Always swore by chisels from the hardware store until I grabbed a second-hand Stanley 750 at a flea market

That old steel holds an edge way longer than the new stuff, has anyone else noticed that with vintage tools or is it just me?

3 comments

3 Comments

matthews2128d ago

Maybe the old steel was forged with more carbon content since they didn't care about mass production costs back then.

lindab4928d ago

Swapped out my brand new chisels for an old Marples after reading this and it was like night and day. Had to sharpen a lot less on that old steel compared to the modern ones I was fighting with. Makes you wonder what they were doing different back then in the manufacturing process, right?

victorb1727d ago

matthews21 raises a good point about carbon content. Back then, they were making tools to last a lifetime, not to hit a certain price point. The old steel was probably forged with more carbon and less of the cheaper alloys they use now to cut costs. It's not just chisels either, I have an old Disston handsaw that still cuts like new while the new ones I've tried get dull in half the time.