Where do I start?

[John Shuk]

Well, I usually spend most of my time in the power tools forum so I am sort of new here. I bought a used chisel at the flea market for $.50. No handle the steel is in good shape alot of patina some surface rust about 3/4 inch wide. No edge to speak of. The mark says lakeside. I don't know if it a very good chisel or not but I'd like to fix it up for the hell of it. I took some 220 wet dry paper and gave it a light sanding and it cleaned up nicely and put a little Nuts Off on it to penetrate through the rust a little and sanded some more. I guess I have 2 questions. 1 how shiny does one usually make a restored tool? 2 where to start when getting a good edge back? I have been using different grits of sandpaper for my chisels and a Veritas honing guide but the edge is so blunt will I be able to get a good edge in a reasonable amount of time with sandpaper? What grit to start at? My 3rd question (I know I said 2) is how does the new handle I plan on turning secure into the "cone"? Is it a friction fit? Any help is appreciated. I just plan to have a little fun with this.
Thanks guys,
John

[Dave Anderson NH]

Welcome to the enlightened side of the Creek. To restore the shape of the tool you have a couple of choices assuming from your description that the previous owner used the chisel for things like opening paint cans. Either a bench grinder or a belt sander with a coarse grit like 80-100 will speed up the reshaping of the primary bevel of the tool. Just be careful to avoid overheating and drawing the temper out of the steel or it won't be able to hold an edge. After primary bevel shaping use your choice of scary sharp, oilstones, or waterstones to do the sharpening in the normal manner. Your socket chisel should also have the inside of the socket cleaned up lightly and derusted. The handle is fit with just friction, so you need to mimic the taper of the socket. Lakeside is one of the mid-west hardware store brands, a private label sold in the late 1800s and early 1900s. For more info search for the Hardware Kollectors Klub, an organization devoted to collectors of tools from the various hardware store house brands. As for brightness and cleanup, that is a matter of personal preference.

[Tim Sproul]

John,

As Dave said, how shiny/clean you make it is entirely a preference.

If you want to use, you'll obviously shine up the cutting edge by sharpening it. IMO, one of the reasons many woodworkers avoid hand tooling is a lack of knowledge on sharpening. I'd suggest you find another in your area (heck, even take a course at a local woodworking store/school) who can help you out or, if you are more of a self-teacher/loner, I'd suggest Leonard Lee's book, Complete Guide to Sharpening (title may be a bit off). Check your library, they may have it.

Once you know how to sharpen a hand tool, it becomes a joy to use. Dull hand tools are terrible....

[John Shuk]

Thanks for the help and suggestions. These pics are of the "RAW" chisel from the flea market and if nobody minds as I progress I will put one or two pics up to show it. The chisel is 1" wide by almost 8 1/2" overall length. Any ideas as to the appropriate handle length? I have some cocobolo some nice maple and I also have some Ipe left over from my porch that I could glue up for the handle. decisions, decisions.
Thanks again,
John

[John Shuk]

Just a quick tidbit. After I posted these pics I googled lakeside chisel and was led back to the 'Creek to a thread from Bob Smalser refurbishing a Lakeside chisel from a while back. That is the thread that got it in my head to do this in the first place. Small world I guess. Thanks Bob.