Ancient beveled edge chisels (and other nice old stuff)

[Corneel]

We had a discussion a while ago about the time when the beveled edge chisel came onto the market. It was believed that it was a late 19th century invention, because you find all kinds of early firmer shaped ones and only later beveled chisels in England. Then the Dutch chisel found on Nova Zembla from 1596 entered the discussion.

Today, Roald from the Hovelbenk blog posted about the tool collection from the Skokloster castle in Sweden. These tools have been made in Amsterdam around 1664. You really must have a look at the blog, it is a marvelous collection!
https://hyvelbenk.wordpress.com/2015/04/25/tools-from-skokloster-castle-in-sweden/comment-page-1/

To my surprise, the collection has quite a few beveled edges chisels in great condition for such old tools. Not really wanting to start that discussion again, but just to show how the Dutch had a tradition of beveled edged chisels in the 17th century:

 

[Harbo]

That's a great tool collection and in excellent condition for things that old.

I went round the Mary Rose Museum the other week - lots of old tools from the early 1500's but all the steel had corroded away

Rod

 

[G S Haydon]

Great stuff Corneel! Having it next to the pieces that were made is also very interesting. I might be pushing my luck here but I think you can see how continental Europe had a different furniture style than the UK at that time and how it required a different type of (and dare I say) finer tool and skill level?

Nice shot of offset totes https://hyvelbenk.wordpress.com/2015/04 ... ousel-2459

Interesting saw and a stunning nib https://hyvelbenk.wordpress.com/2015/04 ... ousel-2445

Thanks again!

 

[Corneel]

Yes it is a terrific collection. I really need to drag myself overthere some time.

I indeed think the continent was still ahead of England in the 17th century regarding fine craftsmanship. A lot of craftsman from Flanders came over to London to make the really nice stuff. Later on of course, England took over and I think the 18th and 19th century tools from England are a lot better then the stuff from the continent. In the early 19th century the Netherlands were in a sorry state.

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Excellent stuff!

It's certainly true that during the 17th century continental Europe was ahead of Britain in many respects, including woodworking craftsmanship. The English Civil War in the 1640s, the events leading up to it, and the immediate aftermath meant a major hiatus in British cultural life; things only started to get back to normal from about 1670 onwards, and a lot of development in many fields used knowledge and expertise from Europe. I think it's fair to say that the very liberal attitudes to politics, civil administration and religion that characterised 18th century Britain allowed very fast technical and cultural development, so it caught up with and overtook Europe.

Looking at those 17th century Dutch chisels, there are distinct features that appeared later in British-made tools. The octagonal bolster, the tapered octagonal handles with no ferrules, the shape of shoulder and neck all suggest that Britain's earlier tools were at the very least heavily influenced by Dutch (and maybe other continental countries) tools. It would appear that Sheffield started by making knock-offs of Dutch tools!

That leaves the question of why the bevel-edged form fell out of favour in Sheffield - there seems to be no evidence of Sheffield (or Birmingham, which had a tool-making trade before Sheffield really got going) bevel-edged chisels before the late 19th century (so far!). I have some thoughts about that, but no definite answers.

 

[richarnold]

This is a great post.
Thank you for putting up this wonderful information. I would be interested to know how the beveled edge has been formed on these Dutch chisels, As in, are they ground, or are they hammered in on the anvil? This early English chisel by Samuel freeth has the bevels forged rather than ground. I wonder if the Dutch examples are the same. Interestingly as a side note I found reference to Freeth in this book, and it would appear he was training Russian apprentices !http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_IONAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA18&lpg=PA18&dq=freeth+edge+tool+maker&source=bl&ots=vm6JvLeMcm&sig=1D_TMnnkJd97FmKiG5bQ4LAfOeM&hl=en&sa=X&ei=tuwmVLGfC4_iaI_xgcAP&ved=0CDIQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=freeth%20edge%20tool%20maker&f=false

 

[Corneel]

Rich,

When you surf to the website of the Rijksmuseum you can do a search in the collection for "beitel". That brings you here: https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/search/objecten?q=beitel&p=2&ps=12&ii=0#/NG-NM-7667,12

Now you can zoom into the picture which shows remarkable detail. For me it is hard to say if the bevels are ground or hammered. The bolster really looks like it is smith made, and it is really cleanly made. Remember, this is from the toolchest of a ships carpenter! Not really a fine furniture maker.

The latest woodwright shows has an episode where the American smith Peter Ross makes one of these classic chisels. It is very insightfull to see how he makes it. No beveled edges though.
(Watch "tempered steel").

http://www.pbs.org/woodwrightsshop/watch-on-line/2014-2015-episodes/

 

[Corneel]

Oh, and a question. Do you know the date from that Samuel Freeth chisel?

 

[richarnold]

Oh, and a question. Do you know the date from that Samuel Freeth chisel?

Hi . The only concrete date I can find is that he took a Russian apprentice on in 1718. Having shown the chisel to a few members of TATHS, the general consensus was that this form of chisel was probably not found after about 1730, and this example might be as early as 1670.
I have seen 4 other English examples of this form, but none of them were beveled.
Cheers, Richard

 

[Corneel]

Thanks for the answer. Intrueging stuff this is.

And of course nobody knows why the bevel edge chisel dissapeared from the scene. If I remember correctly there aren't any in Roubo either.

 

[CHJ]

......And of course nobody knows why the bevel edge chisel dissapeared from the scene. If I remember correctly there aren't any in Roubo either.

Not got a handle on tool history time scales myself but by any chance was there a rash of competitive makers all vying for the same market and had to cut production costs to keep the prices down.

 

[Corneel]

Your guess is as good as mine. But you see the quality and attention for detail going up all the time in 18th and 19th century England, so why would they drop the beveled edge? You couls also say that a feature like this would be a good sales argument.