Chisel restoration

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richarnold

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I spotted this chisel on ebay a few days ago, and something about it spoke to me, possibly because it was by Ward who happens to be my favorite edge tool maker.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/An-Old-Used-1 ... true&rt=nc
I was lucky enough to win the chisel, and it arrived in the post today. It was love at first sight, and I couldn't resist going out to the workshop and putting her back into working condition.
chiselrestoration014.jpg

chiselrestoration004.jpg

The seller described it as being lightly pitted which was a bit of an understatement, but it was a long way from being behind hope.
chiselrestoration003.jpg

The chisel itself was a good deal bigger than I had imagined it to be. It's about 13 1/2" long and quite thin so I suppose you would call it a paring chisel. First job was to flatten the back and see how hard it was going to be to get those pits out. I hadn't got my coarse diamond stone at home, but I had got a double sided one from axminster. It's a combination of 400/1000 grit. surprisingly it didn't take as long as I thought to get the worst of the pitting out

chiselrestoration005.jpg

The back polished up nicely on a 8000 grit waterstone. I then free handed a new bevel on a 6" bench grinder. Don't ask me what angle it's ground at as I do it by instinct and I haven't got a protractor handy to measure it. I don't know a lot about what makes a good steel, but the old boys who taught me always said that when you grind an edge the colour of the sparks will tell you how good it is. They told me that the lighter the colour the better the quality, and let me tell you the sparks of this chisel were nearly white. I gave the chisel a final hone on the water stone, and tried it out by paring some end grain shavings. I decided to give it a really good test,and found a block of rock hard ebony. I may as well have been cutting butter.
chiselrestoration010.jpg

Some of the tools I restore I will perhaps use for a while, and then maybe pass on to someone who will possibly appreciate it more than I would , but sometimes you just click with a tool and you instantly know it will be a friend for life. If thats the case it gets my stamp of approval.
chiselrestoration015.jpg
 
You outbid me!

Nice to know it's gone to a good home though, and I can feel happy that I spotted it too...
 
Nice.....good catch. Fascinating to think how many hands have created nice furniture using it.
 
I was lucky enough to inherit from my mother's father a 1 1/2" paring chisel by I Sorby of very similar design - octagonal bolster, long sweep to the shoulder, and thin blade. It takes an edge like no other chisel I own. Mine probably isn't worth much, because the original beech handle had suffered over the years, so I had to replace it. I made an octagonal one from rosewood.

One feature of mine is that the blade has two tapers, the first in width narrowing from edge to shoulders, and the other in thickness narrowing from shoulders to edge. I believe these tapers were forged in by eye. A very fine bit of tool smithing.

Like you, I won't be parting with my chisel, especially as has a family connection.
 
I had a beautiful I. Sorby 2" until someone I worked with relieved of it. The annoying thing was that the two people who knew what it was wouldn't have nicked it, so the "person" who nicked it is probably using it as a dibber in their garden or something.
 
Large bolster, no ferrule; clearly not designed to be hit with a mallet - a tool for fine work.

Very nice chisel, beautiful handle.

A pleasure to see it - thank you.

BugBear
 
Wonderful wonderful...and um...wonderful! :mrgreen:

I really like that and your approach to fettling it too!

Ward is also one of my favourite steels...and depending on my latest acquisition...my favourite (although Sorby does still hold a lot of love in my heart).

I have a number of these octagonal chisels and they are without exception...all good.

Well done mate!

=D> =D> =D>

Jim
 
Which Sorby?

I just happened to come across this post on an Australian forum which includes a handy table of some Sorbys (compiled by Ken Roberts) and the comment

"The interesting thing about this family tree, is that current thinking is that Isaac Sorby didn't in fact exist. Repeated exhaustive searches of the archives in Sheffield have failed to locate the gentleman in question."

I think the source of that statement was probably this discussion at backsaw.net - http://www.backsaw.net/forum/archive/index.php/t-100.html

Here's the table in question:

MarplesTree.jpg


Brand management is not just a modern thing - there's plenty of evidence that brands which started out as a maker's own name soon became something much more abstract and portable.
 
Richard

Thanks for sharing with us. Ward make some lovely chisels / irons. I have a similar Sorby paring chisel, one of the first I bought as an apprentice and the back polishes up to a mirror giving a awesome cutting edge.

Enjoy!
 
I have often thought that I.Sorby of plane iron fame may well be John (Iohn) as with other archaic abbreviations of the period.

Interesting way to research the Sorby family tree there Andy...looking at the company mergers and acquisition archives.

I have worked from the one on Robert Sorby's website....

[UPDATED WEBSITE HISTORY HEREThis appears to be the new (and rather nicely progressive Mr Clifton) website incorporating YouTube and INNOVATIVE NEW PRODUCTS

Note the Union Flag and the "Made in the UK" banners! Nice to see the Sorby family are keeping up with the times!

It would appear form the new website that Isaac did not actually play a part in the company so I will correct my above reference to John, Robert, Ion and Henry! :wink:

Sound right to you Andy? 8)

Although even Roberts sounds a bit unsure about his family lineage...this may change!

Jim
 
Good restoration, thanks for sharing, and I should say for taking the time to take photos and write it up.

AndyT":19kk1vbm said:
You outbid me!

Of course he did, this is "richarnold" we are talking about here :)

It's nice to see a thread that is entertaining, informative, inpspirational (to me at least) and best of all, doesn't get hijacked by someone just because it mentions sharpening. No names no pack-drill.

Steve
 
Here's a link that sets out the relationships between Ward, Ward and Payne, and Addis:

http://swingleydev.com/archive/get.php? ... t_thread=1

In brief, David Ward started as an edge-tool maker in Sheffield in 1803. The Ward firm was later joined in partnership by Henry Payne, and he registered the famous Ward and Payne trademark in 1843. (The relationships with various Addises is convoluted, but interesting.)

In 'The Tool Chest of Benjamin Seaton', 2nd edition, page 66, there's a chart of chisel shoulder shapes showing the shape of Richard's Ward chisel as 'early 19th century', which fits with the trademark information above.

Richard - I think that nicely dates your chisel to between 1803 and 1843.
 
Cheshirechappie":3ep33liq said:
Here's a link that sets out the relationships between Ward, Ward and Payne, and Addis:

http://swingleydev.com/archive/get.php? ... t_thread=1

In brief, David Ward started as an edge-tool maker in Sheffield in 1803. The Ward firm was later joined in partnership by Henry Payne, and he registered the famous Ward and Payne trademark in 1843. (The relationships with various Addises is convoluted, but interesting.)

In 'The Tool Chest of Benjamin Seaton', 2nd edition, page 66, there's a chart of chisel shoulder shapes showing the shape of Richard's Ward chisel as 'early 19th century', which fits with the trademark information above.

Richard - I think that nicely dates your chisel to between 1803 and 1843.

Thanks for that. I was wondering about the date of the chisel myself. It certanly looks early. I wasn't sure if the tools marked with just the ward mark pre date the partnership with Henry Payne or not. It's made me think that I must start photographing all the marks on plane irons and other edge tools in the collection, and take notes as to what plane they were found in. I'm sure I have some very early irons with zigzag border stamps by Sorby, and Ward somewhere, but I can't remember which planes they are in. hence the need to keep better records!!!
Also thanks for all the kind comments. I'm never quite sure how intrested folks are in this sort of thing, but on the basis of this post I will endevour to add a few more choice items for descussion.
Cheers Richard
 

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