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Sheen
26-11-2018, 03:47 PM
Was rummaging in my family's collection of tools over the weekend, looking for a engineers square. I know my parents had one but no luck. Instead i found this. Anyone have an idea what this was used for? My grandfather used to be an upholsterer of railway carriages and my great grandfather was a master shoe maker. Connected to either of these trades? Thinking i could use it for my jewellery:)
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Dennis
26-11-2018, 06:23 PM
I think it's a wood chisel, Sheena.
Re engineers' squares, they're allrightish, but in the hands of the uninitiated like myself, you can get a more perfect sqare using 1.0mm grapph paper. I like the blue one, because it's easy on the eye.
You can also buy templates for squares, as use by graphic artists. Dennis.

Nick martin
26-11-2018, 10:08 PM
At first glance I thought it was a graver, but after a closer look I agree with Dennis. Most likely a small chisel.

Nick

enigma
27-11-2018, 12:32 AM
Looks like a mortice chisel for woodworking.

CJ57
27-11-2018, 01:17 AM
Yes definitely a lovely old chisel

china
27-11-2018, 03:05 AM
Definitely a mortice chisel

Sheen
27-11-2018, 06:45 AM
Maybe i should keep it for a future woodworking project rather than doing something awful to it with metal work :)

Sheen
27-11-2018, 06:46 AM
Looks like a mortice chisel for woodworking.

Will look up mortice chisel to see what i can do with it :)

ps_bond
27-11-2018, 08:20 AM
Would you believe cut mortices with it (as in mortice & tenon joints)?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_NXq7_TILA&vl=en-GB

china
27-11-2018, 10:14 AM
Does it have a brand on it, if it is old then it is most likely carbon steel and would not be hard enough for metal work

ps_bond
27-11-2018, 10:54 AM
Many of my gravers are carbon steel :)
(As are all of my chasing tools and Japanese tagane)

Goldsmith
27-11-2018, 11:55 AM
As Peter says, many of my tools are carbon steel, I use silver steel or tool steel to make my chasing and texturing tools. Not sure about these days but we called some carbon steel, Mild Steel and this alloy couldn't be hardened and tempered like tool and silver steel could be.
I also agree that the tool shown is a woodworkers chisel.
If anyone is interested in buying silver steel rods for making tools, I buy mine from here;https://www.ekpsupplies.com/silversteel.html ,they are also good for winding jump rings on.

James

china
27-11-2018, 12:10 PM
Ok I was generalising there is carbon and there is carbon steel, some wood working chisels are very soft carbon steel, to be honest it would probably be fine to for most precious metal, if it was to
used on steel then that is a bit different, some chisels are collectable so before you repurpose it it may be worth checking as it may be worth selling and using the funds a new tool

Sheen
27-11-2018, 03:40 PM
I think it's a wood chisel, Sheena.
Re engineers' squares, they're allrightish, but in the hands of the uninitiated like myself, you can get a more perfect sqare using 1.0mm grapph paper. I like the blue one, because it's easy on the eye.
You can also buy templates for squares, as use by graphic artists. Dennis.

Thanks for that dennis. I've been wanting something to make sure my corners are definitly right angles and not going off at a slant. Will check out my local art shop/stationers

Sheen
27-11-2018, 03:44 PM
Would you believe cut mortices with it (as in mortice & tenon joints)?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_NXq7_TILA&vl=en-GB

Thanks peter, mortice chisel for mortices.... cheeky! Funnily enough this video gives me a idea. :)

ps_bond
27-11-2018, 03:46 PM
Sorry, I was more focused on the chisel... I use a variety of engineers squares depending on what I'm up to; on the bench I have 25, 50 & 75mm (the 25 sees most use) - I've got larger ones for use around other tools. It's a good idea to check the square is, well, square - simple enough, scribe a line against the square (held against a straight bit of metal), flip the square over & scribe the line again. If they're parallel (or better still, on top of each other) then the square is square. Most of the time jewellery only needs to be square-ish though, it depends what you're up to.

Now I feel like listening to Huey Lewis...

BTW - I had written far more on the differences between mortice & bevel-edge chisels, but there was a glitch.

Sheen
27-11-2018, 03:47 PM
Ok I was generalising there is carbon and there is carbon steel, some wood working chisels are very soft carbon steel, to be honest it would probably be fine to for most precious metal, if it was to
used on steel then that is a bit different, some chisels are collectable so before you repurpose it it may be worth checking as it may be worth selling and using the funds a new tool

Hopefully my chisel is the rarest chisel you can have, commanding silly prices at auction, therefor allowing me to not just buy a new tool but an entire workshop, ha, ha.

Sheen
01-12-2018, 10:31 AM
Got a chance to watch the mortise video this morning, saving his technique in my brain for future use. Thanks, peter. :)