Salvaging Abused Tools - Part 5 - Saving an Erik Anton Berg Firmer Chisel

 Occasionally one discovers a gem hiding in plain sight.

In this case it was a registered firmer chisel made by Erik Anton Berg of Eskilstuna in Sweden. There has been plenty written about the desirability of the steel used in these chisels, and it seems to begin with the quality of the Swedish ore used in the crucible cast steel of their forging, and it is complemented by the way they were tempered. They have a consistency in their quality which is hard to define, but is top shelf.

The blades of Berg chisels sharpen with relative ease, hold their edge and cutting power for a significant time, resist chipping and are easily re-sharpened. They are an excellent compromise between edge hardness and ease of sharpening, that makes them sought after for the tool chest.

This one inch firmer chisel has had a rough life - both blade and handle having seen better days. In its current form it doesn't look too desirable does it?

A trip to the wire wheel to clean off the rust and scale, then across to the grinder to square off the back-beveled blade. A new front bevel will be ground later.

 

The logo branding is hard to read - but it is unmistakably Berg!

Here it is after cleaning the steel and square grinding the blade.

The permanent marker on the blade is there to help me establish the new bevel when the time comes. It is a guide to the correct angle for the bevel-grind.

As you can see, quite a bit of steel has to be removed.

The first step in flattening the back is to get a uniform flat plane at the cutting edge. Here is the first step after flattening on a 400 grit diamond plate. After grinding the new bevel later, I will refine the back on my oilstones.

It can stay as is until it has its new handle.

I'll use the old handle as a guide, but first the blade has to be removed from the broken handle.  With the blade firmly gripped in a vice, the handle can be persuaded the come loose with a wrench and a mallet.

The top hoop and the ferule will be re-used.

The tang isn't tapered as are English and Australian chisels, but it is formidable.

I've chosen a piece of osage orange - a useful, hard and dense timber, well suited to tool handles.

Here I have roughed the blank down to size, and started work on the ferule.

At this point, I have fitted the ferule, and shaped the handle, with space at the top for the steel hoop.

I'll shape a second handle for another chisel from the remainder - before parting this off the lathe.

Here are the two handles from the single stick of osage orange

I'll use the second handle for a nice Charles Taylor firmer chisel blade that I have.

I forgot to take my beeswax to the Guild workshop when I made these, so they aren't as nicely buffed as I would like, but they will serve.

The Second Handle on the Charles Taylor Firmer

Next - grind the new bevel on the blade

E.A. Berg - Cleaned, Re-handled and Re-bevelled

Finally, hit the stones for a sharpen and a hone and we are good to go.

What is not evident from the pictures is the refinement in the blade. It is tapered slightly from front to back in all three dimensions - ie blade width, blade thickness, and - barely perceptible but finely sloped lands.

This is a splendid tool whose form is as good as its function.

 Not Worth Saving.............. Well Maybe ....................

A Colonel - Sheffield - Tanged Firmer Chisel on its Last Legs

Salvaging Abused Tools - Part 4

Well here it is:

Sad isn't it!

I don't think that I have ever seen a worse case of blade pitting than this,

Both sides are cratered.

Nevertheless, I thought I would give it the benefit of the doubt and see what lay beneath.

First step was to grind back both edges so that I could get a glimpse of the steel below.

Good enough to work with and showing real promise

Next - grind and flatten the back.

I concentrated on the front inch and a half as the pitting further back was cavernous.

Here it has been through my stones and finished on hard arkansas.

A new bevel was then polished the same way.

The business end now looks like it will be capable of some serious work.

The steel is good.

This little test of silky oak endgrain shows that the blade is truly capable.

Perhaps even deserving of a new handle - maybe later.

A colleague has commented that the unpolished surfaces look like they have been hand-hammered.

They have certainly taken a hammering, but the look is not unattractive if you squint hard enough - :)

It certainly still is an ugly duckling, but it isn't ready to be consigned to the scrap heap just yet.

It brings to mind that old saying:

...........................................never judge a book by its cover

Here is a similar firmer by Ward and Payne of Sheffield

It was in as poor condition, and the sides were so bad that they needed a severe re-grinding.

It started as a 1 inch chisel and is now a 7/8" firmer.

How fortuitous - I was missing a 7/8" chisel from my tool collection, and this will also serve quite nicely.

It is a Ward and Payne - the steel was always going to be good!

 

 Salvaging Abused Tools - Part 3 - Saving a Ward and Payne Firmer Chisel

OK, this lovely chisel has numerous problems.

A painted and abused blade, a beaten-to-death handle and a generous coating of rust to finish things off.

What did I see in it?

Well, it was made by Ward and Payne of Sheffield England.

As an old craftsman once said to me - "..... it is hard to find a bad chisel out of Sheffield over the period 1850-1950, but Ward and Payne were among the crown jewels of the best of British steel ....."

It is certainly worth restoring.

First, clean up the blade - brass wire wheel to the rescue again.

No pitting - Hooray!

The old handle was in pieces and being held together by a pair of nails.

Since this chisel will become a wide paring chisel, I will add a handle longer than normal.

It will use the existing brass ferule - and I'll round over the end to comfortably fit the palm.

It will never again be struck with a hammer, and rarely with a mallet.

I want it to complement my other parers which are handled in Japanese red oak. The closest that I have is American white oak.

The blade is in need of a re-grind. The current bevel sits at around 36 degrees - far too steep for paring.

I have established a new bevel at about 25 degrees finished.

The steel is hard, This is evident in the grinding process. It sings at a higher pitch on the grinder, and took noticeably longer to grind than the Titan that I did recently.

The back shows a convex profile, so some flattening on the stones will be necessary - a tedious job with harder steel, but worth it.

Here it is part way done - still plenty to do.

The finished flattened back. It is completely flat at the cutting edge and will continue to flatten with further sharpening in use.

Here is the finished bevel and micro bevel - very close to 25 degrees now.

It pares very nicely and the handle fits my hand well.

All in all it is an excellent tool, and will complement my other paring chisels very nicely. Its extra width will be a bonus for larger joints.

Well worth the effort of bringing it back into use.

 Salvaging Abused Tools Part 2 - Saving an Early Titan Firmer Chisel

This Titan firmer chisel was made in Tasmania some time after World War II - most likely in the early 1950's

It is a 1-1/2 inch Titan Firmer Tang Chisel with plain straight edges and wooden handle - one of their earliest designs.

This design very closely resembles that of a Ward and Payne from around the same period, and it may have used the English chisel as inspiration.

Ward and Payne Sheffield

I like this style because of the comparative thinness of the blade compared to the registered firmer types, and the straight edges are an aid to paring square joints.

In the 1951 McPherson's Catalogue, this chisel cost 8/-8d.......... eight shillings and eight pence.

If my maths is correct - and adjusted to average weekly earnings and inflation, that would be about $65 in today's money. So, enough to make you think carefully about putting a set of these together

I happily paid $15 for it in its current condition. Why? Because the blade is almost full length in spite of the added skew, and it is almost unmarked. The handle is another matter entirely.

Titan Tasmania Australia

The angle of the picture doesn't show it well, but there is a skew across the blade of around 1/4 inch from one side to the other. Note that the back of the blade shows the original factory grind marks and no pitting - a huge plus.

This is a better view of the back of the blade - the factory grind is quite apparent here - as is the added back bevel !!!! Why do people insist on ruining a cutting edge like this?

This side view shows the back bevel more easily. Note how clean the edges are. It is not uncommon in chisels of this age to find dents, pits and burrs along edges. This one is very straight - almost original.

So the blade is what excited me in the first place.  The handle, however, is very sad indeed.

It has been pounded with a steel hammer and badly split. Here you can see the circular imprints of the hammer head. The damage is severe.

A whole billet has been struck from one side of the handle - and is lost.

The rest of the handle is fractured along multiple axes. It is beyond repair, and a new handle will have to be made. Fortunately, the ferule is intact and can be re-used.

I won't be able to turn a new handle until I visit the Guild workshop, so I will work on the blade in the meantime.  The skew and back bevel need to be removed - cooling often in water while grinding - so as not to affect the temper of the steel.

Once the blade is ground back to square, I established a new bevel. I chose approximately 26 degrees - which with a further microbevel will finish close to 30 degrees. Note that the skew grind that I inherited here has left a small part of itself behind when the new bevel was established - this will eventually disappear as the chisel is re-sharpened after each use.  Currently it is only cosmetic.

Next step is to flatten the back of the blade.

This was a chore!

Here it is after about an hour and a half on the stones, and not finished yet.

This blade is the exact opposite of a good Japanese bench chisel which has a concave back.

This one is convex, and needed a mountain of work to get it to this stage..

What shows up clearly here are the original factory grind marks, this chisel has never been flattened before. The steel is good - I can't wait to use it.

Along with the back flattening, the new bevel needs sharpening. This is a fairly simple passage through the stone grits to final polish on a hard arkansas stone. - Yes I still use oil stones.

Here is the back nearly finished. I ran out of steam at this stage, but there isn't too far to go.

Next - the handle.

I found a piece of osage orange that will suit.

It is hard and dense and finishes nicely.

Osage orange is native to the United States and it grows as an exotic on the northern tablelands of NSW.

A good friend gave me a couple of pieces.

It turns easily and finishes well off the turning chisel.

The existing ferule can be re-used and has been nicely made, with a tapered end to lead onto the handle.

Certainly a huge improvement over the poor battered original.

It will also take a mallet without splitting so promises to be practical as well as beautiful.

The finished chisel will earn its keep and look good in the tool chest.

 Salvaging Abused Tools - Saving Classic Chisels

Part 1 of 4

Some people should never own quality tools, as they are unworthy of them.

Case in point:

Four chisels came my way over recent times and begged for a chance to perform again to their full potential. These all have proud pedigrees - William Marples and Sons & Ward and Payne of Sheffield - Erik Anton Berg of Eskilstuna Sweden,  and our very own Titan from Tasmania

Looking at them - their current state is an offence to the artisans who crafted these tools, and to everyone who used and cared for them over the course of their lives.

Let's start with the Marples.

It once was a two inch wide fine bladed joinery chisel, suitable for taking the finest of shaving cuts from tenons and lap joints and the like. It shows an extremely fine cross-section, and it wears a brass ferrule - signs of a premium tool.

It has been reduced to a much abused putty knife and paint tin opener.

A survey of the damage brings a tear to the eye. The whole chisel is coated with paint and putty residue.

The corner of the blade has been broken off - presumably from said paint tin lid.

The edge of the blade shows a pronounced back bevel - hopefully there is no pitting under the paint. We'll see how flat it is as well.

The handle is a mess.

It has been pounded with a hammer to the point of splitting and fibre destruction.

A whole billet has been sheared off the side and was re-attached with small nails.

A small billet is missing from the other side as well.

In spite of all of this, I am going to try to preserve the factory ash handle, as it has an imprint of the original owner - one W. H. Miles. Clearly this was not the same person who abused the tool, as the name stamp denotes pride in ownership. I think he would be heartbroken to see it now.

The Restoration

I've started by removing the paint, scale and rust from the blade.

A brass-wire buffing wheel works well.

The blade needed squaring again, and this involved removing about 3/16inch to get rid of the broken corner.

The bevel for the blade was also too shallow at about 15 degrees, and in re-grinding I tried to establish a 21 degree bevel that would finish at about 25 degrees with a secondary bevel. This is somewhat more shallow than standard bench chisels, but not for paring chisels, which this is meant to be.

The cutting edge won't degrade so quickly as would the old 15 degree bevel.

The regrinding also removed the back bevel - enabling easier flattening of the back.

The flattening shows a hollow behind the leading edge, but this will disappear with continued sharpening. It could be that the chisel was used as a lever in the past and this has imparted a slight bend to the blade, but it isn't an insurmountable problem.

The back shows some pitting, but it is a long way back from the cutting edge - closer to the tang than to the toe. 

To show the fineness of the blade, here it is between a standard Japanese bench chisel - Oire Nomi - and a standard bench chisel by Erik Anton Berg - itself sometimes considered a paring chisel.

The extremely fine cross section and slim taper are apparent.

This chisel has decades of life still left ahead of it.

The handle I have spent some time on. The billet and its cavity were cleaned and re-glued with two part epoxy. The nail holes filled with glue and provide a set of tiny keys now that they are dry.

The handle was rounded to remove the crushed wood fibres, and so provide a comfortable grip for the palm. In the unlikely event that this will ever be struck, I will only be using a wooden mallet.  Most often this will be used as a paring chisel, so hand use only.

A clean, and a couple of coats of boiled linseed oil diluted with turps, and we're good to go.

The proof of the pudding is in the paring.

This lovely old chisel really sings. It is nearing a century in age, and is good for another hundred years at least.

I'll show updates on the Ward, the Titan and the Berg as they happen.

Happy shavings to all..................