Set of eleven chisels.

**Bushmiller** · 3rd July 2011, 04:08 PM

Eleven? Why eleven? What sort of a number is that?

Well when the chisels are made from old truck leaf springs you end up with what you end up with

.

I thought I'd show these, which I made about six years ago just to show what can be achieved with little or no cost. They were made for my son who started a building/carpentry apprenticeship, but didn't really get used until more recently. The boss at the time told my son to take them home because some unscrupulous b*****d would knock them off.

So it wasn't until he stopped building and started making didgeridoos

that they were used in anger. He says they work well. Who am I to argue with that?

The process wasn't too difficult. I grabbed the springs and threw them in a big warming fire when we were having a bush BBQ. The fire was pretty hot as it was built around a fallen log. I collected them a couple of days later after the ashes had cooled. This is to anneal the steel as in it's hardened state you are wasting your time trying to work it. Also as the material is spring steel, it has to be straightened.

The steel was flattened and cut to appropriate sizes by hand using a thin cutting disc in a 125mm angle grinder. A groove was cut at the handle end of the blades on the larger chisels to accept a short length of rod, which serves as the tang. It was easier to do this than have a tapered tang or socket. The rod was welded on with mig, but I could have used a stick welder with low hydrogen rods

The chisels had a rough bevel ground and were heat treated using Oxy and quenched in oil. They were then quickly polished and tempered to a straw colour and quenched again.

The backs were flattened in the normal way and the bevels sharpened. The old leaf springs were less than perfect so I decided to paint them. The bevels and backs were masked off and a primer and satin black were applied.

The handles in two different sizes are spotted gum and were made from off cuts of 50mm square I had literally lying around. This was from a time when I supplied timber for tool handles as part of my timber milling business.

Steel rings were attached to the top of the chisels for protection and were made from offcuts of steel pipe. The ferrules were from brass tube and were the only material I bought.

The sizes range from 6mm up to 65mm and one of the pictures shows these two plus the 38mm. There is a mismatch in blade lengths because they were the sizes I had

The box, I think many of you will recognise, as I am led to believe it is the standard schools project. I did varnish it, but it was not made by me. It was made by my eldest son so it holds some sentimental value. It was lying around, not being used, and I needed a container for the chisels.

Actually I did buy something else. There is a magnetic bar in the box to hold the chisels in place. It is of the type you see in kitchens.

I apologise for not cleaning up the welds and making that side of things prettier, but the chisels were always intended as a working set and the "beauty" was in the functionality or so I maintained

.

Regards
Paul

**Woodwould** · 3rd July 2011, 04:35 PM

Top marks! Many of my early carving, cabinetmaking and woodturning tools were made from car leaf springs, torsion bars and pushrods etc.

**justinmcf** · 3rd July 2011, 08:58 PM

excellent work mate!

i would be very proud to use these chisels every day!

justin

**Bushmiller** · 3rd July 2011, 09:32 PM

Originally Posted by justinmcf

excellent work mate!

i would be very proud to use these chisels every day!

justin

Thanks justin, so would I, but it is my son who gets to use them

.

Regards
Paul

**Bushmiller** · 3rd July 2011, 09:39 PM

Originally Posted by Woodwould

Top marks! Many of my early carving, cabinetmaking and woodturning tools were made from car leaf springs, torsion bars and pushrods etc.

Thanks WW. Do you mean like these below? BTW, cut the stems off valves and they make quite passable centre punches.

The pipe handled gouge I needed to use in a hurry and have never got back to putting a handle on. In the second pic the tools have come straight from tempering and still have the straw colour. One day I'll need to use them. I had better start hunting around for some more pipe

.

**Scribbly Gum** · 3rd July 2011, 09:51 PM

Harold and Saxon eat your heart out.
Well done
SG

**Bushmiller** · 3rd July 2011, 10:23 PM

Originally Posted by Scribbly Gum

Harold and Saxon eat your heart out.
Well done
SG

Thanks SG, but I don't think they have to be concerned just yet

. I still have to perfect the finish

.

Regards
Paul

**Woodwould** · 3rd July 2011, 11:53 PM

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

Thanks WW. Do you mean like these below?

Yes, just like those! I also made knives, shears, pliers, a crossbow and other stuff I've long forgotten about.

**Bushmiller** · 4th July 2011, 07:40 AM

Originally Posted by Woodwould

Yes, just like those! I also made knives, shears, pliers, a crossbow and other stuff I've long forgotten about.

That's an ambitious repetoire

. I have always wanted to make a crossbow. How did you do that?

Regards
Paul

**Woodwould** · 4th July 2011, 08:15 AM

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

That's an ambitious repetoire

. I have always wanted to make a crossbow. How did you do that?

Regards
Paul

The first crossbow I made was a copy of a mediaeval weapon like this...

The prod (the bow on a crossbow) was a Ford Popular rear leaf spring, the stock was cherry and the trigger was a simple lever with a trial-and-error catch filed in it.

The prod was too stiff to cock by hand, so I made a thing called a goat's foot to mechanically lever the string back onto the trigger...

Attachment 175292Click to enlarge.

The initial 'string' was made from several strands of catgut (taken from an old long case clock where it's used to suspend the weights), but even catgut couldn't withstand the destructive forces, so later strings were made of a synthetic filament, the name of which escapes me now.

The whole thing was very simple to make, was easy to operate and was surprisingly accurate. I haven't a clue what the draw weight was, but the distance and force of the bolts that it fired was scary. Wooden-shafted bolts would often explode if they hit a hard object. The bow was just as happy firing ball bearings and lengths of round steel bar as conventional bolts.

**lightwood** · 4th July 2011, 10:26 AM

Originally Posted by Bushmiller

That's an ambitious repetoire

. I have always wanted to make a crossbow. How did you do that?

Regards
Paul

Paul,
very nice work on the chisels.
I know a bloke who made garden/farm tools like hoes and post hole shovels using old Landcruiser springs. I believe he has given it away over the last few years.....maybe they were indestructible, and never needing replacement.

When I was 12 years old I was given a piece of Rose Alder gunstock timber as a birthday gift from my folks, to make a cross bow with a leaf spring bow. I use 3/8 in aluminium tube for the bolts (arrows). The plans were in a 1952 "Boy Mechanic" book. It is a book that changed my life.
It was a different time back then...
Regards,
Peter

**Bushmiller** · 4th July 2011, 01:26 PM

Thanks Woodwould and Lightwood.

I am filing that information away. I remember reading that the crossbows were awesome in their power and the more powerful models had a handcrank to cock them. The French particularly liked the weapon, but English archers could fire a dozen arrows off in the time the French took to reload.

I think too many died during the re-loading process

. Ah, "the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune!" How they suffered!

Regards
Paul

**artme** · 5th July 2011, 05:50 PM

That is one great collection of chisels!!

Must track down some push rods and car valves.

Used old car valves many a time to mark out corners of tennis courts and other playing fields.

**orraloon** · 7th July 2011, 11:58 PM

Hi Paul,
Great set of chisels there. I tend towards function more than looks in tools also.
Something that works has a beauty of it's own.
As for uses for leaf springs. Well.---
In times past I had a dabble with crossbow building. A good reference book is The Crossbow by Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey. Written in the late 1800 hundreds. History of the thing as well as how to build them with scale drawings.
Anyhoo after making a good set of chisels any other bits of spring left over can be put to use some how.
Regards
John

**Bushmiller** · 16th July 2011, 06:16 PM

Originally Posted by orraloon

Hi Paul,
Great set of chisels there. I tend towards function more than looks in tools also.
Something that works has a beauty of it's own.
As for uses for leaf springs. Well.---
In times past I had a dabble with crossbow building. A good reference book is The Crossbow by Sir Ralph Payne-Gallwey. Written in the late 1800 hundreds. History of the thing as well as how to build them with scale drawings.
Anyhoo after making a good set of chisels any other bits of spring left over can be put to use some how.
Regards
John

John

A good use for the little bits are marking knives.

Regards
Paul

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