I have many tools I really love. Normally my favorite tool is the one which best suits the work I’m doing, or which I enjoy using, but there is one tool which I constantly turn to where other tools would require too much set-up time to use or where no other tool could do the job. Yes, it is the lowly chisel which has earned a well deserved place in my heart (does that sound gruesome?).

So if enjoyment using it isn’t my reason for making this my favorite, then what is it? Here is a long list of my reasons.
Versatility
- Can accurately do just about any kind of joinery imaginable
- Great for taking shavings to adjust sizes on joinery and all other sorts of things.
- Can get into hard to reach places where other tools cannot.
- Great for small jobs to avoid time consuming set-up of other tools for joinery, grooves, dados, decorative edges, chamfering , etc.
- Makes a nice cut line to create a knife wall for precision hand sawing.
- Can even plane a surface in a pinch (in the right hands).
- Can also be used for chip carving
Maintenace
- Simple to sharpen and hone
- Lightweight and easy to have on the wall, in a tool cabinet or a in a tool tray/chest.
Other Points
- No electricity required.
- It would be hard to find a woodworker who does not have a least one chisel in their tool collection and most have many, further attesting to their general usefulness.
Unfortunately Abbas my mallet bit the dust awhile back. The glue gave out first so I put in the screws, but it was downhill from there so I finally tossed it. I really miss it.
A mallet head made from a solid piece like Paul Seller’s model would be best but it is hard to find 3" thick wood these days. I have and idea though how to make a three board head that could not be banged apart at the glue lines. I will probably blog it when I make it.
-- Mike, an American living in Norway