Info on old Buck Bros framing chisel

[Robert Robbins]

Can anyone shed any light on an old Buck Bros framing chisel I acquired recently. It is 17" long with the handle and has a 2" blade. Specifically I want to know if blade is supposed to be curved upward. The curve starts about halfway down the 8" blade, rising about 1/8" at the cutting edge, relative to the heel. I just want to know if I should worry about straightening it before I clean and sharpen it. Someone on another forum said something about some of these old framing chisels being curved for clearance, but I can't find anything else. Thanks.

[Phillip Mitchell]

I have several old framing chisels around this size (Witherby, Union Tool, Pexto, etc) and only 1 of them is what I would call pretty close to flat along the entire length of its back. The more out of flat it is, the more use and sharpening it's seen....or it was neglected for a long time and someone refurbished it. In doing so, sometimes you have to remove more metal on the back side than you'd like to get rid of pitting, for example.

Of course, you could use a grinder carefully to blunt the chisel and grind it back to where the back is flat and in the same plane and re-establish a new bevel there, but that's only really worth doing if the chisel is pretty long to begin with and you don't have to actually grind too much steel off to get to that point.

With the big old framing chisels and their intended uses (timber framing) I don't worry overly much about the backs not being perfectly flat (though it is certainly a joy if you happen to find and use a nice, long 2" framing chisel that has a flat back.) You can work around it easy enough; it just takes a slight variation in awareness and technique from using a chisel with a flat back as a reference point. Of course, this all depends on how un-flat the back is. I'm at the point where I won't even bother with a chisel that is more than 1/16" or so out of flat along the back because that's just a good bit of time and energy that I personally need to put somewhere else besides flattening chisel backs, but that's me. I'm sure others will chime in. Good luck with it! Post some pics of it.

[steven c newman]

Had a VanCamp come through the shop..
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It was also a laminate blade. I could look at the back and see where the wrought iron stopped and the steel started. There was enough hammer marks on it to suggest it got "stuck" a lot, as well. I sharpened this one up and used it like a small slick. Something about the welding of the two metals caused to slight curve. The corner chisel beside it was a PS&W 7/8 " corner chisel. At least it was straight.
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[Robert Robbins]

Here's a pic of the chisel. I didn't think to take a pic of the curve in the blade, but it's similar to the second one you have there. I may try to remove some of the bow, but I'll probably just clean her up and get her ready to tackle the rough stuff I won't let my Lie Nielsens near.
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[Jim Koepke]

A few of my chisels are bellied. Must have had a hard life at one time or another.

One of my 1-1/4" chisels looks about like Steven's Van Camp from the side. It can still pare and chop.

jtk

[Roger Nair]

I have been involved with timber framing for over 25 years and I believe firmly that the belly in the blade has two major benefits. First it provides an offset so the socket, handle and knuckles have clearance for paring surfaces. Second, if a chisel body is dead straight, like the modern preference, then when aggressively chopping, the chisel tends to dig in from forces generated at the bevel. The belly introduces a counterforce that tends to overcome the tendency to dig in. One other important feature that shows up in old chisels is that the width of the chisel tapers about 4/100" to reduce jamming against mortise sides.

[lowell holmes]

My old timber framer is 2" wide X 13" long with 7" of handle. It is absolutely flat on the back. The flat extends all the way to the top end of the handle.
It came to me without a handle. I made the handle and when I put it on the chisel, the back of the handle was in line with the back of the blade.
In other words the handle socket is in line with the back of the chisel. I did not purposely make the handle flat with the back, the socket on the chisel was made to
do that.

I have another 2" timber framer that is a tang chisel. The back of the handle does not line up.
I have never done timber framing and cannot speak to it. I have mortised 4" thick gate post headers with them and they do work quite well.