Do it! Why everyone should rehab old chisels.

[Corvin Alstot]

I made my first chisel handle last weekend and really enjoyed the process.
After reading several on-line articles about how to do it, I copied one of my existing
handles but revised the size a little bit to fit my grip. A mini-lathe is ideal for this
application. Using some scrap maple and some leather samples I found I could
revived a long unused chisel with free materials. With a little time on the waterstones
and a Veritas Mk II guide the edge is now back in shape and ready for action. I am
sure this is nothing new to most, but was surprised how easy it was to do. The metal
on the old chisel is not as nice or hard as some of the newer chisels but the edge is still very good. Is everyone doing this?

[Marcus Ward]

Well, I am! I like making london pattern chisel handles for my stuff when I wear out the handles they come with. Definitely satisfying and not too hard. I've found the old chisels to have much better edge-holding properties than new chisels, personally.

http://www.thebestthings.com/newtools/graphics/chisel_handles.jpg

[Gary Herrmann]

I've got some old chisels to rehab, and some handles to turn - when I finally finish my Christmas presents, that is.

Does anyone have any recommendations on where I can lay my hands on some the kind of leather used on handles? Thanks.

[Jim Dunn]

Gary I just this past week bought some leather in Ballwin/Ellisville. It's a lot more expensive than I thought it would be but that said I probably have enough for some chisel handles. PM me and we'll meet and you can buy me a coffee.

[Mark Stutz]

Corvin,
I've got several nice long chisels that I've picked up cheap over the last few years, that I'll be using for mostly paring, so I'wasn't planning to put leather on them. Slowly working on the backs, etc, when I have only a short time in the shop.

Not to hijack, but all the experts say to use vegetable tanned leather, but no one says why. I have an old belt that I think would work well, but have no idea to whether it is vegetable tanned. Anyone have any comment?

Mark

[Roy Griggs]

I have recently been working on acquiring and rehabing a set of Stanley 750 butt chisels. I'm just partial to Stanley tools to start with and my favorite chisel of a mixed group of users happened to be a 750. So, it came naturally to me that I wanted a "set" of 750's. These are gonna be user chisels, but also my "nice" chisels....I tried several different designs for the handles and more than a few different woods....I made handles with schlagrings(sp) and leather washers but in the end I decided to try something different. The wood I chose to use is Kingwood and to save the handle from any damage from the occasional mallet tap I decided to incorparate an Ebony "strike button" similar to that found on many wooden planes...

At this point I have all the chisels but haven't had time to finish all the handles...the first two...

[Corvin Alstot]

Not to hijack, but all the experts say to use vegetable tanned leather, but no one says why. I have an old belt that I think would work well, but have no idea to whether it is vegetable tanned. Anyone have any comment?Mark
Wikipedia - Vegetable-tanned leather is tanned using tannin (hence the name "tanning") and other ingredients found in vegetable matter, tree bark, and other such sources. It is supple and brown in color, with the exact shade depending on the mix of chemicals and the color of the skin. Vegetable-tanned leather is not stable in water; it tends to discolor, and if left to soak and then dry it will shrink and become less supple and harder. In hot water, it will shrink drastically and partly gelatinise, becoming rigid and eventually brittle. Boiled leather is an example of this where the leather has been hardened by being immersed in hot water, or in boiled wax or similar substances. Historically, it was used as armour due to its hardness and light weight, and it has also been used for book binding. This is the only form of leather suitable for use in leather carving or stamping.

I did not use vegetable-tanned leather but probably chrome-tanned, I will let you know if it works. It was glued with a flexible instant CA type glue. If it fails I will cut it off and use the right stuff.

Marcus - I like the chisel handles, are they comfortable? They have a great shape!

[Gary Herrmann]

Gary I just this past week bought some leather in Ballwin/Ellisville. It's a lot more expensive than I thought it would be but that said I probably have enough for some chisel handles. PM me and we'll meet and you can buy me a coffee.

Thanks Jim. I returned your PM.

[Mike Henderson]

I don't put leather on the end of the chisel handles I make. One reason is that I use my chisels by hand most of the time and I can shape the top of the handle to better fit my hand without the leather washer. Mine look a lot like Roy Grigg's (above) but the top is more rounded and the handle is not quite as big around. When I do hit my chisels, I use a wooden mallet which doesn't tend to mash up the handle that much. But if I did mash the handle to the point where it was uncomfortable in my hand, I'd just make a new handle.

For old chisels, I use almost any wood I have on hand - pecan, maple, oak, walnut, cherry, and I don't remember what else. For a set of Lie-Nielsen chisels, I made a set of handles out of cocobolo and a couple out of ebony. Not good for beating on but nice looking and works well for hand work.

Mike

[jonathan snyder]

Roy, those are beautiful handles. I really like the ebony buttons.

Mark, I have heard that vegetable tanned leather is best for stropping, it is necessary for chisel handles. Perhaps some woods might react to the chemicals used to tan?

I am putting together a set of long Witherby paring chisels. I still need 3 more more to complete the set of 1/4" to 1 1/2" Of course they all have mismatched handles. I'm thinking about buying a Jet Mini Lathe, and learning to turn. I sure would like to make a set of matching handles.

Jonathan

[Randal Stevenson]

I started out with Marples, because I found a deal on them at the time at a damaged freight store (damaged box). I still don't have a complete set (wtb 1/8" preIrwin), but my garagesaleaholic mom, looks for some tools for me, and others for dad. He gets all the chisels, and I get the planes. I would like to get some old ones someday, but don't want to po my competition/other tool source. :D

[Jake Darvall]

old chisels are the only ones I have. But I just sharpen them quick freehand off a grinder and buffing wheel.

Impressive looking handles Roy !

[Marcus Ward]

Marcus - I like the chisel handles, are they comfortable? They have a great shape!

Thanks Colvin - those aren't mine however, those are for sale on the internet, I just included the pic as a reference. They're very comfortable and the octagonal shape makes them less likely to roll off of the bench. That's the handle I put on about everything.

As for vegetable tanned - I have had some holsters and gunbelts that were tanned in oil, or some sort of petroleum based product, and it bleeds into EVERYTHING. It's an utter mess. I would think oil-tanned leather would bleed into the wood and possible into workpieces you set the chisel on and so should be avoided. Just my 2 cents.

[Danny Thompson]

Sweet. I haven't run across a 750 yet, although I've looked.

My Buck Bros and Stanleys suffer greatly in comparison to the 3 Lie-Nielsens I've picked up, but I would love to get my hands on an old quality chisel like yours (hopefully, on the cheap).

Of course, then I would "have to" buy a lathe . . .

Nice work.

[Richard Niemiec]

On the leather angle, I was looking for some 1/4 inch x 3" leather to make a strop, and went to a shoe repair shop, the guy had a 3 foot piece he sold me for $10, and I imagine for chisel handles they might have some scrap for even less that would work just fine. RN

[Corvin Alstot]

Thanks Corvin. . . As for vegetable tanned - I have had some holsters and gunbelts that were tanned in oil, or some sort of petroleum based product, and it bleeds into EVERYTHING. It's an utter mess. I would think oil-tanned leather would bleed into the wood and possible into workpieces you set the chisel on and so should be avoided. Just my 2 cents.
I found out I used aniline dyed leather, which is used in high end furniture.
This stuff should not ever bleed. This might not be the best leather for a chisel but it appears to work fine (time will tell).

[Kevin French]

I've got a collection of old chisels that I'm about to rehab. There are some mortice'n chisels that have metal collars. How do make/where can I find these collars.
There are some rough looking ones, but I think they'll clean up and make good users of them.

The one on the right end I found in the dump today.

http://i56.photobucket.com/albums/g179/sweeper54/Chisels.jpg

[Roy Griggs]

Kevin,
There are ferrels for sale on e-bay or you can make your own from various types of tubing...1/2", 3/4", & 1" copper, brass and steel tubing are a convient source for the raw materials. Copper is really nice looking when polished and clear coated so it doesn't tarnish.
Most big box stores will have the copper; the brass can sometimes be found in hardware stores or online from McMaster-Carr and others...if you found that chisel in the dump, then obviously, you have already discovered a good source for cheap raw material. Scrap yards/metal recyclers are also a good place to look...
One of my favorite sources for brass, is air line fittings...brass is soft enough to turn with your wood turning tools or even just filed or sanded to go from the faceted shape to round.
On the left copper and brass tubing, on the right an airline fitting used on the other end...
roy

[Al Willits]

Well, no where near as fancy as what been posted, I have a set of 4 chisels that if I remember correctly were given to me in the late 60's early 70's from Sears, up till now they have been used for removing paint, welding spatter, grease, bondo and just about everything but wood....

Finally dragged them out of the drawer they have been hiding in and restored them, no small feat considering the shape they were in, but I got about 90% of the pitting off them and thanks to Nic managed to get them very sharp.

Just wondering, did Sears make a decent (read affordable and useable) chisel back then and did they even make the plastic handled models in about that time frame (late 60's early 70's) or are they probably newer than that?

Or is Nic gonna sell me a set of chisels soon???:D

Nice looking chisels, makes them plastic handles I have look cheap...er.....I guress they are cheap..:)

Al

[James Mittlefehldt]

Kevin,
There are ferrels for sale on e-bay or you can make your own from various types of tubing...1/2", 3/4", & 1" copper, brass and steel tubing are a convient source for the raw materials. Copper is really nice looking when polished and clear coated so it doesn't tarnish.
Most big box stores will have the copper; the brass can sometimes be found in hardware stores or online from McMaster-Carr and others...if you found that chisel in the dump, then obviously, you have already discovered a good source for cheap raw material. Scrap yards/metal recyclers are also a good place to look...
One of my favorite sources for brass, is air line fittings...brass is soft enough to turn with your wood turning tools or even just filed or sanded to go from the faceted shape to round.
On the left copper and brass tubing, on the right an airline fitting used on the other end...
roy

Wouldn't copper and or brass be a too soft for a mortiseing chisel?

[Clint Jones]

Wouldn't copper and or brass be a too soft for a mortiseing chisel?

I think it would be. And in the photo it appears the chisels with the ferrules are framing chisels including the mortise chisel. I would just cut a piese of metal pipe and use it as a ferrule for the framing ones (something like oak would be a good choice for the framing chisels). The others I would use leather washers or no cap if they are for paring.

[Kevin French]

Kevin,
There are ferrels for sale on e-bay or you can make your own from various types of tubing...1/2", 3/4", & 1" copper, brass and steel tubing are a convient source for the raw materials. Copper is really nice looking when polished and clear coated so it doesn't tarnish.

Does Copper tubing hold up? Seem a bit thin walled for some of these heavy morticing chisels.

[Roy Griggs]

Yes copper is soft, but the copper is not actually recieving the blows from the mallet...If you look at a schlag-ringed chisel you will notice that the wood inside the ring is proud of the ring and the rings main purpose is to keep the wood from mushrooming and having the individual fibers split and seperate. Even being soft the copper is still harder than the mallet that I pound on my chisels with.
If you look at the hooped chisels in Kevin's picture you can see that with a steel hammer (a supposition on my part) even a steel hoop will eventually mushroom, as will the chisel's socket if you pound on that...
I do not treat my chisels to that kind of abuse. Also note that even though the rings have been pounded unmercifully down on the handles the wood inside the rings is still unshattered! The ring has done it's job!

BTW...The handles in that picture, were handles that I made while searching for a handle shape and wood to use on my 750's, they were some of the losers and were just stuck in any old chisel that they would fit, and they are not necessarily going to be used with those chisels.
roy

[Bill Houghton]

I have heard that some chemically tanned (meaning industrial chemicals as opposed to naturally occurring chemicals - the other term that used to be used was "chrome tanned," no idea what that means) leather contains chemicals that can attack steel. This may the source of a recommendation for vegetable tanned leather, although the striking collar at the end of a chisel handle seems safely far away from the chisel body.

Some shoe repair shops may have scraps of thick leather from replacing shoe soles, although there are fewer and fewer of the traditional leather-soled shoes around these days.