Mortise Chisel

6/16/04, 1:16 PM #1

dave jeske
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Mortise Chisel

dave jeske

>I picked this chisel up the other day on the 'Bay just because I hadn't seen one like it before from T.H. Witherby. I have a set of very nice bevel edge paring chisels from them and I have seen sets of straight sided firmer chisels. I have not seen mortise chisels from Witherby before; has anyone else? Does anyone have an old catalog of their product offerings? It is lighter duty than most mortising chisel I own or have seen; would this be called a sash mortising chisel? I figured it would be great to use for small cabinet sash work. The blade is about 1/8" thick and the overall length of the whole chisel is about 9-1/2 inches.

Thanks,

Dave Jeske

Re: Mortise Chisel

6/16/04, 3:35 PM #2

Bob Hackett
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Re: Mortise Chisel

Bob Hackett

>Most of my Whitherby mortise chisels are of the socket type.I`ve got quite afew of the smaller ones(1/4 and less)and even have a monster 3/8 that has a laminated blade better than 12" long that was used in a local shipyard.The mark on that one is T.H. WHITHERBY and below it CAST-STEEL.Paid $10 for it as I`ve never seen one like it.The Whitherby and James Swan chisels I`ve got seem to be the top performers.

Mainely,Bob

Re: Mortise Chisel

6/16/04, 5:43 PM #3

dave jeske
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Re: Mortise Chisel

dave jeske

>Bob,

thanks for the info. This one says T.H. WITHERBY in a serifed font but no "cast Steel" It is a pretty small area to stamp on though. I agree that they hold an edge. I am anxious to sharpen this one up and try it out. One of my favorite small chisels is a James Swan 1/2" tang firmer-style chisel. It has a very thin profile and holds a razor sharp edge for a long time.

dave

Re: Mortise Chisel

6/17/04, 2:48 PM #4

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)
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Re: Mortise Chisel

Derek Cohen (in Perth, Australia)

>Dave

I saw this one and almost bid on it. Mainly I loved the handle, which is most un-mortise chisel-like. I emailed the seller and asked him what type of chisel this was. He said it was indeed a mortise chisel.

My take on the chisel is that it looks like a cut-down sash mortise chisel. I have two Witherby sash mortise chisels. The blades are typically twice the length of the one pictured. The other feature that stood out was that my Witherbys are all socket chisels.

I'll hold out for cut-down sash mortise chisel. Should make a good user - but with a different handle. This one is too pretty to mess up.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Re: Mortise Chisel

6/18/04, 4:11 AM #5

Bill Houghton
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It looks kind of like

Bill Houghton, Sebastopol, CA

>the "caning chisels" that Constantine, I think it was, used to sell for cleaning out the grooves of spline-set caning (works on the same principle as modern aluminum window screens, with the cane in place of the screen and a wooden spline in place of the rubber spline used in the window screens), but I don't know whether spline-set caning was in vogue when Witherby was around. The caning chisels were/are 1/8", as I recall. It sure is a pretty tool, regardless of its original intent.

Re: Mortise Chisel

6/22/04, 12:17 AM #6

dave jeske
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Re: Mortise Chisel

dave jeske

>I liked the handle also. It is, indeed, "un-mortise like". I have no plans to bang on it hard or maybe even at all. I am torn wheter or not to clean up the handle a bit or just leave it alone. I have some heavy duty mortise chisels for the tough work though.

dave

Mortise Chisel

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