Thread: Stanley Made in Australia chisels - quality of steel?

Anyone fond of the English 5005s? I’ve got a couple of them and they seem to hold a really nice edge. Hoping to get a complete set someday.

5005 or 5001?

Originally Posted by Dengue

The handles on the ones I have have a terrible smell, but the steel is very good, really holds an edge

That's an all-too-common characteristic of CAB. I can still recall purchasing a boxed set of Aussie made Crescent screwdrivers that had an infamously "vomitous" odour! I seem to recall giving them away to an unremembered (& probably ungrateful) 3rd party years ago. Yet I don't recall any of my Oz Stanleys (chisels or screwdrivers) ever having anything like the same problem.

Any second hand purchase will these days surely have dissipated the worst, most intense & pervasive aromas by now anyway.

Originally Posted by D.W.

5005 or 5001?

From my limited knowledge of these things here's my rundown of the past and present 5000 chisels:

Past:
5001
5001bevel.jpg
Bevelled edge.
Made in England. White washer with black handle. White and black Stanley England sticker. The premium chisel in this range apparently.

5002
5002bevel.jpg
Bevelled edge.
Made in England. White washer on blue handle and the white and black Stanley England sticker. Earlier types seem to have paler blue handles. (This photo is a mix of old and newer types). Less polished, lesser quality steel than 5001s apparently.

5003
5003catalog1976.jpg
Firmer/mortise.
Made in England. Same qualities/features as the 5002. White washer on blue handle and the white and black Stanley England sticker.

5004
5004mortise.jpg5004mortise2.jpg
Firmer/mortise.
Made in England. Same qualities/features as the 5001. White washer on black plastic handle. White and black Stanley England sticker.

5005
5005.jpg5005cu.jpg
Bevelled edge.
Made in England. Black plastic handles stamped logo and model.



Present (or recent):
5001
5000series.jpg5001chinese.jpg
Bevelled edge.
Made in China. Yellow washer with black plastic handles with a stamped logo.

5002
5002current.jpg
Bevelled edge.
Made in ? White stamp on darker blue handle.


5005
5005current.jpg
Bevelled edge
Made in ?
aka DynaGrip

Vaughan

^ yep the 5005 with the black handles are the ones I like, only got 1/4” and 1/2” ones right now though.

Originally Posted by dubrosa22

From my limited knowledge of these things here's my rundown of the past and present 5000 chisels:

Past:
Vaughan

Thanks, Vaughan - I haven't seen much of the 5005s, and the 5001s/2s were never that popular here in the states (because of the English make, I guess), but I've managed to get a hold of a couple of sets of the 5001s/2s. they're OK. The old ones were ground quite nicely - not perfect, but decent, and more delicate than new chisels. Like the older marples blue chips, it seems like there's always one or two that's soft.

That type is getting more expensive here, though (when you find them used). I saw a set of 6 with little use sell on ebayUK last week for about $120 US. I've paid about $50 for a set of five or 6 when committing 10 or 15 minutes to look over a period of a week or so.

Originally Posted by paul.cleary

Hi,
I have the chance to get hold of some Made in Australia Stanley chisels. They have yellow plastic handles that are black at the bottom.
Probably date from from the 1990s.
Is the steel of good quality so it sharpens well and holds an edge for a long time? (i.e. comparable to the old Marples blue handled chisels)
Thanks
Paul

As has been answered, Yes they are great! All Ive ever used.
The first set I wore out from using every day from 9 to 5 . It took about 13 years cabinet making until they were so short I couldn't grind them any more.
The second set I heated and melted off the handles and fitted N G Ebony London pattern handles with Brass ferrules and I'm still using them . I don't know how they compare to the Marples as for edge holding.
They hold the edge long enough not to be a bother though .

Rob

Rob

Current Sheffield made Stanley chisels have good steel in them... It's some sort of 1% Carbon chrome bearing steel alloy...

I currently prefer the new production Marples Blue Chip chisels (China made) over the Stanley's if you sharpen on conventional stones... They behave like a good conventional 1% high carbon steel... If you aren't using conventional stones - it's probably a wash.

John, are you by chance the fellow who has been through Dan's a few time and posted pictures on SRP (forum?).

re: steel in chisels. I've been on a binge lately, and I've bought probably 10 sets of chisels that would've been considered subpar years ago (and I ascribed to that - needing the chisels to be as hard as possible, etc). I have to admit, I quite like all of them (sorby sets, even new, freud boxwood handles, a set of nooitgedagdt swedish steel - which is actually a bit bulky, but a really *hard* carbon steel chisel).

The old marples chisels and the stanley 5001s are really the only chisels I've found to have duds in their midst. The new Buck brothers chisels sold in the US are a bit soft (the wooden handled chisels, not the acetate hardware store handled chisels), too, but they're easy to grind and make specialty chisels.

Bought back a couple of memories here. When an apprentice Rail Carriage Builder with the NSWGR. Our tool issue would be picked up from the Workshop Store (Clyde) in a large wheel barrow. Value 60 pounds. (would you believe I just went looking a pound sign on the computer keyboard) Paid for by fortnightly pay deductions. This was six months pre decimal. selection of Stanley planes, Jack, Smoother, rebate. A Rabone hand router. Rabone squares, Diston Saws,( Rip, crosscut, panel, tenon and dovetail) 2 hand braces, Stanley hand drill( none of that powered stuff.) Selection of Titan chisels, paring, firmer and mortice and that implement of torture a double grit oilstone. First order was to "face" then sharpen chisels and plane blades. Then hand sharpen saws, could have sworn they were sharp but according to instructors, not sharp enough. Setting teeth was a challenge as the set wasn't right till the instructor could let a needle slide down the "valley". Finished apprenticeship and a couple of years later when at Everliegh, Redfern, a Titan/Stanley rep. visited the workshop with a "new" style mortice chisel. His instructions were"coming back in six months, do everything you don't normally do with a chisel, try to destroy it" Yes the new 'plastic" handled chisel. Ho, Ho this will be a piece of cake!!! Used a hammer on it not a wooden mallet, Cut aluminium moulding with it. Threw it to the ground from the carriage roof, Reminded me of the old song "but the cat came back" On the reps return, could not but give it a glowing report, in particular the quality of the steel and the ease of "facing". He explained that with the old system of grinding the back of a chisel, the chisel was held by magnet then ground. This would distort the back of the chisel when released from the magnet making it an apprentices nightmare when facing. Please don't ask me the new method they used, that's tied up in the cobwebs somewhere. Still had 90% of these tools two years ago plus cedar carriage paneling I had purchased from the NSWGR. Other timber I had collected, various machines I had gained a liking to. Ready to make furniture in my retirement. You guessed it, shed fire lost the lot.(cause unknown) Bit Gutted still.

That must be a picture request AJOE123 .

This is My Stanley set as I mentioned above in post 23 .
I liked them so much I re did the handles from the Stanley type in the back of picture 1.

Making the handles was a nice project . Australian Furniture Timbers in Port Melbourne (sadly no longer in business) had lengths of New Guinea Ebony . A dark chocolate timber with Black streaks .
Oiled and polished it went Black enough like this . I machined up lengths square , Two or three chisels worth each length . Then ran them through the inverted router with a 45 degree cutter that took a bevel off each corner to give eight equal sides. Cut them to length and turned the rest in the lathe . I cut the ferrules from brass pipe. When I melted off the old plastic handles I heated the tang end of the chisel and hammered it around some to give it a hand forged look just in front of the ferrule. I Don't think Id do that again next time . The smallest 1/8th chisel isn't a Stanley . I don't think they made them that small ? I re ground another old chisel for the job . They were in a bit of a state and I cleaned them up for this show and tell .

Rob

Nice looking bunch of chisels, Rob. I take it the wood is a genuine Ebony (Diospyros sp.) and not the 'Solomonor'; or 'Queen'' ebony(Xanthostemon sp.)? There are a couple of species of Diospyros in PNG that grow to large trees, but I can't find any information on the colour of their wood - these botanical blurbs always seem to leave out the most important info - obviously not written by woodies!

Cheers,

I'm not sure if its the genuine or the Solomonor Ian . I have an unpolished off cut somewhere in a wood stack that I will re discover one day . There was quite a difference between the brown dry colour and the oiled then polished finish that I put on .
The guys at Australian Furniture Timbers may have had the name right or they may have bought it from some estate where it may have been in the country here for a long time and the naming of it may have been handed along with the accuracy suffering .

Rob

Stanley Australia did make a 3mm or 1/8" B/E firmer. I have one somewhere. Rarely seen these days, I suspect it may have been more of a special order tool as it was never featured in any of their sets, which were generally only marketed in 1/4" increments.

Lovely chisel set, by the way. You mightn't think so but I really like your faux hand-tooled shanks & bolsters.