Sorsakoski chisel

[Just4Fun]

I recently bought an old chisel from a flea market for the princely sum of 1 euro. It was pretty rough: some rust, it had at some point been painted and the handle is in poor condition. I bought it because the lands are low, so it should be good for getting into small places such as dovetails.

I cleaned it up a bit and sharpened it yesterday. It is marked Sorsakoski and Made in Finland. Not a name I had heard of before and I can't find much useful info online. I am puzzled why Made in Finland is written in English rather than Finnish. If it was made for the home market I would expect it to be in Finnish so maybe this was mainly an export item. If so, maybe someone knows something about the brand. I gather it was swallowed up by Hackman at some point, but that is not mentioned on this chisel so this may be from an earlier date.

I have not used the chisel yet so I don't know how good it is.

 

[D_W]

know nothing about it, but the name crosses to an industrial village in finland (so like a tiny version of a chisel marked "eskilstuna" from sweden).

I'd bet it's a decent chisel, just a matter of what its purpose was (is it higher carbon for finer work, or lower carbon for construction work). It sounds like it must've been made early enough to spend the money to grind the lands a little lower.

If it's got english on it, you can assume it was made to be sold somewhere that people speak english (possibly even the US market where origin has long been required on goods).

 

[heimlaga]

The company Hackman&Co made chisels in Sorsakoski in the past.
Some were stamped "made in Finland" and I rekon that English phrase was a bit of a standard at the time. The Swedes very frequently stamped "made in Sweden" and the Germans stamped "Made in Germany". Only the French stuck to their own "Fabrique en France".

Unlike their Swedish competitors who made laminated chisel blades with soft iron backing up the hardened steel the Sorsakoski factory forged chisels from a single piece of cast steel so the blades of the smallesr sizes tend to snap straight off because there is no soft iron there to back the brittle hardened steel. The larger sizes usually don't break if you don't abuse them beyond reason. The steel quality is good and so is the hardening and tempering. They take a good edge rather easily and hold it rather well.

 

[Just4Fun]

That is interesting & useful information. I will take care to try not to snap this chisel.

I used the chisel yesterday and it seems fine. Neither better nor worse than my Sheffield steel chisels as far as I could tell. I might even replace the (battered) handle - which is a major concession given my normal rate of tool maintenance.