[TheForge] woodworking tools

[Bruce Freeman]

Bob,

I'm just a hack smith with a good reference library. 
I've never made a tool anything like you describe, but
I have a couple books which may address the question.

The more specific of the two is "Tool Making for
Woodworkers" by Ray Larsen.  He shows how to make a
mortising chisel, but his procedure doesn't seem to
match what you describe.  

In essence, what he does is to forge a bar square with
a step to the tang from all four sides - like a square
tenon.  He starts with round stock and fullers off an
inch a the end which he draws out square.  He then
jumps the bar in a "square guage" (equivalent to using
a monkey tool on a tenon) to square the shoulder.

The rest of the procedure is forging out the blade end
to shape, etc.

Alexander Weygers, in the compilation "The Complete
Modern Blacksmith," also describes the making of some
woodworkers' chisels, though not specifically a
mortising chisel.  Again, I don't find any procedure
that seems to match what you describe.

Part of my uncertainty is your use of the term
"bolster".  I know that term only in reference to a
tool to lift a piece off the anvil - such as a plate
with holes in it to receive the slug from a punching
operation.  It sounds to me that you're using the term
in a completely different sense that I don't understand.


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