My new chisels.

[Balsabasher]

My new chisels purchased today,I will not be able to eat for a week as they cost me a lot of money,can anyone tell me what these would have been originally used for ? the long shank and raised handles is something that I have never come across before ? they are best Sheffield steel with beautiful wooden handles,their cutting ability is remarkable,you just cannot beat good quality tools like this.
Barry.




http://smm.solidmodelmemories.net/Gallery/albums/userpics/10005/NEW_CHISELS_1.JPG

[Ken Pugh]

According to my Lee Valley Tools catalog, "Though ideal for fitting housed joints such as dadoes and sliding dovetails, these paring chisels also excel at trimming joint projections, wooden pins, screw plugs, etc."

Ken Pugh

[Balsabasher]

Thank you for this information Ken,they will certainly be put to good use beyond their original intentions,most interesting.
Barry.

[Mothman]

Barry, they are quite undeniably patternmakers' chisels.
I worked with an inveterate Brummie patternmaker who was earning £30 an hour in Germany as a clay modeller and one day he brought in his patternmaking tools and some were those that you've bought there.  The very best are by Collins and Sorby run them close.
The next day the Brummie was gone and had left a note scraped in the clay of what was to become the Bugatti Veyron full size model (when it looked more like a DB7!) saying "Tra a bit, missin' me chisels".  Never saw him again.
Martin

[Balsabasher]

Martin I love stories about people like him,these fast vanishing characters who had skills way beyond the norm,they come out of the blue and vanish just as quickly !
And thank you for the confirmation on these chisels as well,what is happening around here of late is that widows are selling off the once precious artifacts of their loved ones,after all a few pounds in the kitty is better than having tools and handmade tool boxes in the shed ? and we are all but custodians to enjoy these tools again and above all use them,the place that I purchased them from sells tools to collectors ! now how can a tool be a collectors piece ? but I am probably wrong but in my eyes a tool is to cherish and to handle and use to create beautiful objects of desire.
When you keen up the edges you can see straight away the difference in quality.
Thank you again,Barry.

[Mothman]

When my Grandad died, my Dad broke all the records for the Romford to Gt. Yarmouth A 12 race track, but still missed the act of theft by his brother wherein all Grandad's cabinet making tools had been cleared out, but for some rebate planes, which I now have. Dad's brother was forced into cabinet making and hated it, so why would he take "the ol' man's" tools?
The two brothers never spoke again.
My Dad would have known exactly how to keep and use them, whereas the other one probably flogged them off.

I do, however, have my other Grandad's graining and marbling tools, which I used on my old canal boat in the traditional way.

Cheers,
Martin

[Balsabasher]

When we think of these old cabinet makers and skilled craftsmen it is perhaps difficult for todays generation to realise the pride and devotion that went into their work,as an apprentice you firstly made your very own custom made tool chest,that tool chest would be with you for the rest of your working days,it probably had compartments where every tool was located and those tools would have your initials proudly displayed on them.
I have seen several of these tool boxes for sale at car boot sales,they rarely realise very much,this seems to be all about values and the way skills that once were commonplace in society no longer have a place today,but those old boys could certainly make wonderful objects of great beauty and accuracy,long may their memories live on.
Barry.

[Mothman]

Barry,
I should be so lucky as to find such treasures in boot fairs!  I wish.
Despite the broad church we modelmakers find ourselves in, our tool kit would not be so impressive as a cabinet maker or pattern maker.  A few knives, a few files, a Minidrill and its transformer, a square.  The rest would be a fairly motley collection of odds and sods, not the gleaming polished hard wood of planes and chisel handles.
Yet we, too, turn out some pretty fair pieces on the whole.  Though I wouldn't know where to begin with a double tapered standard lamp with constantly tapering 9 reeded standard, which I know my Grandad made with nothing but a scratch stock, nor could I come close to his astonishing speed.  A complete bedroom suite in mahogany in a long weekend!  I used to watch him doing it in his long thin side shed.
Similarly I've watched my other Grandad first make his own paint by grinding pigment in a pestle and mortar, then recreate the finest Italian marble on an alabaster pillar in Romford Town Hall or replicate bird's eye Maple to an almost undiscernable difference from the real thing.
This why I am a great defender of real craftsmanship, rather than push button "modelmaking" as is practised these days.  I understand the economic imperative, but regret it badly.

Martin

[Balsabasher]

Martin I can see that you come from a family line of craftsmen,something that you can be justly proud of.
There has been something mentioned in my family about an artist called Hardiman who is an ancestor,he produced a bronze black horse for the Imperial War museum in Lambeth London,there was some mention of this on the internet but it is not there any more ? a friend made an enquiry on my behalf on a recent visit but the staff that day were too busy to look into it for me.
The one thing that sticks out in my mind when I visited my uncle who was a coal miner was the wooden shed perched on top of the coal slag heap hills,in there all sorts of activities took place,whether it was make or mend to save money,or carving a wooden ship for young Barry to sail and pull along on a piece of string on the local stream,everything was hand made,the shed contained all sorts of what many would term junk,but to our eyes we know otherwise as it formed the basis for much experimenting.
Here is another lovely story that is true and revolves around another coal miner,this chap built his own aeroplane,nothing extraordinary about that until I mention that he also built his own engine as well,once more he cast the crankcase in a furnace installed in his living room ! the aeroplane still exists in the North East air museum at Usworth a Luton Minor type I believe.
Such feats today would be called eccentric but this man was following his dream to fly and would do amazing things to achieve that aim,bravo I say.
Barry.

[Will]

There has been something mentioned in my family about an artist called Hardiman who is an ancestor,he produced a bronze black horse for the Imperial War museum in Lambeth London,there was some mention of this on the internet but it is not there any more ? a friend made an enquiry on my behalf on a recent visit but the staff that day were too busy to look into it for me

Barry is this your ancestor?
http://yourarchives.nationalarchives.gov.uk/index.php?title=Hardiman,_Alfred_Frank_%281891-1949%29,_sculptor
Your family may have the Haig memorial in mind, the IWM and BoW would just be "government" work to most people.  If he is compared to Epstein he would be in the premier league of early 20th century sculptors - very controversial at the time though.  Check some of the other sculptures and entries if you google "hardiman sculptor".

Regards
Will

[Balsabasher]

Thats him Will,you have found everything that I needed to know and can now confirm that he did sculpt that horse,thank you for your research much appreciated.
I am intrigued by him being a draughtsman in the Royal Flying Corps ? now what exactly did that job entail I wonder,I know that before the days of real photography artists were called upon to do work for the military,or could it have been work on designing aircraft or fittings for the war office ? this has made me feel very proud of my roots especially the art and aviation connections as far back as then.
That was very kind of you Will.
Barry.