I picked this chisel up for a couple of bucks at a junk shop, for a tool of its age it looked OK.
On closer inspection the back is long way out of true, i’m assuming the backs on these chisels need to be flat/true for the same reasons as any other chisel is this correct?
It’s a 3/8″ blade with about 7 3/4″ in length does anyone know the original length of this thickness blade?
Any other info on this maker(who i believe was bought out by William Marples) would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks all
John
Replies
That is a mortise chisel. It is likely near it's original length. Ideally the back would be straight but it's really only a slight handicap when actually working with it. Being a blacksmith I'd probably heat it up and straighten it but it's not really neccessary. You could also grind it straight. A disk or belt sander would be easier to do this with than a grindstone.
As stated it is a mortise chisel and I wouldn't want to "straighten" it either as long as the back is clean at the edge.
If you have a lathe you could make a handle to suit , and this would be instructive, although the Woodworking Taleban may dictate that you should make furniture instead (;)
Actually you could also make a handle with rasps etc but this may not be fun.
I straightened mine and regret it. In some cases, the edge was so far out, I ground it off (shortening the chisel) to get the tool straight. What a mistake.
Tell me again why a chisel needs a straight back? There is no functional reason why chisels and plane blade need flat backs. There are advantages and disadvantages to both approaches vis a vis sharpening. In use, the convex back may hold some advantages.
The traditional handle is oval shaped and tapers wider at the top. The handle should over hang the bolster but be more or less that shape.
Adam
Adam,
The handle should be flush with the bolster until about 1880 when custom filling of handles stopped. The advantage of a handle that is flush with a bolster is that it can be a little smaller than one that is too large and overhangs. Joel
http://www.toolsforworkingwood.com
That's right. No overhang. I stand corrected. And I've exaggerated the degree of taper. Your chisels' handles are closer.But the taper is important. Like the firmer chisel handles, that taper really helps when malleting. It's a real advantage.AdamP.S. We were talking about commercial posts in another thread. I was ranting that I don't think they should be allowed. I think you (and a few others, Philip Marcou, Mike Wenz, specifically) do a great job of putting woodworkers first. You guys have brought a great service to the ww community here and elsewhere. All that said, I feel it would be helpful if the OP had a picture of what we're talking about. Because I'm asking, do you think you could add a picture or a link? You really don't want a turned handle on these things. And there's a little crown in the top that you turned me on to that some (like me) can miss from the pictures we have available.
Edited 8/8/2008 8:17 am ET by AdamCherubini
Picture of a few of my mortise chisels...
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Take care, Mike
Do you have any pictures of the butt ends? I think from the top corner we see, there is a nice curved shape, maybe 3/16" above that. The corner remains somewhat crisp. This crown is essentially to stop the handle from splitting and makes the top corner much more comfortable to hold. These are subtle features but they are very important and almost always present on old chisels. Guys (including me) sometimes miss them.Adam
Hi Adam,
I don't think I have a picture on hand of the tops. On most, there is a slight round over from times past. On one or two there is a small chamfer that is rounded at the transition to the flattish tops. But even there, the tops all have a slight dome to them.
Only on one did I need to trim a little off--looks like someone used a waffle-faced hammer on the end and it was chewed up. On it I lightly domed the top and rounded over the transition to the side. A file is ones best friend for reshaping the ends.
One all of them, I lightly freshened up the ends, though it was only to rid a bit of mushrooming and I kept the shape. By "lightly domed" above I don't mean a curveture that is greatly noticable. It is only enough to see a slight dome, not so much it is going to severely impress into the joiner's mallets I use.
I would offer to take a picture of the tops/ends. That would mean I needed to find the box they are stored in from the shop move. As I have 16 mortises to bang out for a stool in progress, that means I need to anyway, but it would wait until this or next weekend, whichever I happen to be able to return to working on it.
Take care, Mike
Hi Adam
Butt me a butt?
Here is a chisel (top)I re-handled alongside one of the Ray Isles (lower) ...
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And here is the tutorial I wrote (just one way ..) ..
http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolRestorations/Rehandling%20an%20Oval%20Bolstered%20Mortice%20Chisel.html
Regards from Perth
Derek
John,
Mortise chisels are a little different. That chisel is exactly as it should be. Try using it before attempting any "repairs".
Regards,
Dan
It rather strongly looks like the chisel you have in the photograph is "steeled" - that is, the blade is made in two pieces, with a soft piece of iron for most of the blade, and a relatively thin piece of cast steel forge-welded along the length of the chisel's back.
If that's the case, I'd be dang cautious about grinding the back of the blade straight. On a mortise chisel, you don't really need the back flat like you would on a paring chisel because you're not jigging off of the previously cut surface ala flusing the inside of the sockets on some dovetails.
The problem is that if you grind the back absolutely flat, it's possible for you to cut all the way through the cast steel piece, and then the chisel is useless because the soft iron that makes up the majority of the body of the blade will not hold an edge.
Thanks for the thoughts, I will save the 25 sheets of back flattening sandpaper for another project and put the chisel to work as it is.
I liked the methodology used in the link, and have some Black Mairi around her somewhere which should make a good handle.
Now if I can just manage to "waste" enough time shaping the handle using one of Derek's Techniques all I need to do then is come up with a suitable "jig" to sharpen the thing, after that the Telebans fuse should be fully lit.....:-)
Thanks all
John
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