Stanley chisels

[James Taglienti]

Ok. Im officially baffled!Why on Gods green earth are plastic handled stanley chisels bringing twice what Witherby's and Berg's are!? There are black handled #40s (not the everlasting design) and yellow handled junkers being fought over tooth and nail on the auction site. I know from personal experience that the steel is JUNK ! I cant even use them to open paint cans!Is it collectors? D any of you guys have experience with these?ALSODoes anyone use the older everlasting chisels? Do they seem a little soft?

[Bill Houghton]

Interesting...your experience is very different from mine. I grab every one of the old yellow-and-black Stanley chisels I find at garage sales. I find the steel will take and hold a decent edge for quite a while; and I'm stressing the heck out of them doing carpentry.

My one No. 40 is pretty good, too.

[Harlan Barnhart]

James, I use yellow handled stanleys with good success. I have an 1 1/2" and 2" that hold a decent edge and were dead flat across the back. I like having one or two around in case I need to modify a chisel for a certain function. The one stanley chisel I have that has been disappointing is a 750, the edge seems crumbly. Even so, I would never pay real money for them, much less pay more than bergs or witherby's.

[James Taglienti]

I went and looked at my yellow stanleys again, they are called Stanley Workmaster, maybe the steel is different... Its really bad... I used it on some OLD pine and the edge rounded right over, its got a visible J hook on it

[phil harold]

send me all the black handed 40s ya got I wish I had a set of them instead of only 2
they are part timex
take a lickin and keep tickin

[James Pickering]

Some vintages of Stanley plastic handled chisels were very good. Check out http://jp29.org/wwstanplastichandles.htm

James

[James Taglienti]

send me all the black handed 40s ya got I wish I had a set of them instead of only 2they are part timex take a lickin and keep tickin No way! Theyre going up for auction this sunday!

[Erik Manchester]

James,I have few full sets of Stanley No 60 yellow handled chisels from the 40's that belonged to my grandfather who did a lot of carpentry. While they are not as durable as a set of LN A2 chisels, they take a good edge and hold up well. I use mine for general carpentry tasks and rougher work where I prefer not to use a finer chisel. They are good all around chisels and will outlast me. Thugh I have noticed that the much newer versions do not seem to have the same level of quality in finish or hardness.

[Bill Houghton]

I went and looked at my yellow stanleys again, they are called Stanley Workmaster, maybe the steel is different... Its really bad... I used it on some OLD pine and the edge rounded right over, its got a visible J hook on it

With a few exceptions*, any time a manufacturer feels the need to use a marketing term like "workmaster," you should figure they're selling you trash.

*"Wards Master" planes, for instance, are usually pretty good in my experience.

[john davey]

I have a set of 60's that I pieced together and am happy with them. They do get the call any time I m really going to wollop on something and always come through fine and get the job done...

[Harry Goodwin]

I too have had good success with the yellow and black chisels. When buying old stuff its quite possible someone took out the temper with over grinding. I have some foreign chisels I like about as much as you do the Stanleys. Harry

[Bob Smalser]

I too have had good success with the yellow and black chisels. When buying old stuff its quite possible someone took out the temper with over grinding.

Bingo.

Any chisel can be softened by someone with too heavy a hand on the grinder, and after it's changed hands the new user poormouths the brand rather than check the temper.

[James Taglienti]

There is no evidence of heavy grinding or any power grinding at all on a couple of them they just will not hold an edge. I know what poor grinding looks like ( ha ha ) discoloration, funky burrs, etc... Maybe the workmaster was a bargain chisel? Regardless, I have used all sorts of chisels and these workmasters are second worst to the bright orange handled buck brothers from home depot. The black handled ones are a bit better but really should stay in the carpentry bag, maybe i will sharpen them to 30 plus degrees and try again.Trust me, there is no "contempt prior to investigation" here.
I do seem to be all alone here, I wonder what is going on with my chisels

[Ken Werner]

I have several of the wood handled Everlasting Stanleys. All but one holds an edge well. Steel can vary, both when manufactured, and how it has been handled since. My guess is you either have a poor quality set, or a set which is worse than its peers.

[Jessica Pierce-LaRose]

I don't know - I don't have nearly the experience of some of the folks here; but I've had random luck with Stanley iron; I've got two visually identical Sweetheart block plane irons - one of them chips out (looks like you hit a nail after a few strokes) planing soft pine face grain, despite careful re-grinding, and the other is an indestructible work-horse that seems like it never needs to be sharpened.

[Jim Koepke]

I don't know - I don't have nearly the experience of some of the folks here; but I've had random luck with Stanley iron; I've got two visually identical Sweetheart block plane irons - one of them chips out (looks like you hit a nail after a few strokes) planing soft pine face grain, despite careful re-grinding, and the other is an indestructible work-horse that seems like it never needs to be sharpened.

I will second the "random luck" statement. I have a lot of Stanley plane blades and there is a variety in the steel.

Two of mine with the V-logo are quite different. One is easy to sharpen, the other is a bear to work up an edge on the stones. Once the tough one gets an edge it keeps it longer than the other.

jtk

[Harlan Barnhart]

I have used all sorts of chisels and these workmasters are second worst to the bright orange handled buck brothers from home depot. The black handled ones are a bit better but really should stay in the carpentry bag...

Now I know which chisels you are talking about. A co-worker bought a set of black handled chisels from HD. They were to soft to take an edge, much less hold it. True paint can openers. The handles were "soft-ish" black "plasitc-y" plastic.

Here are two types I have used with good success.205380

I think the ones on the left are slightly better than the ones on the right. I have another one that looks similar to the left version but the handle is yellow and red. It has good steel as well.

[Bob Smalser]

When I was buying up chisel lots a decade ago to make sets for local shipwright pals, I went through literally hundreds of them. While I tried to avoid anything made after the 1960's, the only uniformly bad chisels I found were a few Stanley Defiance chisels.

In turn, the Stanley 60-series butt chisels (below) are generally excellent, as are the older blue Craftsman butt chisels.

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Stanley-60-Chisels-1-2-1-2-/00/$(KGrHqR,!j!E4rl)ogqSBOSHZWrck!~~0_3.JPG
http://i.ebayimg.com/t/Craftsman-Craftsman-professional-3-chisels-/22/!CCKi!6wBWk~$(KGrHqZ,!g4E0eb5LOR4BNKQcbuTj!~~_3.JP G