Stanley No. 60 chisel with black handle

[Bill_Houghton]

At a recent estate sale, I picked up a Stanley No. 60 chisel with an opaque black plastic handle, clearly original.  The No. 60 is a great carpentry chisel: tough steel, holds an edge well, and the metal cap means you can use a hammer on it.  All the previous No. 60s I'd seen (including several I purchased) had a clear yellow handle with black accents.

Looking online, I find these are more fairly common.  One post referred to the handle as "bakelite."  Does anyone know if that's true?  If so, I'd be reluctant to put it in the carpentry belt; bakelite can be a brittle plastic, not the best choice for something that's going to get hit hard.

[museumguy]

Years ago, there was a company that sold "seconds", can't remember the name. I bought a 1/2" and a 3/4" version of the black handled #60. I used them for years as my travel chisels. Theyn still and plenty of steel when I sold them on ebay, for a decent profit. A coworker had a number of them, possibly a set. He refused to sell them even though he never used them. Bottom line, I can confirm that they are decent chisels. Sharpen them and use them.

[adamcherubini]

I have them. Definitely not bakelite. I thought the black were older. Let me tell you why I like these chisels:
1) SUPER cheap- I pay less than $5 per
2) Sold to homeowners who didn't sharpen them. Rare to find them ground down. Often I find original marks on their backs
3) Steel is absolutely acceptable.

Don't love their length, blade shapes and sizes, handles, but for carpentry, more than good enough and kinda traditional shop class cool.

[Derek Cohen]

Adam and all

If you have a few chisels like this (as I have), and want to create narrow lands for dovetails or other fine work, I came up with an easy method for accurately grinding the sides. This does not alter the size of a chisel, and the remaining land size is up to you. All you need is a belt sander.

I cannot post pictures as FWW magazine plan to post this at some time, but they are happy for me to leave the article on my website ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeToo...eNomi.html

This was for a Japanese oire nomi, but the principle is the same for all chisels with high sides.

Regards from Perth

Derek

[adamcherubini]

Adam and all

If you have a few chisels like this (as I have), and want to create narrow lands for dovetails or other fine work, I came up with an easy method for accurately grinding the sides. This does not alter the size of a chisel, and the remaining land size is up to you. All you need is a belt sander.

I cannot post pictures as FWW magazine plan to post this at some time, but they are happy for me to leave the article on my website ...

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeToo...eNomi.html

This was for a Japanese oire nomi, but the principle is the same for all chisels with high sides.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Just so I understand. The chisels you bought had both square edges and parallel sides? Or one or the other?

[john jesseph]

Yes, not Bakelite. More like a super hard rubber, not a plastic that became brittle. Good chisels.

[adamcherubini]

Yes, not Bakelite. More like a super hard rubber, not a plastic that became brittle. Good chisels.

Looked it up. I think it’s acetate, which is made from cellulose. Invented in the 1930s which is right for these chisels. Stanley called it “staneloid”, which just sounds wrong to me. I’ve seen clear red ones. Anyone know the vintage of those?

[EdL]

Never seen the black handle ones. I have a set my dad bought new in about 1968, l find them to be a very good chisel.
Thankfully dad didn't use them much, or sharpen them. So they weren't messed up when l got them.


Ed

[CStan]

Steel caps for a bench woodworker? No thanks.

[Bill_Houghton]

Steel caps for a bench woodworker?  No thanks.

Ah, but I specifically said "carpentry chisel."  Some of us do carpentry, and, I am reluctant to take the shop/bench tools to the job site (said job site being the house, 50 feet away from the shop); so these Stanley chisels have accompanied me into the attic, crawl space, and other scary places.