Swedish Chisels - and Others

Recently, I found a gorgeous set of E.A. Berg chisels on Swedish eBay (Tradera.com) but someone else must have wanted them more, as they went for a relatively high price.
As a consolation, today I pulled out my own small collection of Swedish (and other) chisels.  I got all of these chisels either from Jonas or his dad.

Gee, there's more of these than I thought!  Do they replicate, or what?

This group of chisels actually has two from England and one from Finland.  All are excellent.

Ever see one of these?

I can't quite make out the maker's mark.  I also know nothing of tools in Finland, but this one just feels great in my hand.

Finnish chisel.  This one is about 3/8".

There also were two matching English chisels by J. Jowett.  These chisels are just a hair over 1/4" and 1/2", making me think they are true imperial, just like the classic motorbikes from the '50s.  In those days, British inches were just a bit bigger than the U.S. version.  In motorcycle repair, you need three sets of wrenches:  Metric, SAE, and Imperial. 

J. Jowett of Sheffield.

Other side.

One still had a legible label on the handle.

When you think of Swedish chisels, the one I think of most is E.A. Berg.

Iconic red plastic handle.

Don't take the red plastic handles for granted.  The steel on these chisels is superb.  I find myself reaching for these chisels often.

I have three of these, a 1", a 3/4", and a 3/8".

Curisously, many of these chisels are labelled in both inches and mm.  I think they truly are in inches, but if you want to know the metric equivalent (common in Europe), it's there on the blade.

Eskilstuna is synonymous with good tool steel.

Eskilstuna is a city in Sweden well-known for quality steel.  In England, good tools were made in Sheffield.  In Sweden, it was Eskilstuna.

Two unmarked mortice chisels.  3/16" and 1/4"

There were also a couple of E.A. Berg gouges in the pile, too!

Once I lined them all up, I realized this is a fairly decent set of user chisels.  Although they don't all match, I have pretty much all I need.

3/16, 1/4+, 3/8, 3/8, 1/2+, 3/4, 3/4, 1, 1-1/4 chisels, 1/4 mortice, and 5/16 and 1 inch gouges.

That's a decent set in my book.  Some of these chisels I rehabbed a while back and have been using, the others I want to start using and will soon rehab.

If all the handles were the same, I wouldn't be able to tell one from the other!

My plan was to get to work on an unfinished project today, but it didn't work out.  Today was a "play with your tools" day in the shop.  Since I had them out, I didn't want to roll them back up in the rag I was storing them in.  They will never get used that way, so I tacked this little chisel rack on the back of my bench to see if I like working this way.  So far, it seems to work, although some of the chisels are heavier in the back and tend to lean.  I'll have to figure out a way to get that working.