Lie-Nielsen 1" Chisel

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: you can't beat an LN chisel. Love em! For whatever reason, I decided that I needed one in the 1" size. Here goes the prep:

Here's the big bruiser. Getting ready to run it on the 1000 grit stone.

Woodworking: prepping some new chisels

I have a couple of small woodworking projects that I would like to work on. Indirectly, I have some stuff on the drafting board that will require a small amount of woodworking as well.
As we all know, I sold off most of my wood tools. Included in those sales were my Lie-Nielsen chisels. I have a few antiques and a few new Stanley's, but nothing compares to a Lie-Nielsen chisel.
I set off into the land of internet shopping and ordered a 1/2" & 1/4" chisel. As I expected, my new chisels are super nice and I'm all in love with them and stuff.
This morning, I wanted to take care of the prep work to get them ready for use.

Here goes:

Some time ago, I made a sharpening set up based on the Lie-Nielsen design available on their web site. I'm not going to get into the construction, as it is pretty basic. You'll get the idea as we go along. I made it so that I could clamp it onto my work bench using my surface vice and a dog.

LN chisel (finally)

The down side to small manufacturers that make high quality products is that sometimes you have to wait for them. Lie-Nielsen is an extremely small manufacturer that makes extremely high quality products...so sometimes you have to wait longer! They have something like 50-80 employees. Yeesh! It's a miracle they can keep up. Everything they make is worth it. I only own a few of their products. Three mortise chisels, four floats, and now...my new 1/4" bevel edge chisel (I have a couple books and videos too). Their tools are in demand for a reason.
Anywho, up until recently my bench chisels have been garbage. I made a step in the right direction with a couple of new Stanley 750's. They are light years better than my Footprints. I have also rehabbed a couple old Craftsman chisels. That left one Footprint that needed to be ditched...the 1/4". I'll let my poor photography tell the rest.

Ta-da! O-1 steel 1/4" bevel edge chisel. After a couple of months on back order. I kinda feel like Garth when he finally had the cash to buy his Strat.

New Stanley Sweetheart Chisels

My current set of chisels is from Footprint. I don't like 'em much. The handle shape is too bulky, and they hold an edge like butter. I've made them work, but I've been itching to replace them. Some time ago, I got a 3/8" Stanley SW to try out. I like it. It takes and holds a decent edge. I've never used a Lie-Nielsen or Narex...so I can't make the comparison, but it works for me. It's also a huge step up. Today, I picked up the 1/2". I wanted to get the 1/8" as well, but the shape of the blade didn't look right to me, I'll have to look at a Lie-Nielsen to fill that slot, I think.

My new 1/2" (top) next the my 3/8". I liked the 3/8" enough to make me feel confident about getting the 1/2".

A battered old chisel

No...wait...you should have seen this thing BEFORE I brought it home. Believe it or not, this is an improvement. An old 3/4" Craftsman chisel. It features my very own, incompetent, but effective and comfortable repair to the top of the handle. There's nothing wrong with the picture, the blade is really bent (it is also curved on top, not just canted). I have almost restored it to working condition.