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Chisels: pointed vs flat?

Stone Conversations : Archive 6 : Message 00578

From: Deb <ukstonespider@zzzzzzzzzzz>
Date: Wed, 15 Sep 2004 09:32:38 +0100 (BST)
Subject: Chisels: pointed vs flat?

--- Julianna wrote:

Quoted text begins.the archives only go
back to this May, and I joined a little while ago):
What is the difference between the results of using
a pointed chisel and a flat chisel?
End of quote.


Juliana, firstly welcome to the list.

Secondly (for historical techie reasons as I recall),
there is another archive - it's at
http://aboutstone.org/conversa/ several more years
worth to trawl through!

Finally, to answer your question a bit more directly -
my limited amateur experience is that points are great
when you want to shift a lot of material (often
crudely!) - this is particularly so for harder stones.

Bigger flatter chisels are for detail and finishing a
surface. The rules are not hard and fast - points can
give a surface an interesting texture, small flat
chisels are needed for small detail and lettering.
There are also several toothed chisels or claws that,
in effect work like a row of points again shifting
material well and providing a useful texturing tool
too (a cheap version of bushing!). Having said all
that, I started off with limestone and later on tried
soapstone and alabaster. Alabaster - as I'm sure
you've found is far to delicate to bash too much - it
bruises deeply if you do!

Cheers

Deb
(rank amateur)

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