Took me 5 years to realize I was using my chisels wrong

I always sharpened my chisels to a razor edge but kept getting tearout on end grain. An old finish carpenter at a job site in Dallas watched me for a minute and said 'you're cutting with the bevel facing the waste, right?' I had been doing it backwards the whole time. Flipped it around and my dovetails came out so much cleaner. Anyone else have a basic technique they learned embarrassingly late?

2 comments

2 Comments

andrew6931mo ago

5 years is brutal but I can totally see how that happens when you're just grinding away on the wrong side. Did that carpenter explain why the bevel facing waste makes that much difference on end grain vs cutting with it?

reeselewis1mo ago

Man, that's exactly the kind of thing that makes you want to kick your own toolbox.