What is this?

[Hank Knight]

I bought what I thought was a Swan 1/8" socket firmer chisel online. When it arrived I discovered it has a channel or a groove the length of the back that turns the cutting edge into a shallow gouge shape. I can't flatten the back without grinding the channel away - no small task. I've never seen this. I have other 1/8" chisels, but none with this feature. Anybody know what kind of chisel this is?

IMG_1921 by Hank Knight, on Flickr

IMG_1927 by Hank Knight, on Flickr

[TraditionalToolworks]

I bought what I thought was a Swan 1/8" socket firmer chisel online. When it arrived I discovered it has a channel or a groove the length of the back that turns the cutting edge into a shallow gouge shape.

Hank,

I'd say that's pretty cool, I've never seen that either. I think that could come in handy, but is it difficult to sharpen? there's a competing edge where the top is flat but the bottom is curved...maybe you can just sharpen like a chisel and use a slip stone on the gouge portion?

Interesting tool.

Alan

[bandit571]

Maybe for Cope & Stick work?

[Admiral]

My wild guess is some sort of specialized pattern maker's tool; other than that, I've never seen one like that either. It has the side profile of a sash mortise chisel, maybe a special order or user modified for something like making fly rods??

[AHill]

Lockset mortising chisel.

Edited:
I'm retracting my original guess and revising it to a spindle turning gouge. I can't find a handle like that in any Swan catalog I could find online.

[MichaelMouse]

Lockset mortising chisel.

Edited:
I'm retracting my original guess and revising it to a spindle turning gouge.  I can't find a handle like that in any Swan catalog I could find online.

Then why is the handle fitted with leathers to take a beating without mushrooming?
Not to mention turning wants a tang, not a socket.

Cuts the sides of the mortise as it works the end.  My guess.

Revise my edit. The back points dig and stabilize an otherwise prone to rotate narrow chisel.

[AHill]

Then why is the handle fitted with leathers to take a beating without mushrooming?
Not to mention turning wants a tang, not a socket.

Cuts the sides of the mortise as it works the end.  My guess.

Revise my edit.  The back points dig and stabilize an otherwise prone to rotate narrow chisel.

Good points.   I saw a similar Buck Bro's tool characterized as a coping gouge.  I don't think it's a mortise chisel, though, since the curved tip would not be best for leveraging out waste.

[jlanciani]

Its just an out cannel gouge. Being that it is socketed, primarily used by a carpenter or millwright. I have a full set of Greenlee's, but Swan, Witherby, Buck, etc. all made them back in the day.

[DaveParkis]

I have one of those in a Witherby and couldn't find anything to tell me what it was.

[TGW]

I also think it is a nice little outcannel gouge.