Regular attendance at the local auctions has paid off.

A toolbox and its contents were auctioned this week, in 7
separate lots.

It is too bad they broke it up. I got 5 of the lots, including
the toolbox, but two of the lots got away. The two that got
away went to the same person, who did not even bid on the USER
tools. He got a (J Pollock, Edinburgh 1870's) plow with 7 irons
and a small brass rabbet with wooden (ebony?) wedge. Since I am
a user not a collector and since these would be duplicates,
more or less, I did not feel too bad.

Had they not broken it up, he probably would not have bid, since
that would have left him with a lot of crappy old user tools:
14 chisels, 4 shaves, 6 wooden planes, and the box itself.

After 4 hours of cleaning I have a couple of questions about the
makers of 3 chisels and 1 shave.

 1. ELECTRO BORACIC STEEL: a 3/8" gouge is has only this stamp.
    I sharpened this one up and tried it out on a piece of green
    cherry (garden tree died, this is woodturning practice wood)
    and it cuts as well as any woodturning gouge I have (of
    course it is not a woodturning chisel, but it was a quick
    way to check the edge).

 2. C E T Co. GALT CANADA. (I am just guess on the C E T Co
    part) This mark is complicated, and since it is Canadian,
    probably obscure. It is almost 4 concentric circles. In the
    outer ring, GALT at the top, CANADA at the bottom, C on the
    left, O on the right. The third concentric circle is the C
    (the circle does not close). The fourth concentric circle is
    the E: like a nested C with an added middle bar of make the
    E. The T lies below the middle E bar, reaching down to the
    C.

 3. 3/4" square sided mortise chisel, maker JOHN BULL, ????,
    SHEFFIELD. The mark includes an outline of a person,
    presumably mister bull.

Can anyone help with further information about these marks?

The rest of the chisels:

 - 3/32" and 4/32" mortise chisels marked only CAST STEEL,
 - 1 W Marples and Sons,
 - 1 Robt Sorby,
 - 3 WARD, and
 - 4 IBBOTSON and Sons.

R Hughes was consistent in chisel sharpening, but used a very
shallow 13 degree primary bevel, 22 degree secondary on his
paring chisels. His mortise chisels have 17 degree primary, up
to 30 degree secondary bevels.

Most the the chisels still have lots of life. The two 3/4
mortise chisels are both down under 2" of blade.

The shave that I cannot identify has mark

   ?ELA??EH & SONS
     SOL?V WORKS
     SHEFFIELD

where most of the letters in the company name and works name
are just guesses.

The other 3 shaves:

 - R Kelley & Sons, Liverpool, 3"
 - Marples & Sons, Hibernia, Sheffield, 2-1/2"
 - Stanley #64, type BB blade.

I am thinking I can now take my modern marple and stanley
chisels down to the auction and get more than I paid for these
old ones.

Brent

--
Brent Beach, Victoria, BC, CA

At 12:03 25/07/97 -0700, Brent  wrote:

Big Snip

According to the info in "The Cutting Edge", the catalogue of an exhibition
of Sheffield tools at the Ruskin Gallery in Sheffield in 1992:

ELECTROBORACIC STEEL was used as a mark by (at least)  Wm Greaves and Son,
and by Thomas Turner

> 3. 3/4" square sided mortise chisel, maker JOHN BULL, ????,
>    SHEFFIELD. The mark includes an outline of a person,
>    presumably mister bull.

>From the same source,

"John Bull " was the trademark of Hearnshaw Brothers.

Their Mark seems to have been as follows:

JOHN  (tubby little man) BULL

       HEARNSHAW  BROS

             SHEFFIELD

HB were listed in the Sheffield Directory of 1868n as edge tool mfrs on
Sorby Street.  After various ups and then downs they were taken over by Thos
R Ellin of the Footprint Works, Holliscroft, about 1958.  There is a fair
bit more info in the book but I can't type as fast as Tom Bruce.

>
>   ?ELA??EH & SONS
>     SOL?V WORKS
>     SHEFFIELD
>

Nope, got me bluffed.

Not much, but its a start!

Regards,

Tony B

A while back, Brent Beach asked for help identifying a spokeshave ---
.....

The shave that I cannot identify has mark

   ?ELA??EH & SONS
     SOL?V WORKS
     SHEFFIELD

where most of the letters in the company name and works name
are just guesses.

Brent,

I have a spokeshave made by D. Flather and Sons of Solly Works, Sheffield, 
England.  I suspect that is what you have also.  Check the marks again to see 
if they agree.  If so, you've got some good 19th C Sheffield steel there.  
:-) 

There is more data on Flather in Roberts book "Some 19th Century English 
Woodworking Tools".  Unfortunately, my copy is at home and today I am 
suffering from CRS (Can't Remember Sh*t).  

Charlie

Charlie: It is likely Brown & Flather, Solly Works.  It was a Joiner Tool
Maker operating 
-1837-1849- (per Ken Roberts "Some 19th C English Woodworking Tools" p.
238).
--ErvSaws 
On Tue, 29 Jul 97 14:38:38 -0400 cnewbold@m... (C Newbold)
writes:
>A while back, Brent Beach asked for help identifying a spokeshave ---
>.....
>
>The shave that I cannot identify has mark
>
>   ?ELA??EH & SONS
>     SOL?V WORKS
>     SHEFFIELD
>
>where most of the letters in the company name and works name
>are just guesses.
>
>Brent,
>
>I have a spokeshave made by D. Flather and Sons of Solly Works, 
>Sheffield, 
>England.  I suspect that is what you have also.  Check the marks again 
>to see 
>if they agree.  If so, you've got some good 19th C Sheffield steel 
>there.  
>:-) 
>
>There is more data on Flather in Roberts book "Some 19th Century 
>English 
>Woodworking Tools".  Unfortunately, my copy is at home and today I am 
>suffering from CRS (Can't Remember Sh*t).  
>
>Charlie
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------

ErvSaws said:

Charlie: It is likely Brown & Flather, Solly Works.  It was a Joiner Tool
Maker operating 
-1837-1849- (per Ken Roberts "Some 19th C English Woodworking Tools" p.
238).
--ErvSaws 
On Tue, 29 Jul 97 14:38:38 -0400 cnewbold@m... (C Newbold)
writes:
>A while back, Brent Beach asked for help identifying a spokeshave ---
>.....
>
>The shave that I cannot identify has mark
>
>   ?ELA??EH & SONS
>     SOL?V WORKS
>     SHEFFIELD
>

>
I should have checked further--should be Flather and Sons---1857-1859- at
same location.  Changed their name by this time.--Erv
 ---------------------------------------------------------------- Private

In the continuing saga of the shave imprint identification, 

>ErvSaws said:

>Charlie: It is likely Brown & Flather, Solly Works.  It was a Joiner Tool 
>Maker operating 
>-1837-1849- (per Ken Roberts "Some 19th C English Woodworking Tools" p. 
>238).

>--ErvSaws 
>On Tue, 29 Jul 97 14:38:38 -0400 cnewbold@m... (C Newbold) 
>writes:
>A while back, Brent Beach asked for help identifying a spokeshave --- >.....
>
>The shave that I cannot identify has mark
>
>   ?ELA??EH & SONS
>     SOL?V WORKS
>     SHEFFIELD
>

>I should have checked further--should be Flather and Sons---1857-1859- at 
>same location.  Changed their name by this time.--Erv

Thanks Erv, I was partially right. But CRS wins again.  

To further muddy the waters. The actual shave that I have says F. Walter and 
Sons, Solly Works, Sheffield, England.  So, there's another choice.  And I 
still forgot to check the Roberts write up.  :-(  Yuck, shoe polish has a 
strange flavor.  I'd better stick to optical inputs, and skip the synaptic 
recall paths.
 
Charlie

On Wed, 30 Jul 97 10:04:24 -0400 cnewbold@m... (C Newbold)
writes:
>In the continuing saga of the shave imprint identification, 
>
>>ErvSaws said:
>
>>Charlie: It is likely Brown & Flather, Solly Works.  It was a Joiner 
>Tool 
>>Maker operating 
>>-1837-1849- (per Ken Roberts "Some 19th C English Woodworking Tools" 
>p. 
>>238).
>
>>--ErvSaws 
>>On Tue, 29 Jul 97 14:38:38 -0400 cnewbold@m... (C 
>Newbold) 
>>writes:
>>A while back, Brent Beach asked for help identifying a spokeshave --- 
>>.....
Charlie:F.  Walter & Co was a "mark" of Flather & Sons.   p.434 of
Roberts.
--Erv
>>
>>The shave that I cannot identify has mark
>>

>>   ?ELA??EH & SONS
>>     SOL?V WORKS
>>     SHEFFIELD
>>
>
>>I should have checked further--should be Flather and 
>Sons---1857-1859- at 
>>same location.  Changed their name by this time.--Erv
>
>Thanks Erv, I was partially right. But CRS wins again.  
>
>To further muddy the waters. The actual shave that I have says F. 
>Walter and 
>Sons, Solly Works, Sheffield, England.  So, there's another choice.  
>And I 
>still forgot to check the Roberts write up.  :-(  Yuck, shoe polish 
>has a 
>strange flavor.  I'd better stick to optical inputs, and skip the 
>synaptic 
>recall paths.
> 
>Charlie
>
>----------------------------------------------------------------

Brent Beach:

>...
>The shave that I cannot identify has mark
>
>   ?ELA??EH & SONS
>     SOL?V WORKS
>     SHEFFIELD
>
>where most of the letters in the company name and works name
>are just guesses.

>From Roberts (should be standard equipment for you Canadians, apparently): 

David Flather & Sons, Solly Works, 1856-1900+.

I also have a shave or two by this maker.

Bob Brode