I think the 1" is on the small side. I favor the 1.5", so a beveled edge on that one. I just don't see where I ever need to pound or pry to the extent that I need a thick heavy chisel.

How big of a slick would you recommend?

If I recall this one is 3" wide maybe 3-1/4".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DKN7WqT4H...mp;feature=plcp

Hello,

So returning to the subjectivity of opinion it is mine that a good slick is one with sides beveled, regardless of width.

I like your videos Tim. As you can see, I've only got a half Pyrenees.

Greetings,

Don Wagstaff

A little mix? We had a male with wolf markings, that is some brownish spots here and there. He died a while back. As I stated I like the slick to be on the lighter side, some are just too heavy to wield with any finesse.

Yes. The other, not Pyrenees half - I don't know an English name for it but coming out of the Alps. So a true mountain dog living here lower than sea level.

Hi Don, would that be a sennenhund? My grandfather had a variety of Swiss farm dog that he used as a cattle drover that was very calm, never frightening to cattle, that could move cattle smoothly through a village to reach outer fields.

I would like to return to chisels. My strong preference is for antique laminated chisels for several reasons. Cost, most of my old chisels were under $30, the majority under $15, most from flea markets and antique marts, granted chisels seem to be less common today than a dozen years ago old is still viable. The old chiels used simple carbon steel, are tempered very hard and are easy to sharpen to a very fine edge. Laminated blades have curvature from tip to heel that gives clearence at the handle and equally important produces a counterforce under heavy mallet blows at the tip that helps mitigate the tendency of digging in. Old chisels also have a slight taper in width of the blade that prevents jamming while chopping in deeper mortises.

I differ with Tim, I like the chisel to be equal to the mortise width when chopping out drilled mortises. My local experience is almost wholly with hardwoods and I have found that a chisel will tend to turn and dig in with oak when a smaller chisel encounters thicker wood in the corner of the mortise than at the center of the mortise.

For seven years my only slick was a Barr small slick, short blade, 2 1/2 wide and cranked neck, that I continue to use and love, however, in the past fifteen years I have added other slicks and my favorite is old, long bladed, heavy and 3 1/2 wide, maybe its the oak talking to me.

Anyhow, a carpenter will acquire, shape, tune, retune, sharpen and hone a tool and finally the what carpenter chooses is the right tool. It is all about how the work shapes the carpenter, the carpenter shapes the tool and the tool shapes the wood. I cannot predict what you will find to be most usefull because we, the work, the methods and materials are so varied.

Good luck.

Hello,

Now, what's this, Swiss evening or something? You would be right in your guess Roger. The Swiss dog being mostly black, the Pyrenees all white, the one I have then is a logical outcome of the two. I wont go any further on the topic because, well because the topic is dogs and it's not a good idea to wright about dogs no matter what and also because I am rather pissed off at mine after she disappeared for half the day and came home covered in mud and cow pie.
I agree with you about laminated chisels and also the quality of the steel and tempering and the curvature.
This interplay between woodworker material and tool is important to sort through, how the one shapes the other, its quite cyclical isn't it though, and the dominant factor in the development of the tools we use. This is why I verily despise the tool seller or manufacturer Veritas with their overly designed concept of tools. It's as if they were saying to the woodworker, "just move along there and leave the important work all to us..." Would you trust a company with so little understanding of where the tools we use have come from? Not I, no matter what the quality of their newest and most recently improved tool steel may be.

Greetings,

Don Wagstaff

Yes, valid point on the way tools shape people. On reason I gave up on Stanley Sharp Saws, some dim whit put a large hole on the end of the saw for the user to get his gentle guiding fingers caught in. A contributing factor leading me to take up pull saws. I have an old laminated, deep mortice, Underhill. but it just doesn't do what my Barr does for me.

And now it goes to the dogs... Pyrenees are not all white, many have wolf markings, pigment spots in the skin making the hair grey or brownish in spots, typically ears show these off colors, as I mentioned previously. Also the nose is suppose to be all black, we have had two with rose/pink colored noses and one with wolf markings and true black nose, and he was a big goof to boot. They are guard animals and not heard oriented. They have the most wonderful deep bark. Tia is now shedding, I can pull out the prime under coat by the bag full, in long strings. I have a hat made from such fiber and in the winter when it gets wet it smells like a dog.

Hello,

Actually my main point was to deride, degrade and belittle the company Veritas.

Greetings,

Don Wagstaff