Thread: Australian made Stanley Chisels

Pictures always help.

Stanley acquired full ownership of Titan in 1976 & ceased all tool manufacturing in Australia in 2001, so age today could be between 20 & 40 plus years. Actually, they did make some minor changes over the time Stanley made chisels here under their name, so someone who knows their tool history well could possibly pin your chisels to a shorter time slot if you provide some clear pictures.

As to their utility, they should be quite adequate for most purposes. Titan made chisels that were of a very acceptable standard before Stanley entered the picture. When Stanley took full control in 76, they started making some changes in manufacturing, mainly to improve efficiency & reduce the amount of steel used per chisel, according to Dick Lynch's book. I would expect your chisels will stand up to normal use perfectly well. In my early days, much of the blame I ascribed to poor quality of my edge tools was really due to the poor quality of the sharpener (me!). About the worst thing I can say about those sorts of 'general purpose' chisels is that the lands tend to be rather robust which makes them unsuitable for fine dovetail work - you can't cut into corners without risk of bruising the outside edges. I also have an unreasonable prejudice against plastic handles.....

Cheers,

Originally Posted by Bill Houghton

Pictures always help.

Bill . He wont be able to post pictures until he gets his post numbers up a bit .

Originally Posted by Victormcb0319

Hi!

I got some chisels, and I would like to know they are good chisels? good steel? and what year aprox?

If they are the Yellow and black resin handled Aussie Stanley chisels they are very good . I wore out my first set and am getting through my second set and they are my main users. I re handled the second set with Ebony handles chasing a more traditional look .
If we are talking about the same chisels, Ive never had a problem doing fine work / dovetails with them. Regarding the lands as Ian mentioned.

Rob

Ebony chisel handles?
The handles must be worth more than the chisels. Bet they look great though.

Originally Posted by jack620

Ebony chisel handles?
The handles must be worth more than the chisels. Bet they look great though.

It’s the New Guinea Ebony I used . I re forged the bolster is it ? On them as well .
They took a bit of work . The handles have stood up well to any pounding that’s been needed over the years with the mallet and hammer .
IMG_2961.jpeg IMG_2962.jpeg

The American made versions of the yellow and black resin/plastic handles are, in my opinion, quite good; some of the best for carpentry, because you can beat the daylights out of them and the steel doesn't chip easily, so they hold a decent edge for a long time.

Originally Posted by auscab

....., Ive never had a problem doing fine work / dovetails with them. Regarding the lands as Ian mentioned....

Rob, I was imagining something like the Titan set I had & assumed the Stanleys would be similar, but looking at the pic of your chisels, the lands of your chisels seem to taper & come to a finer edge at the tips (one of the 'modifications' Dick is talking about?). However, I should have added that it's certainly possible to cut dovetails with the Titans, I just have to be careful & not place the chisel right on the corners for a vertical cut - I would chop a mm or so from the corner, then pare into it to clear the bit left. You probably cut a hundred times more D/Ts than I do & your skill levels probably reflect that ratio as well!

I've had a set of LNs for over a decade now, & got used to their very fine edges that I can place right on the corner without risk of marking the cut edges. I bought them before I retired & had a rush of blood to the head - they would be out of my budget now...

Glad to see that I'm not the only person to replace plastic chisel handles with wooden ones. By "New Guinea ebony", do you mean the stuff from the Solomons (Xanthostemon melanoxylon)? It wasn't as expensive as 'genuine' ebony (Diospyros spp.) and is probably considerably more impact-resistant, so should be ideal for chisel handles. I believe N.G. does have some genuine ebonies but not sure if any was imported here. The Xanthostemon is a good deal harder to work than any of the true ebonies I've had, but finishes to a beautifully tactile surface just as nice as ebony. I've used it for infill on a couple of planes - nearly drove me crazy (or crazier, perhaps) fitting it, it is more brittle than ebony, but the pain was worth it:
First shavings.jpg

Cheers,

To accentuate Ian's point on Lands have a look at at this as an example.My lands! You shouldn't buy just any chisels - FineWoodworking

Ian . I think it is the Ebony from the Solomon’s possibly . AFT in Melbourne had it for sale years ago . I think they sold it as New Guinea wood and must have got it wrong. Or I have remembered it completely wrong . It had brown streaks in it until I oiled it and it went much darker. And every board of it was mostly cracked somewhere. I think I got the it for $80 . It was roughly 1.2 x 100 x 50 mm.

Sure sounds like Xanthostemon Rob, it loves to crack in larger sections, and the brown streaks can be a feature. But Macassar ebony can also be streaky. Some of the SIE I've had was almost jet black, and it all darkened when oiled, alright. I vaguely remember it being marketed as "New Guinea ebony" back in the 90s when I first came across some at a wood show. Solomons, Niugini, marketers aren't always too precise with their geography! Whatever, it's certainly nice stuff when tigered into shape, those chisels of yours are very spiffy!

Cheers,

Hi All

In defense of the butt ugly STANLEY plastic handles they : don't roll off the bench, the length sits nicely in the palm, the rise at the stem allows one to get a good push on the chisel, you don't feel bad when hitting the chisel with a sledge and the oblong shape registers orientation in the hand

PS the chisels seem to become decently keen and hold up well enough.


Well that's enough waxing lyrical on a cheap chisel. If I had LNs I am sure I would like them.

Originally Posted by MartinCH

Hi All

In defense of the butt ugly STANLEY plastic handles they : don't roll off the bench, the length sits nicely in the palm, the rise at the stem allows one to get a good push on the chisel, you don't feel bad when hitting the chisel with a sledge and the oblong shape registers orientation in the hand

PS the chisels seem to become decently keen and hold up well enough.


Well that's enough waxing lyrical on a cheap chisel. If I had LNs I am sure I would like them.

you're likely better off with the stanleys. it's safe to buy LN tools and such in the US because most of the people who buy them feel obligated to protect them instead of using them and feeding them a hot lunch at the bench.

I fell into the same group, and had about half a dozen LN planes at a given time, and at one point, another three or four LV planes. i felt obligated to fiddle with them and prevent them from getting scratched.

the third wooden plane I built, I accidentally dropped off of the bench right at the end of making it. I've used it a lot. It's dirty and has dings on it. it's nice to be free of things that give us the impression that care for them (as inanimate objects) is more important than our use of them for ourselves.

I've hardness tested a *lot* of chisels and have my preferences, but the ones that can't be made to work even in hardwoods are few.

My Dad was a "chippy", a builder doing mostly residential and light industrial construction. I worked with him a lot and was brought up to respect tools, but to also use them.

Dad's opinion was that they are tools to serve a purpose, not collect dust or sit there looking all shiny new. He didn't tolerate abuse of tools, but some copped a fair bit of extra heavy duty use and Stanley chisels were often on the front line. He would also assess another "tradie" by the appearance of their tools.

I still have two resin handled Stanley 1 & 1/2" framing chisels with the steel butt that saw a lot of action and still do these days in my hobbies. These were used for framing in the days of hand cut top & bottom housed plates, stairs etc and could easily handle our very hard Johnstone River Hardwood, Penda, Ironbark bearers, joists, stringers etc, a bit of demolition work taking a hit from the odd nail and small sledge hammer, then with a touch up on a stone could be used to finesse wide housings on Northern Silky Oak joinery.

I also have two sets of the Australian made (?) resin handled Stanley Bevel Chisels, one set still unused & set aside for my son. The other set has seen regular hobby use. Dad's set of Stanley Bevel Chisels along with other hand tools mysteriously disappeared after he passed away 30 years ago. They had shortened quite a bit but still held an edge well.