I live near Rochester NY and run into D.R. Barton tools on occasion, interesting
history.

-----Original Message-----
From: oldtools@g...  On Behalf Of John Ruth
Sent: Tuesday, August 23, 2022 8:53 AM
To: Michael Blair 
Cc: scottg@s...; oldtools@g...
Subject: Re: [oldtools] Chisel Pricing confusion

Mike wrote:

> You want bizarre?  "Stanley Sweetheart chisels, set of 8, available 
> at Home Depot.  All bearing the 750 marking:
> 
> https://www.homedepot.com/p/Stanley-Sweetheart-750-Series-Socket-Wood-
> Chisel-Set-8-Piece-16-793/203710894

Oh, I'd like to know how close these are to true equivalency to the oldies!

1) How HARD are they? Most modern chisels are tempered to a hardness such that
they will bend before they snap. This is to prevent lawsuits by "Freddy
Allthumbs" who lost an eye after using a chisel to pry open a paint can. _Notice
that No Rc number is given_!!!

( Many US-made chisels sold under various private brands such as Craftsman and
Buck Brothers all came from a New England factory owned by Great Neck.  [Source:
One of the Taunton books. Your mission is to jog my memory by identifying which
book. ]. The steel was said to be chemically correct, but not tempered to the
correct hardness. Difficult to reharden/retemper due to non-removable plastic
handles. )

2) Where are they made? Any nation can make good stuff, but some are more in the
habit of quality than others.

Scott wrote a sentence with an excellent bit of Galoot humor which I've not seen
mentioned in recent years:

>> ...Swan, Whitherby, Doc Barton and the other "best there ever was" 
>> chisels


I do hope the newer members of the Porch "got" Scott's reference to Doc Barton.
This was something that gave us a chuckle years ago when the 'Bay had a bunch of
sellers who misread "D. R. Barton" as "Dr. Barton," thus creating a mythical
chisel maker.

I still chuckle over that one when I find a D. R. Barton at the fleas.

As a sort of BTW, I'd include L & IJ White among the old time makers of good
chisels. What say?

John Ruth
Still somewhat saddened when finding a quality socket chisel with the socket
mushroomed into unusablity or entirely absent.