How many "grab" chisels do you have?

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robinson46176
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How many "grab" chisels do you have?

Post by robinson46176 »

Grab chisel is my name for a number of wood chisels I have at a few spots around the farm. They are an odd assortment of chisels that are not part of sets and especially not extra high quality sets. Many are decent chisels though sorted out as odd chisels that just feel good and hold a decent edge. Most of mine were acquired at yard sales or in a box of "stuff" bought at auction.
I call them grab chisels because they are what I grab to use on coarser work like carpentry work etc. You throw a couple in a satchel or box along with a tool-box saw and a small pry bar and a hammer and cart them to the job. I keep some in the woodshop for use where I fear there might be a bit of metal in the wood or I need to trim something with a really hard knot.
As a tool-a-holic who is also a hoarder I must have about 40 odd chisels laying around or in a box. That box is stored in the farm shop next to the one with the 50 or 60 odd screwdrivers. :rolleyes:
--
farmer
Francis Robinson
I did not equip with Shopsmiths in spite of the setups but because of them.
1 1988 - Mark V 510 (bought new), 4 Poly vee 1 1/8th HP Mark V's, Mark VII, 1 Mark V Mini, 1 Frankensmith, 1 10-ER, 1 Mark V Push-me-Pull-me Drillpress, SS bandsaw, belt sander, jointer, jigsaw, shaper attach, mortising attach, TS-3650 Rigid tablesaw, RAS, 6" long bed jointer, Foley/Belsaw Planer/molder/ripsaw, 1" sander, oscillating spindle/belt sander, Scroll saw, Woodmizer sawmill
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BuckeyeDennis
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Re: How many "grab" chisels do you have?

Post by BuckeyeDennis »

Exactly one. :( If any of yours are in search of a good home, it badly needs some brothers, cousins, uncles, etc.! :D
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dusty
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Re: How many "grab" chisels do you have?

Post by dusty »

I only have one. It is an all metal, 1" Stanley. It gets used and abused for almost every thing. I wish I had several. Some research indicates that Stanley made a set of three, one narrower and one wider. I have seen them on eBay and wish that I had purchased them.
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wa2crk
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Re: How many "grab" chisels do you have?

Post by wa2crk »

I have several bench chisels that I got after they were misused by the former owners. I reshaped them and reground them and put a very keen edge on them. That took some time. So if anyone grabs them I will probably GRAB THEM. Most likely by the throat!! :-(
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robinson46176
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Re: How many "grab" chisels do you have?

Post by robinson46176 »

Most of the best woodworking tool bargains I have gotten were at yard / garage sales. Hammers, chisels etc. for as low as 50 cents, sometimes even less in a batch of stuff. Bit braces and planes for a couple of bucks.
One yard sale we hit several years ago in a town about 20 miles north of here was a very angry former girl friend of some doomed guy... :eek: She was getting rid of his stuff for pennies on the dollar and value be damned. :rolleyes: I have no idea if he deserved it or not and I did consider not buying his stuff for almost free since he was not there and probably unaware of the sale. Then it hit me that my not buying it was not going to stop it from selling and I would be buying it to hug it and caress it and love it, not to resell at some flea market booth at a big profit. I let that decide for me and almost didn't have room in the truck to haul it all home...
Of course to get those bargains you really have to like yard sales and auctions. We happen to love them, some folks don't. Our big problem is that we have too much "stuff" already. We tried a couple of times having a booth in an indoor flea market where we didn't have to be there and we sold a lot of stuff. The trouble was that the booth rent was so high that only the market made any money from it.
One of our standard conversations at yard sales goes like this:
Diana: Why are you looking at that hammer (you can substitute about any tool name here), you already have about 20 of them?
Me: Yes, but I don't have "this" one...
This is usually followed by some head shaking and her wandering away. :D
We are still looking for an answer to selling some stuff. I like to watch for things I don't have like some specialty planes etc. and I also watch for better versions of some tools that I have. You know, buy a very nice one and sell the kind of tired one I have.
--
farmer
Francis Robinson
I did not equip with Shopsmiths in spite of the setups but because of them.
1 1988 - Mark V 510 (bought new), 4 Poly vee 1 1/8th HP Mark V's, Mark VII, 1 Mark V Mini, 1 Frankensmith, 1 10-ER, 1 Mark V Push-me-Pull-me Drillpress, SS bandsaw, belt sander, jointer, jigsaw, shaper attach, mortising attach, TS-3650 Rigid tablesaw, RAS, 6" long bed jointer, Foley/Belsaw Planer/molder/ripsaw, 1" sander, oscillating spindle/belt sander, Scroll saw, Woodmizer sawmill
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moggymatt
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Re: How many "grab" chisels do you have?

Post by moggymatt »

I've only got seven. Three rugged duty Stanley bench chisels I got more than 10 years ago and 4 Buck Brothers I got 5-6 years ago. The Stanley chisels are all steel with a rubber handle and take a while to sharpen but last. The Buck Brothers are easier to sharpen but just don't last. I don't know what kind of steel they are, they both came from the big box stores but i always find myself reaching for the Stanley's. I wish I could find them in more sizes.
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Re: How many "grab" chisels do you have?

Post by JPG »

9 Stanley No 60 over 50 yrs old 1/4" to 2" plus a couple 'odd' ones.

I tend to use the big ones for scrapers(paint and wood).
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Goldie(Bought New SN 377425)/4" jointer/6" beltsander/12" planer/stripsander/bandsaw/powerstation /Scroll saw/Jig saw /Craftsman 10" ras/Craftsman 6" thicknessplaner/ Dayton10"tablesaw(restoredfromneighborstrashpile)/ Mark VII restoration in 'progress'/ 10
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robinson46176
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Re: How many "grab" chisels do you have?

Post by robinson46176 »

I have a good supply of grab chisels and some decent woodworking only chisels but what I lack is good "paring" chisels and good "mortising" chisels. I do have several specialty chisels like a large corner chisel like used in timber framing and a few large "slicks". I do have some nice smallish hand-forged chisels that are quite old.
I may have to buy some new paring chisels and mortising chisels. I just haven't found them at yard sales. I do see them at flea markets and in antique shops but usually at about half of the price of a new Shopsmith... :eek: :D

On a side note, if anybody runs across my froe please let me know where it is. I've been looking for it for 3 days... It looks much like this.
http://countingeverything.blogspot.com/ ... itter.html
--
farmer
Francis Robinson
I did not equip with Shopsmiths in spite of the setups but because of them.
1 1988 - Mark V 510 (bought new), 4 Poly vee 1 1/8th HP Mark V's, Mark VII, 1 Mark V Mini, 1 Frankensmith, 1 10-ER, 1 Mark V Push-me-Pull-me Drillpress, SS bandsaw, belt sander, jointer, jigsaw, shaper attach, mortising attach, TS-3650 Rigid tablesaw, RAS, 6" long bed jointer, Foley/Belsaw Planer/molder/ripsaw, 1" sander, oscillating spindle/belt sander, Scroll saw, Woodmizer sawmill
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reible
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Re: How many "grab" chisels do you have?

Post by reible »

This might not help you but my froe is setting on one of my shopsmiths..... have you checked your collection of shopsmiths?
IMG_6420sc.jpg
IMG_6420sc.jpg (485.55 KiB) Viewed 4913 times
Ed



robinson46176 wrote:I have a good supply of grab chisels and some decent woodworking only chisels but what I lack is good "paring" chisels and good "mortising" chisels. I do have several specialty chisels like a large corner chisel like used in timber framing and a few large "slicks". I do have some nice smallish hand-forged chisels that are quite old.
I may have to buy some new paring chisels and mortising chisels. I just haven't found them at yard sales. I do see them at flea markets and in antique shops but usually at about half of the price of a new Shopsmith... :eek: :D

On a side note, if anybody runs across my froe please let me know where it is. I've been looking for it for 3 days... It looks much like this.
http://countingeverything.blogspot.com/ ... itter.html
{Knight of the Shopsmith} [Hero's don't wear capes, they wear dog tags]
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robinson46176
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Re: How many "grab" chisels do you have?

Post by robinson46176 »

reible wrote:This might not help you but my froe is setting on one of my shopsmiths..... have you checked your collection of shopsmiths?
IMG_6420sc.jpg
Ed

If you had been more careful Ed you might not have cut off that left hand... :eek: :D
--
farmer
Francis Robinson
I did not equip with Shopsmiths in spite of the setups but because of them.
1 1988 - Mark V 510 (bought new), 4 Poly vee 1 1/8th HP Mark V's, Mark VII, 1 Mark V Mini, 1 Frankensmith, 1 10-ER, 1 Mark V Push-me-Pull-me Drillpress, SS bandsaw, belt sander, jointer, jigsaw, shaper attach, mortising attach, TS-3650 Rigid tablesaw, RAS, 6" long bed jointer, Foley/Belsaw Planer/molder/ripsaw, 1" sander, oscillating spindle/belt sander, Scroll saw, Woodmizer sawmill
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