A beveled-edge chisel is best for removing areas of wood that don’t need to be finessed, such as notching out a stud so a pipe can be run through a wall.
A firmer chisel is used for deeper cuts in both heavy and light woodwork, such as shaping a mortise.
If you can’t put the flat side of the chisel against a smooth surface at first, as you move the chisel you will make a flat surface to use.
If the chisel begins to have trouble going thorough the wood, it may need to be sharpened.
This is a good technique to use to clean up larger cuts you’ve already made. Move the chisel in a sliding or shearing motion when cutting across the end grain of wood. This motion is almost like wiggling, so that each grain gets cut from multiple angles as you go.
A paring chisel typically has a thin blade beveled at an angle of 15 degrees. Paring uses the knife-like edge of a paring chisel to slice off small amounts of wood with each stroke.
Because you are not taking off a lot of wood, your pushing hand will not have to exert a lot of force.
If you find that your blade gets dull, sharpen it as needed.
There are 8 standards of degrees to the curves of gouge chisels. These vary from a very slight curve to a chisel tip the is a half circle. Each curve also comes in a variety of widths, so you will have a wide variety of chisels to choose from.
It will take practice to master how to move the chisel to get the effect you want.
To identify the grain, look closely at the wood. Look for lines going across the wood. These are the grain lines and you should move the gouge with them or across the very end of them. [12] X Research source
For deep cuts, you can even hold the gouge perpendicular to the wood and hit the handle sharply with a mallet. Repeat your action, change the size of your gouge as needed for the design, and sharpen blades as required until your project is complete.
A bolster chisel is beveled on one-side of the blade and is used to break off large pieces or sections. A pitcher chisel is beveled on both sides of the blade and is used to cut straight lines. Sculpting or engraving stone requires a wide variety of specialized tools and chisels.
However, chiseling into stone and brick is not always exact, so be prepared to work with pieces that don’t break right on the line.
It can take some practice to be able to hold the chisel perfectly upright while hammering it. Try making some practice cuts before chiseling into pieces that need to be cut correctly.
The score line doesn’t need to be very deep. You are just aiming to make the line weaker than the surrounding material, so that the stone naturally wants to break there. The goal here is to make a line that the stone or brick will break cleanly along. If you don’t make a score line, a piece of brick or stone wider than your chisel can break jaggedly.
Repeat your strikes all along the score line on either side of the first strike until the break occurs.
