I was in the market for a large framing chisel on Ebay and wound up with a package deal for 30 bucks…an old Stanley 5 Type 16…the Lakeside 2” Framing Chisel I wanted…a beater chisel with a mangled tang…and an old cooper’s shaping chisel:
This article will deal with the two framing chisels…the cooper’s chisel was usable as is with some cleaning and sharpening, and the plane I’ll cover in another article, although I’ll rehabilitate them together. These will be put back to work as users, like all my tools…restoration of collector items is another subject. For this article, I’ll purposely use only the minimum tools and techniques necessary for a first-class job. My intent is to provide a model for newcomers to the craft who will benefit greatly from acquiring older but high-quality tools in need of a hug for very little money…and putting them back into service.
I use a large, 8” gunsmith’s pedestal buffer-grinder for most of my grinding and polishing chores, but a smaller 6” bench grinder will also work fine.
I use a soft steel wire wheel to clean all metal parts thoroughly…the cooper’s tool has been cleaned in the shot above.
Then I treat them with a phosphoric acid solution (above) available at home improvement chains to kill any remaining rust. This is the functional equivalent of using an electrolysis solution for those not so inclined. The phosphoric acid is allowed to sit over night to work. The next day, the black oxide rust residue is removed with the wire wheel in preparation for buffing and finish later…we need to do some rough grinding and make and mount the handles, first.
The treasure of the lot is the one in the worst shape; of course…a Robert Duke Diamond Brand firmer-style chisel of lovely, glass-like cast steel. It had lost its handle ages ago and probably served to cut the head off nails with a large, ball peen hammer in its old age. The socket tang was badly mangled with the remnants of the old handle remaining in the void. The tang was returned to its original form by drilling and filing the socket mortise, and grinding off the metal extruded on the outside. Fortunately, there was enough socket mortise remaining to use or I would have required the services of a neighbor I trade work with and his TIG welder to build it up. Using heat-sink paste and wet rags, I might have been able to build up the socket with my torch welding setup without ruining the blade’s temper, but it would have been riskier, and I’m not near the welder my professional neighbor is.
As the blade was badly chipped and had lost its bevel, grinding was required. While I have a jig for this, I rarely use it any more and freehand the 25-degree bevel using lots of water…turn that blade edge 600-degree blue and it has lost its temper and all the blue must be ground away…and square and protractor to check my progress. You should use a 6” bench grinder with all the guards and a proper jig for this….and wear glasses, of course.
As the other blades are in better shape, and I don’t prefer to leave the bevels of heavy chisels and slicks with a hollow grind (although not important…merely personal preference), I finish the grinding stage for my 25-degree bevels on the belt sander chucked in the Workmate. I use 60, 80, 100 and 150 grits lubed with WD-40 and lots of water, checking my bevel angle and edge with protractor and square as I go.
Final honing of 25-degree bevel and 30-degree secondary bevel will come later.
Continued on Part II
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Thanks for the great how-to articles.
Originally Posted by Dewey Torres
