Steel Selection for Chisels & Plane Blades
There is now a confusing array of steels available for both chisels and plane blades and choosing the right steel for your purpose can be daunting. I am not a metallurgist but I do have some experience with various types of steel in different applications, so what follows is my personal take on this issue. Other experienced people may have different views so it’s always good to get a number of opinions. A good source of information about steel types and sharpening techniques is Ron Hock’s book The Perfect Edge published by Popular Woodworking Books.
The important take-home message is that choosing a suitable chisel or plane blade is a compromise and there are a number of factors which need to be taken into consideration. Different people will place a different emphasis on each of these factors.
In many magazine reviews there is a very heavy emphasis on edge retention because logically the better the edge retention the longer the period between sharpening. However it’s also true that the better the edge
