When I bought a set of Lie-Nielsen chisels in the early 2000s, I had to sell my set of Barr Cabinet Maker’s Chisels. Our kids were young (Katherine was just 3), and Lucy and I struggled to pay the $1,200 monthly daycare bill for two kids.
I couldn’t justify owning two nice sets of chisels when I needed only one.
I rationalized selling the Barrs by saying the Lie-Nielsens were more suited for the work I was doing at the time – lots of dovetails. And I stand by that statement. The Lie-Nielsens are lightweight and have outstanding balance. And they won’t wear you out if you have to chop out 100 pin sockets.
But I regretted selling the Barrs. They were simply outstanding, and they held an edge better than any other tool steel I’ve worked with (including Japanese chisels). I wrote about my long experience with Barr tools here on my substack, “The American Peasant.”
The Cabinet Maker’s chisels are fantastic for heavy work and have a handmade feel, like my blacksmith-made scorp, adze and 2” Barr chisel.
This week I turned the clock back, and I now own a set of four Barr Cabinet Maker’s Chisels. After chatting with Ginger Quarton at the company, I learned that the company still makes batches of the chisels two or three times a year. I asked if I could get on a waiting list.
As luck would have it, they had a set of the tools on hand – a customer had changed his mind. So I purchased his error.
The four chisels – 1/4”, 1/2”, 3/4” and 1” – come in a heavy leather tool roll. They are exactly like my old Barrs. Beefy and easy to sharpen.
They are a good deal heavier than my Lie-Nielsens. The Barr 1/4” chisel weighs 145 grams; the Lie-Nielsen 1/4” weighs 65 g. The Barr 1/2”: 192 g. The same-size Lie-Nielsen: 95 g.
With no more daycare (or college tuition) bills left to pay, I am happy that I can keep both sets. Yes, I feel a little Anarchist’s Tool Chest Guilt. But I have room for both chisel sets in my tool chest. Hell, I still have quite a bit of space in my tool chest for other stuff if I wanted more planes or scorps or an extra brace or two (which I really don’t).
I spent an hour at the bench tonight tuning up the Barr chisels. (They didn’t need much – just a little polishing on the back because I’m a fussy guy.) I’m now in the middle of building several chairs, and I have some large through-tenons to chop. So these tools are going straight to work in the morning.
— Christopher Schwarz
You’re using a new layout for the comment boxes. It renders a bit funny on my iPad in portrait and landscape. It wants to be a little wider than the available space so everything scrolls to the left when the cursor gets to the right edge of the text area and the Submit button mostly disappears. The website input field’s type isn’t set to URL which makes it hard to enter addresses using an on-screen keyboard. Because it’s plain text it’s subject to autocorrect. And the checkboxes are not on the same line as “Email me new posts” and “Email me new comments”. Apologies if you’re already working on this.
Spending your kid’s inheritance Chris??
They can always resell them at the proper time…
At this point it doesn’t seem indulgent.
The linked post on the 2″ chisel refers to it alternatively as a bench chisel and/or as a cabinet makers model. Which is it and is there a marked difference aside from 1/2″ blade length and handle shape?
The Barr bench chisels are much larger than the cabinetmaker chisels. They are essentially a shortened version of the framing chisels, whereas the cabinetmakers chisels are smaller and of a much different design.
Yes,it doesn’t work on androids, no p9st button
I have a set of Barr chisels and a slick from back in the ’90’s and love them. Yes, a little heavy, but so far I can still manage them. Lovely tools. Nice to read your homage to them, thanks and thanks for all yours and all LAP info/articles etc.
The Barr chisels have a metal hoop on the end which means you could strike them with a mallet, right?
What do you expect to use the Barrs for vs the LN?
To h*ll with guilt! You deserve a treat here and again. Enjoy.
I have a Barr 5/8 cabinetmaker’s chisel for heavy dovetail chopping, a 1″ timberframe chisel for heavy mortise chopping, and a 2″ bench chisel for delicate trimming. They are all superb.
Are there any other western chisel makers that make hand forged chisels? I’m not including going to a blacksmith to make a one-off. I can’t think of any besides Barr.
Some smaller ones like Buffalo Tool Forge, and there is another blacksmith who used to attend LN events but i think they kind of shifted to axes. Fwiw even a lot of japanese chisels aren’t even truly “hand forged” anymore, its more drop forged and then “finished” by hand.
Jason Lonon makes hand forged framing chisels, but not bench/cabinetmaking chisels (as far as I know).
I have been wanting one of the framing chisels for years to do some japanese framing joinery. Unfortunately 2 kids in college still.
Schwarz Effect going to be rough on this one…
Let’s hope not.
Of course, given his reach and audience, it may also prompt Barr to just bring them back as a regular stock item for a while.
It is always pleasing to reclaim items with which you parted ways, voluntarily or otherwise, with regret. Those that were stolen from you are a regret tinged with anger and may be impossible to replace. A greater regret are the things that are no longer made or are no longer the quality you came to expect and appreciate. Congratulations on the Barr chisels.
You lucky person, my chisels are assorted/various,
1 Stanley blue chip 1″
1 Marples wood handle 3/8″ chisel
1 Marples split proof 1/4″ chisel
2 Japanese damask steel chisels
1 Two cherries 4mm chisel
But I do have an early Parkes 12″ thickness planer with original cast iron base, not a replacement though for the chisels but I love old iron machines.
I was ogling those Barr cabinetmaker’s chisels pretty hard back in 2019, but never ordered any; then came the Great Tool Demand Surge of 2020, and after a while it seemed they could no longer be had.
It is in other words highly interesting to know that occasional batches are still produced … I may have to get in touch, too, and ask about that waitlist.
Cheers,
Mattias
Those are some elegant looking chisels! They must be a joy to hold.
Oh man, do those ever look sweet.
Half way to the mainland: weights in (metric) grams but lengths still in (imperial) inches. One more step and you are there …
It’s so peculiar to me how people care what units other people use. Perhaps it’s a first-world problem – like the luxury of believing in ghosts…..
you forgot to tell us the temperature they are.
I have noticed that often people who live in nominally-metric countries often also use Imperial units on occasion. Those who insist the metric system (or Imperial, for that matter) are mutually exclusive have long ago lost that battle forever. They each have their advantages (and disadvantages), and can be used without penalty whenever convenient or appropriate. A few rare people are even able to translate between them. There are MANY more interesting arguments and causes to be fought (and lost).
Hmm…I think it’s the luxury of not believing in ghosts…
Hi Chris,
I am very fortunate to own and use a complete set of eight of the Barr chisels. I will never let them go except perhaps to my Grandson in the distant future. I checked out the LN chisels and found them to be lacking in heft for me. You will never be sorry for having them.
Richard
It would seem to me that chopping through mortises would be more difficult than chopping through tenons, no?
Chopping away the proud wedged tenons on a chair. After gluing.
Good for you!
I have a set I would like to sell. Bought around 2000
Wish I had known at the time you had to forfeit your precious chisels. ;-(
It does not look like Barr offers the 2” cabinet makers chisel that you prefer for bench building currently on their website. Do you know if the 2” bench chisel would work similarly? Or what the difference may be?
Yup. We have one of those, too.