Thread: Restoring Chisels Your Experiences

Mike,

Here is a picture of a couple of chisels I restored in 2006. The big one is Swedish while the smaller one is a Titan. They belonged to my Uncle who gave then to me in 1967. Over the next ~20 years me 4 brothers belted them mercilessly with a wide range of hammers till we dented the sides, the top ferrule disintegrated and the handles split - then the blades lay in the bottom of my tool box till 2006. I also have a heap more to work on sometime



I made new Redgum handles for them using a spokeshave. All I did with the blades was rub them with a bit of wet and dry - avoiding the area around the back of the cutting edge which will round over and require more flattening or primary bevel cutting than necessary. You can see I didn't bother to take all the side dings out completely. IMHO I don't think completely taking the cosmetic dings out or taking these chisels back to a mirror finish is really what its all about - they are old chisels after all - why try to make them look new when they are genuinely old. It's different if you are make new tools and start with a nice looking pristine piece of tool steel.

You should be able to remove the handle from a well made chisel with some slow steady persuasion. If they are firmly attached I wouldn't bother to remove the handle unless you want/need to replace the lower ferrule. Just sand/steel wool in place till smooth, coupla coats of PBLO, rub in between coats with fine steel wool, then a couple coats using a cloth containing PBLO with a few drops of site sponsors white shellac, finish with sponsors natural wax. Leaves a beautiful tactile feel to tool handles.
Like these.

Mike

I must admit that all I do with chisel blades is flatten the flat side (I'm never sure whether to call it the back or the front, but the one that forms the angle whose other side is the bevel) so that at least the last 20mm is flat as I can get it and shining like a mirror and then put the best bevel I can on it - I use the WASP system, but there are any number of alternatives.

When it comes to the handles, I tend to lightly remove the old finish with the brass wire wheel on the grinder and then use steel wool to smooth it out. Before I finish with oil, I run a strong magnet followed by a tack cloth over the handle to try to pick up all the steel wool bits that may have got lodged in the handle (I don't know if the magnet really works - but I have a big one available and there does seem to be stuff on it even after I have used a tack cloth, so it do something. Anyway I suppose it's like giving chicken soup to a sick person, it can't hurt and it might help).

Hi Mike,
One of the best articles that I have seen on resurrecting old chisels was by Bob Smalser:
Here:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...sel+sharpening

I have found his writing to be practical, down to earth and highly valuable.
With older handles that are a bit "used" but intact, I use 180 grit sandpaper, followed by a dip in some golden oak woodstain and then a quick spray or two of satin finish. Two days - woe to go.
Different if I am making new handles, but this is the quickest and easiest way that I have found to bring them back to life.
Good luck with yours, I hope that you show them off when you are finished.
Regards
from Tele Point
SG

I clean most rusty tools and old machine parts using WD-40 or kero and 240 or 280G cloth abrasive tape, a wet process that produces a slurry. I'll admit its messy, but there's something in the lubrication that ensures a smooth surface without leaving scratches.
Prior to resealing an old handle I just wrap progressively finer emery paper around the handle and use a twisting action. If there's more work to do I clamp the chisel in the vice and use a ribbon sanding technique, which really only works with cloth backed abrasive. Hold a long strip with an end in each hand, loop around the handle and pull alternately under tension. A useful techique for smoothing any round object, carving or whatever. I always have a roll or two of "engineers tape" in the shed, the cloth abrasive mentioned above, available in various grits and seems to last a while. I use it on timber and metal.

Cheers,

Thanks guys, seems as a thought, no right or wrong way and no easy way to maout the chisel in a lathe to refinish the handle.

I appreciate your comments regardiing not needing to get the whole blade back to a mirror finsh Bob but there is something in me that just wants to see a really shiney set of Tritons, so I may have a play with that path when I manage to obtain a buffing wheel and some veritas green.

Will post some pictures when I am done.

Rubbed back the two beveled edge titans today using wet and dry (unlubricated) and they came up pretty well. I would still like to run over them with a buffing wheel and some veritas green to really make them shine but don't have a buff - any advice on what type of mop is best to use with veritas green would be appreciated.

Next step is the handles, they both have quite thick laquer on them in parts so I need to strip that off before sanding. I am leaning towards the sponsors white shellawax and trad wax at this stage, should I use BLO on them first and if so what difference will it make. With BLO should I still use the shellawax or go straight to trad wax?

Knocked the handles off real easy this afternoon, put the chisel upside down in the bench vice via the blade. Adjusted a 12 inch spanner so that it was open just enough to fit the tange shoulder through and the spanner sat on the ferrel, couple of light knocks and they came straight off.

I then mounted them in the lathe using a old rubber stop over the live end so that it would not mark the handle and sanded back the laquer and years of grime with some 80 and 150 grit.

I am now leaning towards rubbing some BLO onto them then a bit of trad wax while they are spinning on the lathe.

Don't buff the chisels, it just rounds over the edges, so the sharp cutting edge is in the wrong place.
Lap with diamond plates, and then on to any other fine FLAT stone or scary sharp system.

As for handle finishes, I like to use 2 coats of shellack, lightley cut back with 0000 steel wool to give a satin finish, then wax paste to a fine polish. Only problem then is the annual waxing of the handles.

ve just spent 3 days going over my Titan firmers ,first chance Ive had to really do some thing with them and get them up to speed ,both in cutting edges and looks .I have only done the blades so far ,the handles will have to wait until another time.

Basically I lap the backs first to remove any pitting and staining ,for this I use a couple of different grit carborundum stones laying the chisel back flat on the stone and lube with engine oil /kero mixture until it s flat .If the pitting is severe on the back of the chisel I will use my belt /disc sander to care fully grind down the back until the pitting has been removed ,then I use progressively finer stones to remove the grinding marks
Then I start on the other surfaces using a fine slip stone to remove any staining and slight pitting .
Once clean I use 400 ,600 800, 1000, 1200 wet and dry and then crocus cloth .
These are all glued onto a slab of bench top marble with craft spray glue .
I use oil/kero mix to lube the papers .
Once I have achieved a nice finish ,I buff the steel with a 6" loose leaf buff and the brown Josco polish .

Then regrind the primary bevel and sharpen using the scary sharp ( and my Veritas MkII ) method to get a micro bevel followed by the brown polish on an old leather belt to strop the cutting edge.

Sorry I don't have any pics ,I'm usually engrossed in what I'm doing and forget to take them or my hands are covered in metal mud and oil and I dont want to get crap all over my camera.

kev

Kev, you got a photo of the finished steel to show how it comes up?

Cheers,
Mike

I will take some pics of three socket paring chisels I did a couple of weeks ago ,tomorrow day ,they look like chrome.
The titans I haven't bothered buffing . But the finish is still ok .I will buff them when I get a dedicated grinder to set up as a buff.
At the moment I use my metal lathe to mount the buffing wheels into ,but it makes a mess .

Kev.

Originally Posted by Woodlee

I will take some pics of three socket paring chisels I did a couple of weeks ago ,tomorrow day ,they look like chrome.
The titans I haven't bothered buffing . But the finish is still ok .I will buff them when I get a dedicated grinder to set up as a buff.
At the moment I use my metal lathe to mount the buffing wheels into ,but it makes a mess .

Kev.

Burnsy ,
Here are the pics of the paring chisels I have polished .These haven't had the bevels ground or honed as yet.
The handles still need work , but I dont have a woodie lathe so they will have to wait.
Also included a pic of my Titan firmers ,(not polished ), but very sharp.

Kev.

Looking nice Kev I like the buffed look and reckon that as soon as I get the ability to buff I will do mine. Thinking about making one of those MDF wheels with a leather face glued onto it and see how I go using that rather than buying a mop for the grinder.

Still havn't finished the handles yet as I have not had a chance to buy some of Neils Traditional Wax.

Great job Kev ! What is a loose leaf buff ?

Does anyone have a cure to protect the chisel blade from rust up the top ? I though of just painting them with clear paint.
Mike