A Brace of Bevels - The Chisel Restoration Continues....

[jimi43]

Since chisels seem to be flavour of the month I thought I would share with you the little grouping of bevel chisels I picked up last year at a bootfair...

Now...you may say...Jim showed us these last year BUT...these have been restored by the grand master....the boss of the bevel and the specialist of sharpening...Douglas..(aka condeesteso) of this parish.

I mentioned that Douglas has a precision for sharpening cutting things that borders on the obsessive (in a nice way) and he also favours flat bevels which a really nice on these chisels....so off they went to his workshop for fettling.

Now these are no ordinary chisels...rather a nice little set of Buck and Ryan jobbies....

...not often found in sets like this. Ok there are a few missing but the useful sizes are there.

And now they are ever so slightly sharp!! :shock:

So thank you Douglas kind sir!! Very generous of you my friend!

=D> =D>

Oh...and Prof...I left the history out to give you some fun...and between you and the other tool experts...I'm sure we will have the date...place of manufacture...chemical composition of the steel...and known owners by the end of the day! :mrgreen:

Cheers guys!

Jim

 

[Racers]

Hi, Jim

Nice, I like a London pattern Box wood handle.

Pete

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

These are very, very nice indeed. Are you intending on adding to the set? I know matching tools are not important, but I do like to have a wider range of sizes for dovetailing, and having a matching group of these, in all the sizes needed, would be the bee's knees.

Mike.

 

[jimi43]

Cheers Pete...yes...they are my favourite shape too...especially for that type of chisel...they just seem to gel.

Hi Mike...yes...I knew they were beauties the moment I set eyes on them but they had been scattered in a box of other...shall we say...less beautiful chisels and I had to sort through the whole lot to find those four. There must have been a set at some time but I think some other person found the others before I had a chance. They were a bit "blunt" to say the least...

...with the required paint splashes...but definitely worth saving!

I think I will be leaving the handles as they are...they show the natural signs of age you just can't fake. :wink:

Jim

 

[ac445ab]

They are very beautiful, Jim, and in Great Britain you have really so many treasures, judging by amount of tools you can find!

Ciao
Giuliano

 

[Cheshirechappie]

OK Jimi - you've dangled the carrot - I'll nibble.

Date of manufacture - the octagonal bolster and shoulder shape suggests pre-WW2, the bevelled edges suggest post 1890-ish. Since they are stamped 'Buck and Ryan' (tool retailer) but not 'Cast Steel' they may well not be of cast steel but something like O1, so let's plump for between the wars.

Place of manufacture - they look like Sheffield chisels - Buck and Ryan certainly didn't make them! Maybe the product of a tool factor dealing with several Sheffield Little Mesters.

Chemical composition of steel - if it's O1, that'll be Carbon 0.9 - 1.0%, Silicon 0.4%, Manganese 1.1 - 1.4%, Chromium 0.5%, Tungsten 0.5%, Vanadium 0.25%, some very small amounts of Sulphur and Phosphorus (impurities), the balance Iron - or near offer.

Owners' names - you're hiding the namestamps on the handles, aren't you!

All that might be wrong, of course. Doesn't alter the fact that those are very nice chisels - lovely fine bevelled edges on 'em.

 

[jimi43]

Class CC....pure class sir! =D>

Jim

 

[condeesteso]

very nice chisels Jim, a good find (again). I trust the one on the left, that's a highlight?
I noticed when polishing the backs they have a very slight hollow starting about 1" back from the edge, making polishing far easier.

 

[AndyT]

Coming late to the party, there's not much more to add... except to say that according to BPM III Buck and Ryan were established in 1910 as the amalgamation of two existing businesses. Many people will know of their big London shop in Tottenham Court Road, later relocated to Southampton Row, which was one of the most noticeable places selling tools in central London.

However, it appears - from this model engineering forum that they finally shut up shop in December last year, apparently for retirement reasons.

So the long line of Buck family tool businesses is down to just one - Buck and Hickman - who seem to be a shadow of their former glories. Their website says they sell over 5,000 hand tools, including chisels with familiar names such as Record, Irwin and Marples - but the best I could find were these, which while nothing like as desirable as Jim's, do at least claim to be made in "Sheffield, England."

 

[jimi43]

very nice chisels Jim, a good find (again). I trust the one on the left, that's a highlight?
I noticed when polishing the backs they have a very slight hollow starting about 1" back from the edge, making polishing far easier.

Yes...never fear Douglas...that black area is a reflection of my hair as I took the photograph...no error.

I think we can definitely date them 1914-1946 as Buck and Ryan were at the Edgeware Road before that date and G.Buck didn't amalgamate with Ryan until 1910. The 3rd Edition of Goodman has "until 1946" but it doesn't say what happens then until they moved to Tottenham Court Road in the 60s.

The stamp is rather early looking at the other ones...just in style and crudeness. I would say they are from the earlier part the time they were at Euston Road.

The script looks very similar to Ward...probably made by them or someone as big as them in Sheffield...and as we know..W&P were commonly outsourcing their wares to other smaller companies around Sheffield. They are certainly quality tools.

I can't wait to try them out...

Thanks for the research guys.

Jim

 

[adzeman]

I caught up my missed television having returned back home and did like the comment by the Green Man carver on Great British Woodworkers. Being, each owner of the chisels having stamped his name on the chisels giving the tools TLC and then passing them on to another craftsman an so on ad in fenitum.

 

[Richard T]

Nice chisels Jim.

S'cuse my ingnorense , but was this Buck of the same line of Buck that made box mitres about a hundred or so years earlier? Or am I Bucking up the wrong tree?

 

[jimi43]

Nice chisels Jim.

S'cuse my ingnorense , but was this Buck of the same line of Buck that made box mitres about a hundred or so years earlier? Or am I Bucking up the wrong tree?

Indeed it is...I believe Thos Buck was the great grandfather...but J.Buck (Joseph)...was I think the maker of the famous Buck planes.

I might be wrong there as I am off to work and haven't time to check properly but the Prof...or his new assistant (CC! :mrgreen: ) should be along soon to confirm or disprove my memory.

Jim

 

[AndyT]

People who like Jim's chisels might also have spotted this ebay sale of a bigger set of firmers by Marples:

17 bids and a respectable £236, which looks a lot at first glance, but is not that much per chisel, and a rare chance to get a large well-matched set (if you like that sort of thing!)

 

[jimi43]

WOW! Looks like I will need to keep an eye out next week for the rest of my set!

Thanks Andy! You bidding? :wink:

Jim

 

[AndyT]

No Jim, I wasn't bidding. I already have enough chisels! :---)

 

[GazPal]

No Jim, I wasn't bidding. I already have enough chisels! :---)

I keep trying to tell SWMBO the same thing, but she somehow knew I was fibbing when I kept asking her to make new chisel rolls. I'm now in need of a new supplier. O