Chisel ID?

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

Yesterday I was making some lathe tools from stock I had lying around when my neighbour came over for a sticky. After a few mins watching, he disappeared back over the fence only to emerge a few mins later with a ratty old chisel from his toolbox, asking me if I could use it. Apparently it was his father's "screwdriver" :eek: but it's not as good as his new ones.

It's an old ~1/4" dovetailing chisel and the first thing I did was give the steel a quick clean and sharpen. It took a bit of effort but otherwise cleaned up nicely and took a nice edge. I'll hazard a guess that it's good CS as 'twas used for most of today and held it's edge well. Quite fun to use, actually.

I thought I'd clean up the handle and under all the paint'n'grime I came across a faint white circle with what looks like some shamrocks in the middle. I think there was a gold border containing writing. Hard to say. [shrug]

Just wondering if anybody can ID it from this? It's turned out to be a nice tool and I'm undecided whether to convert it for lathe use or not...

[Waldo]

G'day Skew ChiDAMN!,

I picked up the same chisel (it has a "faint white circle with what looks like some shamrocks in the middle") at a fete a couple of weeks ago, can't remember if the name was legible or not, if it is I'll let you know and if it's not we'll both be waiting for it to be identified.

[Beej]

Almost certainly by Wm Marples & Co whose logo is the Shamrock in a circle. They started in Sheffield around 1830 and became one of the largest manufacturers, buying up many smaller concerns until becoming part of Record Ridgeway themselves.They're reasonably common here (like Ward) so must have been imported in big numbers. A reliably good chisel - typical Sheffield quality - and certainly always worth a sharpen to see.

[Skew ChiDAMN!!]

It may not be the best chisel in the world, but futher use today has earned it a reprieve and it now has a new home in my chisel rack. Not bad for an old "screwdriver."

Thanks fellas!

[Waldo]

G'day,

Beaten to the post.

Yep it's a Marples & Co. It joins my little shoulder plane in the Marples line-up. Someone had tried to sharpen the chisel with a file before I came along and resuced it. :eek: