Duckfeet

Hi zigzag. You are bang on about the quality of older tools, I am more than delighted with mine. The same goes for HSS twist drill bits. Those I've had for nearly 50 years still sharpen up great and outperform the modern rubbish. Swedes will always bang on about their stuff being better but my Swedish hand saws soon get blunt! I'm retired now but still like to use decent tools in one of my hobbies of timber sign-making. Whereabouts in Sweden do you live? I live in southern Skåne, north of Ystad.

Thanks, choogling, I will.

IMG_0477.JPG Hi graystreet, Thank you for the clip on Henry Taylor's forge. It shows that hand-forged tools cannot be beaten. I've owned my HT carving chisel for years and it is simply unbeatable. Above is a photograph of my Eyrewood & Co chisel, it shows that the initial 'E' can easily be mistaken for an 'A' (as I did). [Or not, as the case may be! I don't know if it is possible to upload photographs on this forum.]

Thanks for that, Jon26, I appreciate it. I have taken your advice and looked up Eyrewood & Co and found this link: https://www.worthpoint.com/worthopedia/vintage-eyrewood-co-chisel-463821220 The chisel shown at the top of the page has an identical handle to mine. I have re-examined the stamp on my firmer chisel and it seems that the initial letter (E) is stylised and appears to be an A. It still has black scale inside the stamping that is not easy to polish out. Problem solved, you are a star. Thank you very much.

I know exactly what you mean about protection from cold chisels. I had my apprenticeship, as a plater, at Markham & Co in Chesterfield (from 1967). Markham's were in the same group as Firth Brown. One day I was hammering away at a row of weld tacks when, after about a hour of this, I missed the end of the chisel. The ball-pein hammer head smashed into the end joint of my middle finger ripping it clean open! I still have the scar and it never regained full feeling! I would have loved a set of Gordon spanners; I had to make do with a set of hand-forged "rat-tails" (or "bodging" spanners), all BSW, for tightening up the nuts on ¾" to 1" bolts, or lining up rivet holes in plates. Happy days.

I've just had a look on Google and come up with S & J's website: http://www.spear-and-jackson.com They do, indeed make panel saws (among many other tools) and a few smaller saws and other sundries under the Eclipse name. ---------- Post added 14-01-2018 at 23:53 ---------- I've rechecked the chisel, lazarus, and all that it has stamped on the back of the body, just before the tang, are the words "Ayrewood & Co, Sheffield". No logo or any other trade mark.

Spear & Jackson make (made?) excellent garden tools. I had a spade and a garden fork made by them for years and they served me well. I don't recall any S & J woodworking tools though. Michael Palin did a really funny skit on them in his "Ripping Yarns" comedy series. In the episode called "The Trials of Eric Olthwaite", Eric (played by Palin) was obsessed by shovels, especially the collection of his neighbour, Howard Molson, who had a "brand new Spear and Jackson Number 3, with steel scoop and brass embrazure." Utterly hilarious.

alarming mark, trastrick and flightliner, thank you for your input, it is greatly appreciated. All the chisels I bought were very old and well-used. They all come (as far as I can ascertain ) from the late 19th or early 20th century. All are of exceptional quality and have scrubbed up (sharpened and polished) extremely well. They are sturdy and razor sharp. In fact the Ayrewood & Co firmer chisel is the best of the bunch, retaining a keen edge for a great length of time and is truly a joy to use. I'm guessing that the Ayrewood company (without doubt a Sheffield concern) was probably taken over by one of the other larger tool firms (maybe Marples or Robert Sorby). I have also possessed a set of Marples' very thin woodcarving chisels since the 1970s and they have never let me down. The same can be said of a couple of Henry Taylor's from the same era. I wouldn't part with them for the world. Many thanks again, chaps.

Evidently with 720 views, but no replies, no one reading this forum is old enough to have ever heard of Ayrewood Tools in Sheffield. Shame, that, since it means that another part of Sheffield's proud heritage is now lost to history.

I remember using a bowl of olives to drop my cigarette ash into (I was a smoker in the old days!) as I remarked that "Some dirty so-and-so has spilt their beer in the ashtray.":o

Good morning, Sheffield. I am an ex-pat Englishman (of Sheffield heritage) now living in Sweden. I have recently bought a number of old chisels for my woodworking hobby that were manufactured by old Sheffield steel and tool firms. I know the provenance of those that were made by: Stormont Tools, Robert Sorby, Marples and Alfred Ridge (Footprint); but I can find no reference, whatsoever, online to the chisel that is stamped "Ayrewood & Co, Sheffield". Does anyone on here have any reference material on that company that I could maybe peruse? Many thanks.