Rehabbing an Old Chisel

[Jim Koepke]

This is a 1/4" chisel that was thrown in on a deal. The top was mushroomed. Don't you just want to slap someone up side the head for not taking a piece of scrap and carving a quick handle? Well of course if it wasn't mushroomed the chisel might have set me back a few bucks.

Something different was tried this time. Heck if someone can beat on the socket an mushroom it, maybe it is possible to beat on the mushrooming to undo it. My track anvil, found at an estate sale for $3, doesn't have a small enough horn to do this job. A file was used to try and form the horn a bit better. This was going to take some time. Hmm what else is there around to make this work?

It is always nice to have odd stuff hanging around to use at times like this. I may have posted about all the junk I hang on to and included a bit about how I had a 60d nail that was needed for a project so next time in town another one was bought and brought home. Well here is where it came in handy. I clamped it to my track anvil and used it as a form to 'unmushroom' the socket:

Peening Mushroom.jpg

Doing this undid the mushrooming inside the socket and left a ring around the top of the socket. There were burrs from the folding over of the inside and outside mushrooming so those were filed down:

Filing Top of Socket.jpg

The underside of the ring was a bit rough so it was also made smooth with a chain saw file:

Removing Underside Burr.jpg

After a bit of work it is ready for a handle:

Ready For Handle.jpg

My plan for this chisel is to make the end skewed for dovetail and other joinery uses.

There seems to be part of a makers mark on the underside. I may try to get an image of that later.

jtk

[Frederick Skelly]

Nice job recovering that Jim. I love saving "junk" and making it useful again.
Fred

[Stew Denton]

Jim, Good job. Let us know how it looks when it's finished. It always seems good when I see somebody rehab a tool back into usefulness.

I have 3 or 4 of those myself that are waiting for a similar rehab. I've though about grinding a tapered bevel on a hard steel rod that I have for working on the inside. Don't know how that will work, but maybe some day I will find out.

Do have a big 2" chisel or a small 2" slick, depending on how you look at it I guess, that has the tar broomed out of it. Don't know if it is fixable...really broomed badly....I've thought about taking a torch to it before trying to do some constructive beating on it.

Don't know if a torch is a good idea or not. I will definitely have to keep the heat only up toward the end of the handle, but am thinking if it isn't really hot it will crack when I try to beat it back into shape.

What do you think, is using a torch a bad idea? (I'm afraid that without heat it is a hopeless case, so am thinking "nothing ventured, nothing gained.")

Stew

[ken hatch]

Jim,

Nice rehab on a tough chisel. T'm not sure I would have thought of using a 60p nail.

ken

[Jim Koepke]

Jim, Good job. Let us know how it looks when it's finished. It always seems good when I see somebody rehab a tool back into usefulness.

I have 3 or 4 of those myself that are waiting for a similar rehab. I've though about grinding a tapered bevel on a hard steel rod that I have for working on the inside. Don't know how that will work, but maybe some day I will find out.

Do have a big 2" chisel or a small 2" slick, depending on how you look at it I guess, that has the tar broomed out of it. Don't know if it is fixable...really broomed badly....I've thought about taking a torch to it before trying to do some constructive beating on it.

Don't know if a torch is a good idea or not. I will definitely have to keep the heat only up toward the end of the handle, but am thinking if it isn't really hot it will crack when I try to beat it back into shape.

What do you think, is using a torch a bad idea? (I'm afraid that without heat it is a hopeless case, so am thinking "nothing ventured, nothing gained.")

Stew

Stew,

Thanks for the kind words,

I think it all depends on what you have to make pressure between the tapered bevel and the chisel socket.

Bob Smalser once mention having a welder with a TIG set up to resurrect the sockets. I think he also mentioned wrapping the business end of the chisel in wet towels if using a gas torch on the socket. I don't have anything but a butane torch. I do not like to use it around the wood shop. I figured it was mushroomed by someone beating on it with a hammer so it could be unmushroomed with a hammer.

Jim,

Nice rehab on a tough chisel. T'm not sure I would have thought of using a 60p nail.

ken

Thanks Ken,

The nail was barely over the edge. I positioned it so the beveled point had one of the ridges to the top. It flattened out the mushrooming on the inside of the socket. In the past a rat tail file was used to clean up the inside metal. This seems to do a nicer job.

A big nail has come in handy for a few things throughout the years. Most of the time it gets used and then put back on the shelf.

jtk

[James Pallas]

Good idea with the nail Jim. You probably need to keep that nail handy. Beat up socket chisels are found all over the place and can be had cheap for the most part.
Jim

[Jim Koepke]

That nail will be around for a while. If it finds a permanent use, it will be replaced.

Had a little time to mess around in the shop today. Found an old handle and fit it to the chisel:

Chisel Handled.jpg

Did some grinding and sharpening and gave it a quick test:

Paring End Grain.jpg

I didn't realize till afterward I marked the dovetail wrong. It has been awhile.

Now I just need to find another 1/4" chisel to make a skew from the other side.

jtk

[Normand Leblanc]

I didn't realize till afterward I marked the dovetail wrong. It has been awhile.

You're not the only one who had this problem

Normand

[John Kananis]

Jim, you're doing a really nice resto on that chisel - who woulda thunk a twenty-penny would come in that handy for this purpos.