Looks like the things I was sitting aside to send to Happy Camp will just go back in the shed, that leaks.
Hey Now.............Yo!! Wait-a-minute!! Yikes !!
heh heheheh
The chisels are regular professional cabinetmakers bench chisels. 6" of business, not counting the socket or anything else.
This was standard before people forget and started thinking of stubby little chisels (called Gent's in the old days, meaning wussy) as real chisels.
Notice Lie-Neilsens 4" chisels, at $90 a stem!! Gulp
I think Lee Valley just released some fairly respectable 5" chisels, at about 1/2 that.
and look at this cutie in the modern world, perfect handle!!
http://www.leevalley.com/en/wood/page.aspx?p=67735&cat=1,41504 4" is a Gent's chisel, 3" is the lowest grocery store quality chisel
2" is a butt chisel made for special close quarter jobs and these really were made in the old days.
Paring chisels are another 2" longer still than bench chisels. At least they started out that way.
Most you see have been shortened some by now. And they are -really- thin! No way you are even tapping a real paring chisel with a soft mallet! Hand push only. Patternmakers and others who use these kept them brrrrrrr-razor sharp!!
Mortice chisels came ~ 6" long most times. The main thing with them was, they are at least 4 times as thick as they are wide. Massive bruisers made for pounding nearly straight into the wood with wild abandon.
There are shipwright/millwright chisels too. These are super thick rugged chisels often with what has been dubbed "beer mug" sockets for the handles. They call them this because a regular socket chisel handles can literally swim around and never touch the sides!
Picture 1
are my bench chisels. These all used to be 6" long and all have been shortened over the years but none all the way down near 4" or anything! If you squint to the back you can see a single paring chisel shortened down to a 7" blade, and 2 large size regular bench chisels.
Picture 2, left to right
shows a carving chisel (bent gouge), a lock mortise chisel (for prying chips from the bottom of a deep hole), a mortise chisel (or pigsticker), 4 regular bench chisels and last a corner chisel (90degree edge)
Picture 3
a timber frame chisel (nearly as thick as shipwright), a true shipwright chisel, very thick very large socket for 1/2" wide), another ship's chisel fairly worn down but still over 5" of blade left,
a regular 1/4" butt chisel
and 2 barn sized, framers corner chisels. Needless to say these are all bruisers except the butt.
yours Scott
