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Thread: Old Chisel

  1. #1

    Old Chisel

    What type of chisel is this? It is a Stanley and my father acquired it between 1946 and 1950 when the US navy was disposing of surplus equipment from WWII in the Philippines. He brought back a complete set off hand wood working tools that my brother and I lost or broke. I have a wood level, still good, a small square, a bailey type No. 5 Shelton jack plane, (not so good) and an auger hand drill and small hand drill with pretty old bits. The large screw drivers were lost in sword fights and lord knows about the rest.
    This chisel is 12 1/2 inches long over all and the metal is 8 inches. Squared sides (rough mill marks) and 45 degree bevel. It was honed to 35 degrees. The length caused me to think it was for paring but would the angle be shallower for that? The handle is original and came as pictured as the original varnish does not extend inside the handle.

    I hope that the pictures show up. This was my first attempt to upload attachments.
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  2. #2
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    Bevel edge chisel...mainly for paring work. Leather washer was for using a mallet to drive the chisel.

  3. #3
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    Old catalogs don't generally explain the specific uses of different tools, which can leave us at a bit of a loss as to what purposes something was meant for. A lot of the modern high-end chisel manufacturers are emphasizing shorter bladed chisels, as being more handy for furniture-scaled bench work. Stanley in the 1950s offered their socket bevel edge chisels in 3 lengths, the 750 had a 3 1/4" blade, the 740 was 4 1/2", and the 720 was 6". Of course other makers had wide ranges as well. The longer chisels were more common than they are now, and this probably reflects that a lot of larger scaled woodwork was going on, patternmaking and joinery and wooden construction in an era when timberframing practices weren't completely dead yet.

    I've also seen the explanation that the longer chisels were to allow professionals a longer working life on their tools, more grinding and sharpening. I find that hard to swallow because it implies that the scale and balance of the tool is of no particular importance to the work, which is just silly.

  4. #4
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    Howdy Terrance and welcome to the Creek.

    The bevel angle can be set by the user for what ever they need. 35º is good for chopping. A lower angle would be better for paring.

    My paring chisels are mostly in the 15-20º range. Then my other chisels have steeper angles for work that requires more force.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  5. #5
    Beautiful old chisel.

  6. #6
    Well, the dark ring on the handle, does not look or feel like leather but I think Steven is right. It is just old, dried and hard. I don't think the blade was rehoned so it is probably a long bladed chopping chisel. It is remarkable what was built during WWII by our faathers and grandfathers with hand tools. I am sure they had some power tools but not in the quantity we have now.

  7. #7
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    The ring is leather. Here is one that I know the history. From the 1920s. Flawed casting at the edge of the blade rejected on final inspection and allowed to be purchased by employees. Has worked just fine for all those years. You can see the flaw on the right side high up on the blade.
    Jim
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  8. #8
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    And a beautiful hickory handle too, Terrance.

  9. #9
    Well, I am off to buy a wooden mallet. I have often used a regular claw hammer when chopping but I do not want to harm the leather even as hard as it is. I was using it today and found that it needs a bit more sharpening. James's chisel looks like one of my chisel's brothers.

  10. #10
    Join Date
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    That looks like a paring chisel, not meant for mallet use (some light mallet 'taps' may be ok). The handle may or may not be original.
    "The reward of a thing well done is having done it." - Ralph Waldo Emerson

  11. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Terrance Mitchell View Post
    Well, I am off to buy a wooden mallet. I have often used a regular claw hammer when chopping but I do not want to harm the leather even as hard as it is. I was using it today and found that it needs a bit more sharpening. James's chisel looks like one of my chisel's brothers.
    A mallet is pretty easy to make from 4/4 lumber. If you do a search for "laminated joiners mallet" you will get lots of blogs or articles where people have done it.

  12. #12
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    Quote Originally Posted by Terrance Mitchell View Post
    Well, I am off to buy a wooden mallet. I have often used a regular claw hammer when chopping but I do not want to harm the leather even as hard as it is. I was using it today and found that it needs a bit more sharpening. James's chisel looks like one of my chisel's brothers.
    I am partial to the "Wood Is Good" Urethane Headed Woodworking Mallets. It is my goto mallet.

    Nice chisel, I have some like it.

  13. #13
    I use a $5 white rubber mallet.
    I see a lot of posts about wooden mallets, and a lot of Youtube videos on how to build one. But when I actually see people chopping mortises/working with chisels, they never use one. Everyone pretty much uses a modern plastic or rubber headed mallet.
    I think the wood mallet is one of those projects for beginning woodworkers, like a marking gauge, or winding sticks. Maybe more a way to instill into the new guys the idea of building tools when you need them. But I don't see a lot of people actually using that one.
    My white rubber mallet is working well, and I don't see the need for a wooden one at this stage.
    But I might choose to build one in the future just for the experience.

  14. #14
    Join Date
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    chop1.jpg
    Have used mine...a lot...Spalted maple mallet.....maybe 32oz?

    Have ruined one leather washer, after trying to use a metal hammer....never again.
    Had a rubber headed mallet....until the head flew off.....found a better use for the handle.

  15. #15
    Very cool.

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