Thread: First time going to the Toowoomba Swap Meet...

Originally Posted by The Spin Doctor

I've been on a mission to put together a set of old English hand forged bevel edged chisels, but my request here dead ended, so thought a trip down to Toowoomba might be an idea to get that quest kicked off.

To say the least it was fruitful. All that for $170.

I'll knock off all the handles and make my own carver pattern handles like the second from the right. And all, except the carving chisels, are hand forged cast steel. Most are Marples (my preferred) and then the odd Ward.

The saw vises were at a price that was too good to pass up - $20 each. When I get the time I'll try the saw vises out and see which one I'll keep and gun the other two. The Disston is probably from the later part of the 1800s. My hunch is simple is better and the Woden has less moving or flexing parts so maybe the one that's kept. I'm new to western saw sharpening but I can't see the point of having the ball joint (Disston) or the ability to change the angle (Joplin) from 90 degrees...

The carving chisels were 8 bucks each so I couldn't walk away from them.

$20 for the saw vices is daylight robbery, you need too feel extremely happy or extremely shameful,

That is an excellent haul from a swap meet,

I call going too the swap meets I frequently use down here as going to Mecca, even when you have too be at the gates at 6am.

It must be the In thing, because I’ve started too think I need a set of English Socket chisels, for the only reason I like the look, ye I know it’s a sicknesses [emoji22].

Cheers Matt.

Originally Posted by Simplicity

$20 for the saw vices is daylight robbery, you need too feel extremely happy or extremely shameful,

That is an excellent haul from a swap meet,

I call going too the swap meets I frequently use down here as going to Mecca, even when you have too be at the gates at 6am.

It must be the In thing, because I’ve started too think I need a set of English Socket chisels, for the only reason I like the look, ye I know it’s a sicknesses [emoji22].

Cheers Matt.

Definitely not shameful. Not my concern if a seller is too lazy to do their homework.

Might have been an anomaly. A fair few sellers were packing up by noon on Saturday saying there wasn't the crowds, and they didn't see any point hanging around for the close at 6pm or stick around for Sunday.

I've never really cared about the various makers of chisels or when they were made up until about a few weeks ago. I've had a set of Ashley Isles for at least 40 years and never really thought anything bad about them. That was until I got a hold of an early Marples Shamrock hand forged chisel a few months back and it just happened to be the right size for some dovetails I was chopping... And that's when the light bulb went on. By modern standards the Isles are good, but side by side with the Marples they're absolute crap. So once I have a full set of Marples/Wards I'll get rid of the Ashleys. They're definitely not like their carving chisels. I've got about 30 of those and they're as good as any out there, but their bevel edge chisels I've realised are lacking.

Ironically, I traded work for a full set of Berg socket bevel edge chisels a few months back, they came with the Marples chisel, but never tried them. Thinking I didn't need two sets I sold them on. Looking back and what people say about them I'd have kept them and gunned the Ashley Isles without a doubt...

The rehab starts.

Been making sparks with a couple that I picked up. It seems some people like to get overly excited about modifying a good chisel and someone attacked two of them with an angle grinder. I suspect the 1/2" was a firmer chisel in another life. I'd like to say, what a moron, but seem to recall I tried attacking a high end saw with an angle grinder some time back. At my saw turned out really well, unlike the butchering some idiot did to these chisels. Anyways, they've been ground back to mostly flat, clean steel and it appears the temper hasn't been taken out of them. All the others show a lot of tarnish but not much rust and very minor pitting, so I won't molest them. All the handles will be tossed eventually, after I clear the time needed and find some decent wood.

I can't recommend this enough... If you're into modifying metal, or at least tools that need to be reasonably precise or the heat kept under control. Get yourself a 12" disk/belt sander. Throw a 3ph motor on it and hook it up to a VFD. The ultimate control when trying to do this stuff by hand can only really be achieved at about 200rpm or less. Or buy a lathe and put a 12" disk on it so you can stick disks on it.


Just in case... I'm still looking for a few more if you have some.

Just threw a few coats of paint on the Disston Saw vice. Sanded most of the rust off and then converted the rest. Not sure why Disston would paint the ball joint, but they did, and so did I, but I'll sand that paint off. And I deviated from original by sanding the paint off the lettering. Now she's nice and purtty. Didn't tart it up to restore, just to keep the rust at bay, and there was a lot of rust. To restore it I wouldn't have simply sprayed it with off the shelf paint.

I give you $25 for the saw vice now? It looks fantastic!.

How are the jaws when closed, some I’ve seen a hopeless, once there closed an gripping a saw you can still see light through them, hence not very good for saw sharpening, especially since the vices are meant for the small ranger of saws.

Nothing worst than a singing saw, while being sharpened.

But being cast iron, there not hard too file up true if you need to.

Cheers Matt.

Originally Posted by Simplicity

I give you $25 for the saw vice now? It looks fantastic!.

How are the jaws when closed, some I’ve seen a hopeless, once there closed an gripping a saw you can still see light through them, hence not very good for saw sharpening, especially since the vices are meant for the small ranger of saws.

Nothing worst than a singing saw, while being sharpened.

But being cast iron, there not hard too file up true if you need to.

Cheers Matt.

You're too generous!! LOL


It actually looks like it's not been used much. The other two have lots of file marks on the top of the jaws but the Disston has none at all. A cursory look, it looks like one jaw is dead straight and the other has a slight concavity to it. I assume that's to counter flex at the ends of the jaws. If I keep it, I'll probably take a little bit of that concavity out of it. My gut feeling is it puts too much pressure on the rest of the castings with the amount I have to crank the screw up to close the gap up to hold the saw well. I also read a few things on it and cracked casting weren't uncommon at the base of the fork (no idea what it's really called) where the force would be greatest. I can see why they switched to a cam lock on version 2, though I think a screw is better in the long run.

I better get cutting so I can dull up a saw or two to try on the vice...

Originally Posted by The Spin Doctor

You're too generous!! LOL


It actually looks like it's not been used much. The other two have lots of file marks on the top of the jaws but the Disston has none at all. A cursory look, it looks like one jaw is dead straight and the other has a slight concavity to it. I assume that's to counter flex at the ends of the jaws. If I keep it, I'll probably take a little bit of that concavity out of it. My gut feeling is it puts too much pressure on the rest of the castings with the amount I have to crank the screw up to close the gap up to hold the saw well. I also read a few things on it and cracked casting weren't uncommon at the base of the fork (no idea what it's really called) where the force would be greatest. I can see why they switched to a cam lock on version 2, though I think a screw is better in the long run.

I better get cutting so I can dull up a saw or two to try on the vice...

SD

Try the vice first before making any adjustment. It is normal for the vice to be concave to hold the saw tight along the length. By all mean tighten the screw gently as you check, but at the other extreme, a vice that has both jaws straight probably won't work. The saw has to be tight in the vice or "chatter" will result and filing will not be easy or smooth.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

SD

Try the vice first before making any adjustment. It is normal for the vice to be concave to hold the saw tight along the length. By all mean tighten the screw gently as you check, but at the other extreme, a vice that has both jaws straight probably won't work. The saw has to be tight in the vice or "chatter" will result and filing will not be easy or smooth.

Regards
Paul

I know! I'll get my shiny knew angle grinder out and tune it up real good!! Then, maybe see if I can grind a few new teeth on a saw or two...

In all seriousness I'll probably not do anything till I give it a go. But that'll be a while, all the saws are sharp.

A saw vyce with a broken jaw was amongst the old stuff given away last night at the TTTG meeting in Sydney.
They are having their big annual tool sale on the 25th, lots of moulding planes and chisels
H.

Originally Posted by clear out

A saw vyce with a broken jaw was amongst the old stuff given away last night at the TTTG meeting in Sydney.
They are having their big annual tool sale on the 25th, lots of moulding planes and chisels
H.

Do tell! I'm feelin a road trip coming on...