Best Lee Valley Veritas Flushing Chisel Handle & Blade Sets

We designed this flushing chisel based on a set of antique patternmakers’ chisels from our collection. More than just for flush trimming inlay or joinery, a flushing chisel allows you to work into corners and extend flat surfaces right up to adjacent surfaces where a plane blade cannot reach. One hand pushes the tool while your other hand guides the blade along the workpiece, giving you fine control with a comfortable grip, producing a smooth paring action.

The PM-V11 steel chisel blades are thin, reducing the overall weight of the tool and keeping your fingers close to the surface for a tactile connection to the work. In a departure from the tapered-pin connector of the original chisel set, our interchangeable blades have threaded sockets for a quick, secure connection to the torrefied maple handle. It can be easily disconnected whenever you want to switch blades.

We offer four blade-and-handle chisel sets (sized 1/2″, 3/4″, 1″ and 1 1/2″) as well as a five-piece set that includes all four blade sizes and a single handle. Unless you have the unique ability to use more than one chisel at the same time, you really need only one handle; however, the handle is available separately in case you need a replacement or simply want spares.

All blades are 5 3/4″ long and 1/8″ thick; each chisel is roughly 11 3/4″ overall. Made in Canada.

Antique Flushing Chisels

Historically, this type of chisel is associated with the pattern maker’s trade.

Modern technology eliminated the handwork involved with making a mold pattern; as such, chisels made in this form are now seldom found.

The longer paring chisel supplants a normal cutting tool and allows for close, fine removal of excess material when refining a workpiece that may already be assembled. The longer blade provides a firm reference point when cutting to a flat surface.

Bent or “cranked-neck” versions were especially prized, as the clearance helped one retain control when cutting.

This later, American-made 1930s version had just one interchangeable handle used with a series of blades.

This two-piece construction provided greater control after heat treating and prior to finish grinding, controlling warping and giving a coplanar surface over the length of the blade. Edwin Walker first patented this type of chisel assembly in 1884 (#291,820) and refined it in 1886 (#357,429).