James Swan Chisel

[Lee Schierer]

I've had this old chisel for some time. I don't know where it came from. I had sharpened it a few years ago and it be came a traveling chisel for use when I did wood working away from home. I thought I had misplaced it, but apparently the elves that frequent my shop at night hide more things than pencils. As I was cleaning up the shop this morning I found under a bunch of stuff that had accumulated on the RAS table. It seems to hold a pretty good edge.
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[David Carroll]

Nice! I frequent an Antique store that has a number of different vendors with stalls all located in one building (it used to be a car dealership). They had a tool guy who often had new old stock for sale at high, but reasonable prices. They had a box of six Swan tanged chisels, each 1.75-inches wide. I looked at them for months, whenever I stopped in. They wanted $35 bucks each. Eventually I did get one. It was brand new with the original factory grind on it. No handle, but as it turned out I had a perfect handle at home.

What a nice chisel! Takes a keen edge and holds it. I mostly use it for paring tenons,so it doesn't get a lot of hard use, but in 20 years of occasional use I've never had to regrind it. Just a lot of stropping and some occasional stoning. Mine is the exact same mark as yours so I imagine they are from the same era. Nice tools!

DC

[Jim Koepke]

James Swan chisels are top tier among vintage chisels. Only two have found their way into my accumulation of chisels. They are both 3/8", one with flat edges, the other is bevel edged.

jtk

[Dave Anderson NH]

I have a set of James Swan paring chisels running from 1/4" to 1 1/2". They were a box lot from a Donnelly Auction 15+ years ago and no two of them had the same or correct handles. The sockets were also mushroomed and required a good bit of work to get them back into shape. They hold an edge really well and are wonderful in the hand after I made a matched and graduated set of handles out of Olive wood.

[Kevin Adams]

That’s a beautiful set, Dave, and the handles really complete them.

Kevin

[Mike Brady]

I have a very long-bladed 1/4" Swan chisel that I would not part with. Definitely the best vintage chisel I have ever found.

[William Fretwell]

Had one 20 years ago, liked it a lot. Steel was better than all my starter chisels. If you get the chance to acquire some, very worthwhile.

[Derek Kessler]

Found a James Swan chisel in a box of assorted tools at a flea market a while back. Cleaned it up, sharpened it, and it's been a standout performer in my toolkit ever since. Must say, they knew how to make chisels back in the day.

[Mike Henderson]

I put together a whole set of Swan chisels but eventually sold them. I just wasn't using them. The oldest Swan chisels will be marked "Best Cast Steel". The next oldest will be marked "Best Tool Steel", and the more recent ones will not have either mark, just the location, as yours does.

The do have a very good reputation.

Mike