I&H Sorby Firmer Rehandle.

[AndyT]

I realised that I have a couple of chisels which while not as long as Jim's find are just about as heavily built. Both have the maker's mark on the "top" ie the same side as the bevel (call it front or back, I don't mind.)

This one is from Woodcock of Sheffield:

while this one is from JH Swift and Sons:

I also found a great picture of the Swift works - redolent of simpler times, I thought - I won't post it as the library site forbids image posting, but follow this link - I suspect there are many more good tool-related photos there:

http://www.picturesheffield.com/fro..._No_increment;EQUALS;s18670&pos=2&action=zoom

 

[Woodchips2]

What was the purpose of such heavily built chisels?
Regards Keith

 

[jimi43]

What was the purpose of such heavily built chisels?
Regards Keith

Hi Keith

They are just another scale up in the field of woodworking...the framers of old buildings...huge mortices and other joints...the making of mill parts such as the teeth for the wheel...shipbuilding...big oak timbers and wheelwright work....etc.

They make light work of large jobs..and usually hit with large mallets, hence the double ferrules.

Jim

 

[Cheshirechappie]

Just to add to Jimi's post a bit, Millwrights were the guys skilled in erecting and maintaining factory machinery - lineshafting, machine tool installation, drive belts, building machine beds - that sort of thing. They obviously developed from the guys who built and maintained water and wind mills, and were usually skilled in masonry, heavy woodwork and metalwork, and capable of moving very heavy objects wherever they were required. Want a five ton machine moved up a flight of stairs? Call the millwrights.

When I was doing my practical engineering training at Leigh Tech in Lancashire years ago, the senior tutor used to regale us with tales of his grandfather, a millwright who erected many of the wooden pit headgears that littered the South Lancashire coalfield before WW2. Those chisels would be for that class of work.

 

[Woodchips2]

Thanks Jim and Cheshirechappie. I guess handling big chisels with big mallets would mean you wouldn't need the Charles Atlas course :lol:

Regards Keith