Thread: Dodgy edge on new chisel

Hi Woden--if that is what it is, a loss of hardening, there are only 3 choices.

1] take her back and exchange it or get the money back
2] grind past it and hope it is harder up further
3] reharden and retemper

I would do them in that order...Well, number 4 would be to live with it, but that's not a good choice, really.

Take care, Mike

Take it back Woden and buy a decent, old chisel off Epay.

Thanks for the advice guys. I think I'll have to opt for the second one on your list Mike. Rather stupidly - aaargh - I binned the receipt after buying it, so taking it back's outta the question.

Even worse, there's another fault with it too - the handle isn't properly aligned with the blade. The grip for your finger is twisted around to one side and not level with the top of the chisel. As I'm new to all this I never thought to check this stuff in the shop - I simply lifted it off the rack and bought it. I'll be much more scrupulous in future when getting new tools. However, whether I buy another Stanley product again is another matter. :mad:

I think I'll try your advice, Bodgy, and search on ebay in future. Is it true that the steel in older chisels is often superior?

Excepting the very high priced modern chisels, and even some of those are doubtful, the answer is absolutely! They were forged when tools had to last a lifetime, and the manufacturer's reputation and longevity depended on their quality and utility.

Not only that but I find the feeling of using an old tool that has been working for generations, and could hold untold fragments of history, mutely witnessing not only the tradesmen's lives, successes, joys, tradegies, failures, births and deaths, but also quietly the surviving events which have shaped the world. Its sort of magical.

I have a # 5 1/2 wood plane which was manufactured shortly after the War between the States. Each time I pick it up I think that I have 150 years and dozens of human existences in my hands.

Yeah, so I only paid $28, but so what

Originally Posted by woden

Thanks for the advice guys. I think I'll have to opt for the second one on your list Mike. Rather stupidly - aaargh - I binned the receipt after buying it, so taking it back's outta the question.

Argh. I hate when I do that. And it almost always happens when I've bought an "inexpensive" piece of kit that I should know better at the time.

Then I often waste a bunch of time looking for it--getting more upset with myself the whole while

Well, at least it isn't all lost. It may work out well and if not, well, there's another tool for opening paint cans!

Take care, Mike

Sounds like a big dud alright.

A bit of a worry that their quality control is so relaxed that they'd miss it before putting on that annoying lacquer.......

Maybe, the control bloke checks the chisels AFTER the lacquers sprayed....so some worker thought, 'bugger I stuffed this one......Oh, she'll be right....he won't see the blued steel with this lacquer on ' .....betya

Even without a recieht, I'd try my hardest to try and take it back. Maybe some register lady will remember you and help you out.....I usually give things like that to my wife...shes good at taking things back.

Inlaws bought me a set of $5 chisels from 'The Warehouse', The 1/4" is good for prising nails out of the floor (kitchen reno), the 1/2" for prising lids of tins, 3/4" for stirring small tins, 1" for bigger ones.
I did sharpen them in the hope that they may have held an edge but proved futile, a sliver of pine was enough to dull them.
I have several old Titans which are brilliant and a lot cheaper than new second rate chisels, I am not a great fan of Stanley or Marples and would suggest that I paid less for the Titans (about 20) than a set of 4 Stanleys.