Chisel Rolls - which way?

An innocent question for those who like to chisel. When using a chisel roll do you:

1 Insert the sharp end into the pocket, thereby protecting the sharp end, protecting your fingers, but risking any damp in the material (especially if it is leather) rusting the steel, and risking slicing the material (if you keep your chisels at least half sharp) every time you put a chisel away; or

2 Insert the handle into the pocket, keeping the sharp end away from the leather, but risking the chisel tips touching each other and risking your fingers when you go to take a chisel out.

Wow good question! I must confess to never having thought of this and I had assumed that the sharp edge in the roll was a given? I hadn’t suspected that this might cause the blade to rust etc and certainly have not experienced this myself although I do wipe down after each use with a bit of oil.

What do you do @The_Artful_Bodger ?

I am a mere incompetent amateur who turned up to an Axminster beehive making course a few years ago (which ended up costing me a fortune in Axminster Trade machines) and who attended a Peter Sefton course last year.

Having invested in some Ashey Iles bevel edged chisels (with roll) a while back, and most recently some Narex mortice chisels I have persuaded my better half to make a new chisel roll. I note that Axminster sells it leather chisel roll with the advice: "…being leather it is not waterproof. Because of this, we would also recommend the use of a rust inhibitor or camellia oil to protect against corrosion. "

Most leather these days is chrome tanned so loaded with potentially corrosive salts. Does anybody have any experience of chisels attracting rust whilst the sharp ends are ‘protected’ in a leather roll?

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My chisel roll won’t allow me to put the handles in the pockets as they won’t fit! Having said that my (canvas) roll does have a few nicks, perhaps when I’ve replaced chisels too vigorously! But I still favour the blades going in the pockets, perhaps with a light wipe of camellia oil if there’s a risk of dampness?

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Chisels are meant to go blade first into the roll. Extra care has to be taken when doing this otherwise a sharp chisel will cut through the stitching then its a visit to your nearest coblers. You can get plastic protectors that fir over the end of the chisels and come in various sizes to suit. They might be hard to come by as I haven’t purchased any for a number of years.