Marples chisels on craigslist
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Tagged: Chisel repair
- This topic has 6 replies, 4 voices, and was last updated 8 years, 4 months ago by presrevkerr.
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7 November 2015 at 5:59 pm #132120
This has to be the best score I’ve ever gotten on Craigslist. 11 Marples chisels, 7 sizes in boxwood and 4 duplicates in ash. Pretty grimy right now but they’re starting to clean up well. $50 all in.
One question, though: two of the chisels (boxwood 1/4″ and 1 1/4″) have cracked ferrules. Will this put me at greater risk of splitting the handles? I think I can slip a new ferrule on the 1/4″, but the 1 1/4″ will need to have the blade removed to get a new ferrule on. Is there an easy way to do that without trashing the original handle?
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You must be logged in to view attached files.7 November 2015 at 6:25 pm #132123I don’t know the answer to your question but I can provide this response.
When I make tool handles on my lathe I either epoxy or glue them in.
My guess is that Marples knew this technique when they made them.That said… if the ferrule is already cracked is the underlying wood not cracked as well?
I would say the fact that the ferrule cracked would indicate the wood will likely also do the same in time with use. I am no authoritarian like Paul is, it stands to logic though that they are in danger.If your goal is preserve the chisels for their namesake then I would say carefully pull the old ferrule off and see if you can coax the chisel out without damage. If it is in fact cemented in place perhaps the adhesive has deteriorated over time.
Nice find, personally for me though, I would try my best to remove the handle and keep it in storage just because it is a piece of history. I would then promptly turn a new handle out of something exotic, say lignum vitae or rosewood, and consider it an upgrade. Perhaps you don’t have a lathe. If that is the case, ask around, I know plenty of lathe owners that are happy to show others/let others turn on their lathes. It is quite fun, and not difficult to turn a simple handle.
If those were my chisels I would die with them and pass them to my grandchildren. I wouldn’t much care that they weren’t original because it would then become part of their history.
They are good quality chisels that you have there. I have a couple similar and by my estimation they date from the 80s / 90s, which is when I bought mine new.
Box is a physically hard wood and the fibres do not compress as easily as other timbers. The Boxwood handle ferules have most likely split due to a change in humidity. I noticed that some of mine did exactly the same over the years. Added to that the brass ferules may be thin metal, probably only a couple of mm thick.
The danger of splitting handles depends on how much punishment you give them. Box and Ash are extremely tough woods, used for tool handles for that reason and should stand up to mallets in normal use. If you have a good seat between the wood and the flange of the tang it’s unlikely to split. Plenty of pig- sticker type mortise chisels lack ferules without splitting.
Personally I’d use a wooden mallet or one of those nylon faced hammers. I would never, ever use a metal hammer. These chisels are not intended to be flogged – they are joiners tools.
Presuming that they are spiked tangs, getting the handles off is not difficult.This is how to do it.
Mark the position of the handle on the blade so that it goes back on the same way around. Next, put a guard on the tip so that you don’t stab yourself and clamp the blade in a vice, blade up, so that the handle is vertically downward. With a piece of hard wood (not pine) or soft metal, aluminium or the like, place the edge on the rim of the handle next to the tang and tap downwards. Don’t tap it sideways – you may snap the blade – but vertically downwards is only the reverse of the blows it gets in use and is perfectly safe.
The handle should then drop on the floor.Hope that this helps
Hope this works
10 November 2015 at 12:19 am #132183Thank you both for the suggestions! Alas, no lathe for me (yet). Joyner, I think you’re spot on with the humidity. The only one I can work loose is the 1 1/4″ and it looks like the wood is still in fine shape underneath (see below). The handles even show very little wear. I think I’ll try to remove the handles and refurrule them before trying anything else.
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You must be logged in to view attached files.The cracking is a result of stress corrosion cracking. When making up new ferrules out of cold drawn cartridge brass (which is what you will probably get when you ask for brass at the non-ferrous metal dealer), simply cut them to length and anneal them in a household oven at 260 degrees Celsius (500F) for about half an hour or so. Technically this is called a stress relief anneal and it will reduce the internal stresses in the brass that resulted from the cold drawing process that produced the tube brass. Do this heat treatment and it is not likely to recur. If you want to find out more about this issue, it was a problem for rifle cartridge and shell makers until they learnt the reason behind it (it is often still called season cracking because it was often a problem for troops serving in high humidity areas such as India). The four required ingredients to cause the problem were water (humidity), oxygen, stress (cold drawn brass) and ammonia (fingerprints, sweat or cleaning agents).
Please don’t glue the chisel tangs into the handles – it only makes it harder to re-handle in the future. I was taught to heat the tang and burn it into the handle but this too is not necessary – Paul simply taps them on a bench. Much better solution!
PS If you find it difficult to get the ferrules onto the handle, simply heat it up a bit and shrink it back on to the handle(just use heat resistant leather gloves!)
I hope that this helps
Cheers
Mark27 November 2015 at 12:32 pm #132733Wow–thanks for the in-depth reply!
For now I unfortunately find myself in the position of having awesome new tools and no time to get them in working order. I’m hoping to have some time in the new year to get around to addressing the handles, and this will be very helpful.
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