E. A. Berg Chisels

Restoration

 

Purchased a group of chisels on Craig's List.

These are 50's era Swedish chisels made by Erik Anton Berg in Eskilstuna, Sweden.

A northern carpenter of Swedish descent had used them during his career and the chisels accompanied him when he moved south. After a second career as a home builder he retired and at his death these chisels were found wrapped in a tool roll and in a container at the bottom of a closet.

The group of chisels consisted of twenty beveled bench chisels, the 1031 series, in fifteen sizes.

There were also six butt chisels.

This tang-fastened series had plastic handles but they were famous for being very comfortable and they do not roll on a bench.

Information

Broken Tip Chisel Restoration

Handle Replacement

These chisels were purchased and shipped from Sweden in 1955.

Receipt is shown on the right.

Closeup of the Model 1031 handle.

The 1031 series chisel is still manufactured in Sweden today.

It is marketed as a Sandvik Bahco 1031 chisel.

 

Broken Tip Chisel Restoration
The first chisel in the restoration project was a 1/2" , 13mm, bench chisel with a broken tip.

 

The front face is shown here.

 

The back face.

 

First task was to remove surface rust so that I could really take a look at the chisel surfaces...did some steel wool rubbing with a little WD-40.

Now to grind.

I got out my Swedish Tormek T-7 for the grinding process.

I have not used the Tormek in a while because I only use it to grind a bevel. Most of my chisel and plane blade sharpening is done by hand on waterstones.

But this broken-tip piece demanded a re-ground bevel.

Set the degrees at about 27°...this will put a hollow bevel...I will later change this to a 25° hand ground bevel.
Here is the unit with a water cooled, newly ground bevel.

The back of this chisel had never been lapped since the original Berg manufacturing lap.

I lapped the back on a DMT Dia-Flat diamond lapping plate.

After a few minutes of lapping it was clear that the outer edges were lower than the center and that the factory lapping had more or less stopped short of the heel of blade...I assume to avoid removing the brand stamp...
In this image you can see a line to the left of the stamp...this ridge line is tactile...but the area is lower than the rest of the back face.
I took the lapping back a couple of inches and decided to let it stay there...the line is still evident.

Then the back was honed on waterstones at 1000x, 4000x and 8000x.

Got a decent polished end.

Next I put the chisel in MKII honing guide at 25° and re-ground the primary bevel on the lapping plate.
Then through the three grits of waterstones...
Then set a 2° micro bevel...

After a leather strop cleanup of the burr, I tested the new edge on a piece of paper...with little pressure it cut clean slices.

Pretty sharp.

Then a wood test on difficult, pine end grain...passed.
This is now one done chisel...ready for use bench use.
Only a bucketful left to do.
Handle Replacement
One of the tang chisels had no handle.
This handle was chewed up...

 

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