Reach For A Stanley (October 2009)
The Ideal Chisel:
The Stanley 750
(by Chris Becksvoort)
In my opinion, Stanley lost its position as the premier toolmaker in the last half of the twentieth century.
I see several underlying reasons: First, the commercialization of furniture production meant that fewer hand tools were required by fewer people. Globalization led to more production overseas, which in turn led to more competition for cheaper products and lower quality.
With the appearance of big box stores, and the demise of the local hardware stores, the tool marked shifted to cheap tools aimed at home owners and weekend woodworkers.
Until about the middle of the twentieth century, the Stanley 750 was the production chisel by which all others were judged.
Many consider it the best-designed cabinet chisel ever made. It was well machined, tempered and finished. Since they had such mass-appeal, and large production, the 750s are still relatively easy to find; there simply are more of them out there.
With a little searching at yard sales, flea markets and antique stores, a fairly usable or even complete set can be assembled.
They were originally available in eleven size: 1/8, 1⁄4, 3/8, 1⁄2, 5/8, 3⁄4, 7/8, 1, 1 1⁄4, 1 1⁄2, and 2 inches, although smaller sets of 5 and seven were also sold.
I find that the wider sizes were seldom used, since a given mallet blow spreads the force over such a wide area, which results in an extremely shallow cut.
Personally, the 1 1⁄4 is the widest I own.
Socket chisels are my favorite designs. The reason is that the handles are easily replaced if lost, broken, or as personal comfort and preference dictate. The original handles were turned out of ash with a heavy leather ring (usually 2 or 3 leather discs), dark reddish mahogany stain, and the entire handle sprayed with a sturdy finish.
With care, many of the original handles have survived intact, but if lost, they are easy to replace. Unfortunately, we’ve all seen beautiful chisels, with the handles gone, abused by hammer hits directly on the socket, resulting an metal mushrooming, and usually making the chisel worthless.
I’ve made replacement handles out of ash, like the originals, but also rock maple, hornbeam and locust. Yet it was not the handles that made the chisels so universally popular, it was the blade.
Tempered to Rc hardness of between 60 and 62, the 750, could go long stretches between sharpenings, holding a keen edge.
The engineering and machining were also superb. For example, the 1/8 inch chisel had a thickness of just over 1⁄4 inch at the bevel, increasing to 7/16 where the blade joins the socket. This transition, between blade and socket was quite beefy to prevent vibration (especially on the smaller sizes) when struck.
The wider chisels had relatively wide bevels and narrow 90 degree edges, making them very useful for getting into tight areas such as dovetails.
All in all, the Stanley 750s were as close to chisel nirvana as any large volume hand tool made.
I treasure mine, and hope we all take care of ours, so that the next generation will have the benefit of these superb tools.