Butt Chisels…A useful addition or not worth bothering.

Stanley’s well known line of everlasting chisels included butt chisels so someone must have thought they were useful. I do not have any everlasting chisels, but I know some folk like them. I myself have some of those hardware store modern Stanley butt chisels, the ones with the plastic handles. Mine take a good edge. The main reason I use them in woodworking, which is rare, is to get into tighter spaces. I assume that is the main purpose of shorter chisels. Short chisels get into tight spaces, longer chisels, like some paring chisels, have extended reach. Is it that simple? If I am off there I hope someone can correct me. In any event, I would agree you do not need them, until you face a tight space and then you do.

The modern Stanley plastic handled butt chisels are pretty rugged. I have used them when I need to hit a chisel very hard, say for carpentry type stuff. I prefer not to take my better chisels out into the weather and usually reach for the Stanley butt chisels when I have to work on something outside, like a deck or a fence.

Here is a page from the 1934-ish Stanley catalog during the Sweetheart era. Stanley differentiated their socket chisels by length.

The 760’s and 750’s were Butt chisels. Carpenters used them mostly to cut the hinge gains for butt hinges on doors, hence the name.
760’s are very rare. I’ve only ever seen one set.I think they were a depression era attempt at providing a chisel at lower cost. One advantage of butt hinges is they will fit into smaller places. The blades were about 3 1/2” long, which matches most modern chisel lengths.

They called their intermediate length chisels (740’s) Pocket chisels. These were only made from the early 1930’s to about 1955.

And they called their 720 size cabinet maker’s or bevel edge firmer chisels, which is a bit confusing, because most manufacturers Called their square edge chisels firmers. These were Stanley’s longest chisels.

The modern 750’s follow the sizing very close to the old 750 line, but some sizes are a little longer.

I have 740’s and old and modern 750’s, and once the 740’s are shorter from sharpening, it’s pretty hard to tell them from a newer 750.

The everlast chisels introduced in the 1930’s weren’t socket chisels, but had a tang that went all the way through the chisel so you could strike on it. And one variant were the original chisel with the yellow plastic. Stanley’s modern construction line of chisels are made the same way.

• This reply was modified 1 year, 9 months ago by Larry Geib.

I think that – like most tools – if it works for you, then it’s fine, and I know woodworkers who really like them. I have one which I acquired in a job lot, and I’ve never used it seriously, but I can appreciate that the shortness of the blade gives good control.

For me, the technique of a sharp bevel-edge chisel held low down on the blade for better control works best, finished off to depth with a well-set router plane.