Beau Hannam Ukuleles
Well-known member
To get great looking purfling miters without damaging the surrounding wood, I custom grind 1/8" chisels down to a specific width to perfectly match the ledge of the mitered edge. Eg- a .060" purfling cut at 45 degrees, gives about a .073" edge, so you need a chisel that is .073" wide to cut it nicely without damaging the surrounding wood.
My solution is to buy the inexpensive $7 Narex 1/8" chisel and grind it down to exactly match the width I need.
A 1/8" chisel with just the tip ground down is much stronger than a chisel that is thin full length (see the 1.5mm japanese chisel in the video that broke).
Grind (or sand on a spindle sander in my case) slowly and stop after a few seconds to spritz cold water onto the chisel tip to cool it. and keep checking the width with digital calipers.
My solution is to buy the inexpensive $7 Narex 1/8" chisel and grind it down to exactly match the width I need.
A 1/8" chisel with just the tip ground down is much stronger than a chisel that is thin full length (see the 1.5mm japanese chisel in the video that broke).
Grind (or sand on a spindle sander in my case) slowly and stop after a few seconds to spritz cold water onto the chisel tip to cool it. and keep checking the width with digital calipers.
