Thread: Titan Chisel Types

A descrition of number 6.
Here goes:
a lovely "welcome back to work" pressie from Scribbly Gum to his good mate Caliban.
Oh, and Tom, I do treasure that Plexto.

Hi SG,

Very nice collection of Titans there mate. Even have some labels too. The Butts and Parers are hard to come by.

They look better than the catalogue drawings.

Thanks for that.

Cheers
Pops

Picked up a 3/8 and a 1/2 inch bevelled yesterday (paring??) to add to my Titan collection. They have quite a fine handle with a ferrel and top ring and are nicely balanced.

I am still confused about the difference between the tanged firmer and the registered tanged firmer with top and bottom ferrel other than the handle design. As you can see from those that I have here, the two tanged firmers below (the 1 1/4 inch ones) have a blade that varies in thickness like a paring chisel. These are however heavier than the registered tanged firmer (the 1 1/2 inch one).

Are the registered tanged firmer and the tanged firmer essentially the same blade with a different handle? Also are my two tanged firmers just that or are they actually paring chisels, determined by the variation in blade thickness?

Originally Posted by Scribbly Gum

Just to add a little to this thread here are a couple of pictures that might help you.
This is a picture of some of my chisels.
I took this to show you some of the styles of chisel that Titan produced.
I don't have any full sets of Titans, rather I have some sets of chisels, of which some in each set are Titans.
Anyway from left to right:
1 Titan Tanged Firmer with ferruled but non hooped handle
2 Titan Tanged Registered Plain Edge with ferruled and hooped handle
3 Titan Tanged Bevelled Edge with ferruled handle - in this case the handle is a replacement.
4&5 Titan tanged bevelled edge with ferruled and hooped handle long paring chisels. 5 is showing the back.
6 Titan ...unsure... maybe a type of morticing chisel. Quite heavy and quite thick for a bevelled edge chisel
7 Titan socketted bevelled edge butt chisel with hooped handle
If anyone has a description of number 6, that would be appreciated.
Kind regards
SG

I have two of these (like no 6) one is 1/8 wide and the other is 1/4 wide ,Not bevellled more like a firmer , but they look more like a mortice chisel , because the blade is thicker than it is width.I have a set of Titan firmers from 1/8 up to 1 1/4 ,( I'm still looking for an 1 3/4" and a 2") the two smaller chisels look out of place because of there dimensions.
I'll take some pics when I get back from the West , (about 6 or 7 days) .


Kev.

Well the flat blades are firmer chisels, and the tapering blades are registered mortice chisels.
The list of chisel types produced has been sourced from two articles. The first is from a 1960s catalogue (List A) and the second from a HTPAA article (List B).


List A List B

No 101. Register plain edge Registered tang, plain edge
No 106. Register bevel edge Registered tang, bevel edge
No 131. Firmer plain edge Firmer tang, plain edge
No 136. Firmer bevel edge Firmer tang, bevel edge
No 146. Firmer bevel edge (plastic handle) Firmer bevel, plastic handle
No 201. Heavy socket plain edge Firmer socket, heavy, plain edge
No 236. Light socket bevel edge Firmer socket, light, bevel edge
No 306. Firmer butt Firmer butt, tang, bevel edge
No 316. Light socket butt Firmer socket, light, plain edge
No 161. Gouged (out cannel) Firmer gouge, out cannel
No 163. Gouged (in cannel) Firmer gouge, in cannel
Patternmakers chisel (No number assigned) Paring, long, tang, bevel edge
Patternmakers chisel (No number assigned) Paring, long, tang, plain edge


The gouges were available in seven sizes from 1/4" to 1", and most of the rest were available in twelve sizes from 1/8" to 2" - a range of 119 different chisels. All except the 146's had wood handles. The company name was changed to The Titan Manufacturing Co Pty Ltd in 1951.

Originally Posted by spoinky

Well the flat blades are firmer chisels, and the tapering blades are registered mortice chisels.

Although I am far from an expert I can't see how all non bevelled chisels with a tapering blade are mortice chisels as you are implying. If this is the case then of my non bevelled collection, five are mortice chisels and only one is a firmer chisel. I would have thought that Titan firmer chisels were far more common than mortice chisels.

It would seem more likley to me that the firmer blades were generally tapered, although I do have one that is not as I have said.

Can anyone explain what is meant by registered?

Well, they all have a bit of taper. The Reg. Mort. ones have quite obvious taper though, it helps to stop them jamming into the wood. (I also like to round the top of the bevel, so that the leverage point doesn't mark the wood)

Registered Mortice chisels have a thicker blade, a leather washer between blade and handle, and steel hoops at each end of the handle (I know some of the firmers have this, but not as heafty). They were designed to take heavy blows from the mallet, the registered comes from something to do with qualifying for use with ship building and house framing. My memory's a bit blurry on that.

Thanks for the anwer on registered Spoinky - no wonder I could not work out what it meant - had nothing to do with the physical chisel description.

I will have to post some better pictures of my firmers as I have one that has very little if any taper compared to the rest that have an obvious taper.

Thanks also spoinky. That registered term has had me flumuxed as well.

prozac

OK, I am now the proud owner of a couple of dozen Titan chisels (via ebay) of various types sizes and vintages and apart from 2 the others all seem to have a belly which is going to take a mighty effort in flattening their backs. Is this normal? Has anyone else experienced this? And in the end will it be worth the effort? At this point my fingertips are begging me not to go back to my DMT stone.

Originally Posted by Socrates

OK, I am now the proud owner of a couple of dozen Titan chisels (via ebay) of various types sizes and vintages and apart from 2 the others all seem to have a belly which is going to take a mighty effort in flattening their backs. Is this normal? Has anyone else experienced this? And in the end will it be worth the effort? At this point my fingertips are begging me not to go back to my DMT stone.

Congratulations Socrates on your purchases.
Titans are usually very good. Which way do the chisel backs show the rounding that you mention?
If they are hollow at the back then you only need to flatten the area nearest the edge to create the cutter.
If they round out you will have some serious flattening ahead. Once again though, you can get away with the last inch or so before the blade edge itself.
I have heard of other chisellers on the forum who have used a belt sander on its back, or a linisher to get the bulk of the flattening done before heading to the stones to finish the job.
Some pictures of your chisel haul would be great if you can manage it.
Regards from Tele Point
SG

I'll try and get some photos for you soon SG. There were a couple of beauties but unfortunately the others have convex bellies. I know from some of my better quality planes and my older blue handled marples that a concave back is OK. Last night I glued some 80 grit sand paper to some ceaser stone that I have and I'm now ready to attck some of those bellies tonight.
What I don't understand though is that although I bought these chisels from many sources most have these convex bellies. Does high carbon steel move over time or were the older tradesmen not as fussy about their edges as we were. Or maybe the handymen that purchased these chisels were not as well informed.
As for the belt sander, I'm a little reluctent to use such an animal on the back of what should be dead flat in the end. Surely the belt would need some give or else it would break and any give on that belt would not assure a flat back on these chisels? And would that also round the sides of the chisels? If the belt sander is the solution that would be great and save a significant amount of time for me.

It is generally accepted that Titan chisels have a four cornered tange, anyone want to bet their Titan collection on the fact that they are not all like that. Check this strange one out. It is a 1/2" Firmer with Titan Australia stamped on it.

Originally Posted by Burnsy

It is generally accepted that Titan chisels have a four cornered tange, anyone want to bet their Titan collection on the fact that they are not all like that. Check this strange one out. It is a 1/2" Firmer with Titan Australia stamped on it.

G'day
I think the "strange one" originally had a plastic handle fitted were as the others had wooden handles fitted.