Stanley 750 Chisel

[Bob Smalser]

Beware the old but high-end chisel with a warped back. It may have been burned on somebody's grinder who then tried retempering it.

Personally, I don't have any chisel sets matched by brand....it was hard enough to get all the sizes and match the style, thickness and length. If cosmetics are a concern then new handles and a little Oxphoblue can cure most of that. Here's a nice, made-up set of 11 firmer gouges with only two or three that match by brand (Buck and Greenlee).



While collector favorites change subject to whim, this old list of high-end chisels still applies. While I have several Stanleys, I can't get excited about them. I still consider old Greenlee, PS&W and Buck the best values, and Swan, Witherby, Gillespie and New Haven Edge government contracts the best chisels. If you have the bucks, tho....modern Barr's are a little short for my taste but as good as any chisel ever made.

Anything marked "Stanley", "Witherby", "Winchester", "Chas Buck" or "L&IJ White" is generally going to a collector for too high a price unless they are part of large, handleless lots, along with some Swan's. Older (not newer) Greenlee and Buck Bros, New Haven Edge Tool, Ohio Tool, DR Barton, Underhill, Union Hardware, Jennings, GI Mix, Shapleigh Hardware, Eric Anton Berg, Dickerson, Gillespie, Dixon, PS&W or PEXTO, Robt Duke, Fulton, Merrill, Butcher, Stiletto, Hibbard OVB, Simmons Keen Kutter, Lakeside and several other old makers and hardware store brands are every bit as good as the collector prizes and are much less expensive. Most unmarked chisels of that era were usually made by one of the above makers for a hardware distributor and are also generally excellent.

The only really poor socket chisels I've observed are newer Craftsman (older socket Craftsman were often made by Greenlee) of chrome-vanadium steel, some "Eclipse" brand and the occasional Stanley Defiance that refuse to take an excellent edge.

Top-Tier:

Witherby
Swan
Gillespie
New Haven Edge gov't contracts marked "USA" or "USN"

Hard to Call between First and Second....but always most excellent:

DR Barton
PS&W or PEXTO
Greenlee thin paring chisels
Buck gouges


Second-Tier:

Stanley
Stilletto
New Haven Edge
White
Older Buck (older chisels will have sockets, which went out around the time drop forging did)
Older Greenlee
Older Craftsman made by Greenlee
Winchester
Ohio Tool
Wye
Chas Buck
Douglas (precurser company to Swan)
GI Mix
Eric Anton Berg
Underhill
Jennings
Sargent
KeenKutter
Hibbard OBV
Dixon
Robt Duke
Fulton
Merrill
Butcher
Lakeside
Union Hardware
Dickerson
Shapleigh Hardware (Diamond Edge brand)

Third-Tier (Don't buy)

Stanley Defiance
Eclipse
Newer Greenlee, Buck or Stanley socket chisels made in the 1960's and later.
Any chisel with a vanadium finish like used on mechanics tools.

Al the hardware store brands were made by a larger chisel manufacturer. Greenlee seems to have made a lot of them. One store bought from Witherby....Shapleigh?...but I don't remember which one. Shapleigh usually bought Sargent planes as house brands, and any chisel marked Winsted, Conn was made by Witherby.