Is there any body on the forum who knows what sort of chisels the german framers traditionally used (to chop a mortice in no more than 7 minutes) I've tried studying some german sites but dont speak the language. Also was that useing ONLY a chisel, and no pre-drilling?
Many thanks, Jonathan

What German URL's were you looking at that you think might be helpful (if you understood it?)

-srj

Hello, srjones
thanks for your reply.
One site I looked at was www.fachwerk.de/
It seems quite a extensive site but I cant understand any of it. There is a translation thing but it doesnt make much sense, its amusing actually the quaint way it works things out. I was just curious as to know what sort of chisels they use to chop mortises in 7 minutes or less (there was a report on the tfg site about a trip to Germany and thats where I heard about it) and some clearer idea of the technique they employ.
Cheers, Jonathan

You might try using the Babelfish translation site. I have had pretty good luck with thier language tools.

This site fachwerk , like many in Europe, translates itself into English by clicking on U.K. flag (top of page to the right...)

a big chisel you can really heef on a heavy malet and a lot of practice