Thread: Chisel Rescue

A bloke at my Club is moving into a Retirement Village and asked if I was interested in some tools before he dumped them. He's not a woodworker, just a DIYer but never say no! When I looked over what he had it was a collection of what you'd expect - unremarkable screwdrivers, a couple of abused Stanley tradies chisels etc.
BUT! Nestled in the back of the drawer were three old firmer chisels, neglected but not beyond redemption.
Here are some befores.

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The larger of the three chisels is not in picture as there was little to do to it other than work on the bevel.

Here are the after pics. I used a Dremel with brass wire brush to clean some minor rust spots off the blades and titivate the brass ferrules. The handles of the two narrower chisels were cleaned of grime and because the original finish was pretty much gone, I scraped them clean and wiped them with BLO. Here are the after pics.
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There is no maker's name on the chisels other than the top one in the above pic has the model (?) name "Colonel" and "Made in Sheffield" on the blade (see the close-up of blade). I've seen the name Colonel before but it seems nothing is known about the toolmaker. The other two also have no identifiers other than "Made in Sheffield" on the blades but the handle shape suggests Marples. Maybe some members can confirm or otherwise?
From top to bottom the blade sizes are 1/2" with a thickness of 2.3mm at the start of the bevel, then 5/8" with a thickness of 4.5mm and finally 3/8" with a thickness of 3.8mm. The two 'Marples' were originally ground to 30 deg. and I've kept them at that. The 'Colonel' had a bevel around 20 deg. as near as I could measure it which, given its thin blade seemed to result in a very fragile cutting edge so I've taken it back to 25 deg.
All they've cost me is a pint of beer and a gallon of elbow grease. Small price to keep them out of the landfill.
Hope this wasn't too long-winded.
Pete