Winchester Chisel

Leo Voisine

Member
Messages
5,703
Location
East Freeetown, Massachusetts
I have a 1/2 wide chisel.

It is maked with Winchester on it.

I worked at Winchester for several years and never knew they made a chisel.

It might be a promo item

It is quite old - I am guessing early 1900's

Does anybody have any info on a Winchester chisel

Leo
 
Frank T , thanks for sharing those links with us. The Rose Antique place really amazes me. Every time I think I have seen it all something like this crops up and i am blown away that someone would set up a whole building and start a business like this. The stock of old tools they have on hand is phenomenal.

I would love to have an understanding of the demand they get.

The information on that site and the availability and even the pricing is really great.

Thanks again.:thumb:
 
[FONT=&quot]Leo, take a look at these two PDF files:

THE WINCHESTER * SIMMONS HARDWARE COMPANY CONNECTION

Winchester History/Archive

Additional information on this page:

http://www.roseantiquetools.com/id42.html [/FONT]

Frank - thank you - I especially like the Winchester history.

I was fortunate to be in a position whereas I could walk around the factory pretty much as I pleased. I was also fortunate to work there in a time when the OLD factory was still standing - The old factory was built about 1850-1875. There was 900,000 square feet of manufacturing floor space. The new plant was built in about 1992-3 when I was working at Winchester. The new factory was 250,000 square feet. It was an interesting time to work there.

Anyway - I got this chisel and I want to get close as I can to a date of manufacture. I think based on the stuff you gave links to - that it is somewhere between WWI and 1922, there is no mention of Simmons on the chisel.

Leo
 
If memory serves, Winchester didn't actually produce any of their own tools. Winchester hand planes were actually manufactured by Stanley, using their older (rounded cheek) Bedrock plane design.
I've got a Winchester socket chisel or two - they're nothing special, but are solid, useable tools - i picked up mine at a yard sale for less than a buck. I'm a user, not a collector, so my opinion reflects that.
I do know that there is a pretty good level of interest in them from collectors. That keeps their value up a bit.
 
Frank T , thanks for sharing those links with us. The Rose Antique place really amazes me. Every time I think I have seen it all something like this crops up and i am blown away that someone would set up a whole building and start a business like this. The stock of old tools they have on hand is phenomenal.

I would love to have an understanding of the demand they get.

The information on that site and the availability and even the pricing is really great.

Thanks again.:thumb:

My pleasure Rob. I continue to be amazed by the amount of information on the Internet and am forever grateful for the dedicated people who put it there.

Frank - thank you - I especially like the Winchester history.

I was fortunate to be in a position whereas I could walk around the factory pretty much as I pleased. I was also fortunate to work there in a time when the OLD factory was still standing - The old factory was built about 1850-1875. There was 900,000 square feet of manufacturing floor space. The new plant was built in about 1992-3 when I was working at Winchester. The new factory was 250,000 square feet. It was an interesting time to work there.

Anyway - I got this chisel and I want to get close as I can to a date of manufacture. I think based on the stuff you gave links to - that it is somewhere between WWI and 1922, there is no mention of Simmons on the chisel.

Leo

Great story Leo, happy to try to fill in a blank or two. Nice when you can hold both history and a tool in your hand at the same time.
 
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