Why a lot of tool steel is bad. 

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As a mechanical design engineer of 40+ years, who learned all this stuff during my apprenticeship in the 1970's, I have to say that you condensed what is an essentially very complex and far reaching subject, into an accurate and understandable form that anybody who is remotely interested in woodwork would do well to watch and learn from.

Professor Hamilton has done it again. We get a deep dive into something we don’t give much thought to and resurface with a new appreciation for the common place. Thanks, James, for all the research and the patience to share it in a most interesting manner. I did stay until the end.

I think we should also appreciate lack of jarring jump cuts, such a nice delivery in your videos :)

Having been a metallurgist for 45 years, and a hobby wood turner and wood worker for about the same time, this was an excellent overview of the steel making history. I think an added point of sintered steel would be good. The Scandinavian sintered chisels are awesome.

I love James’s style and never tire of his history lessons... go as deep as you care sir, there are many of us out here who crave your knowledge

Nice job. I ran the engineering department for a punch company and we spent a lot of time on tool steel. I taught at a conference once on tool steel forensic failure analysis. So, I feel entitled to say "great job" - you really gave a nice overview and I loved the history I didn't know. And it was entertaining (I was one of those still around to the end).

"It depends" proves once again it is the most versatile tool to answer many questions.

"And I'd lose the few of you that are still watching." Aww, I was rather interested in a deep dive into the various pros and cons of modern metallurgy with regard to steel production. I may be in the minority though. Great vid as always.

Yet another fantastic video! I love steel history, and this is a great overview of tool construction from the soil on upwards! Thank you!

I stayed until the end. Your calm manner of speaking appeals to me greatly. No excess drama or histrionics.

I love how concise and information packed your videos are. You stay focused on the topic, never diverging to talk about yourself like so many other woodworking content producers do. Professional, information dense, excellent. Thank you!

You are a fantastic teacher. Thank you so much for posting this video. I've been confused about the interrelationships of iron, carbon steel, soft steel, and brittle steel. You have cleared up a lot for me.

Ok, while I enjoy learning the skills of wood working from the many wood working youtubers Stumpy has always remained a favorite. Your ability to educate in a 10 min video on the development of tool steel displays clearly why yours is one of the best channels to watch. Excellent video, thank you!

As someone with boxes of handle-less old chisels awaiting restoration, I enjoyed this video. Thanks. Also Swedish chisels from Eskilstuna are fantastic

Great video, James. A couple of years ago I browsed through the chisels available at my local Lee Valley here in Ontario. Narex chisels really hit the price/quality sweet spot for me, so I bought a full set of bevel edge Narex chisels. The handles are perfect for my hands, better than the slightly more expensive basic Veritas chisels. I recently added a few Narex mortise chisels to my collection. They all need a fair bit of lapping on the back, but that's what my Worksharp 3000 is for. Oh, and BTW when I started woodworking I chased around for a while looking for vintage tools. I quickly got over that. I want to do woodworking, not antique collecting.

I REALLY appreciate the obvious effort you go to produce such informative and helpful videos. Thank you James.

You're a great speaker and I really appreciate that you showed us a piece from each of the intermediate steps of modern chisel production.

I have read and watched many explanations on tools and steel. This has been the most concise and informative presentation of the topic I have ever seen. Seriously, the best. You took a many hours' long explanation and condensed it into ten minutes. Nicely done, and thank you.

Always nice to hear about the history of my home town. I'm sure you'd love the museums in the city showing the industrial processes and large collections of tools, knives and cutlery.

Great stuff, thanks. Between this and James Wright's very indepth analysis of various chisels, we have all we need to make an informed decision about which chisels we want in our shops.

I absolutely love this channel. Satisfies my love of wood working, and history...

As usual, not only is the information you give us clear and concise, it's interesting and helpful as well. Thank you. Narex for the win!

One of your best, such a well condensed, information rich explanation. I wonder how many people understand just how much work _and talent_ is required to give such a clear, thorough, but not overwhelming explanation of a topic with literally hundreds of years of history and science behind it. I certainly appreciate the effort you put into bringing new enthusiasts like myself up to scratch.

This was very, very well done. I was captivated start to finish. A lucid presentation with just the right amount of details

Great history lesson! Thanks for all the time and effort to pull all that together. Kudos

You are a gifted lecturer! You make it look easy. But achieving that level of clarity is rare.

What a fascinating lesson James. Thanks for taking the time to share it with us.

Very cool video, my friend! I loved the step-by-step visuals you provided, and the history lesson was awesome! I'd also like to say that I appreciate the care you put into your videos. The little touches like silently putting the chisel back on the bench while you're talking don't go unnoticed. Keep up the great work!

Simply fascinating. Thanks for such a clear delivery, I had heard most of these terms but wasn’t fully aware of what they actually meant and you have brilliantly explained the topic. Thanks.

This has has to be the most straightforward, well explained and easy to understand video on this topic. This is years of reading presented in ten minutes.

Hi, James, and thank you. Coming from Chesterfield (next door to Sheffield) and being a time-served plater; your history lesson on iron and steel jogged my memory and took me back 50 years to my apprenticeship. I am now retired, live in Sweden, and still enjoy using many tools for woodwork and metalwork in my home workshop. Just a few years ago I bought a set of 100-year old woodworking chisels for a song on eBay. They were all from various Sheffield firms, many long gone but some still in existence: Ayrewood & Co, Marples, Alfred Ridge, Robert Sorby, Stormont and Henry Taylor. Although most of these old chisels were care-worn and heavily pitted, they have polished up to almost new and sharpened to a razor's edge on both my Robert Sorby Pro-Edge and Tormek T-4 sharpening systems. They now have pride of place in my worksop and are used frequently. Your video channel is the most informative on the internet and your presentation manner is most pleasing. Keep up the good work, Sir.

Combining my 2 favorite things. Tools and history. Please do more like this!

I was still watching at 9:50 and would have loved to hear more about alloys, tempering, and steel types. more on this topic please.

Facinating! I never realized how steel tools had evolved. Thanks for the great lesson. As with all your videos, they are super informative and easy to listen too.

Most of this I knew a smattering of and understood the process. However, to have been educated this well and in a manner that is both interesting and entertaining is what makes me keep coming back to Stumpy Nubs. Thank you for that presentation.

Not only was this engaging until the end I never expected to reach, I want more! You have a talent. Thank you.

Thanks for putting this together! It's fascinating stuff; I'd definitely watch more of these.

Love Love LOVED this video!!! I am so glad that you do these types of videos so I can point people to logical, fact based approach to the "Controversies" in woodworking. I always learn so much from your videos. I would love to see the video of cryo-steel process. Your props really put every video you produce over the top for me since there is no imagination needed. Thank you for doing such great work.

Fantastic video! This was very informative on the history of steel manufacturing and what it means for tool steel. Further, the examples of chisels in the process of molding/stamping, by Narex, is equally informative. Thank you so much for this video. I would greatly enjoy others in this vein as you find opportunity. Thank you again.

This video is outstanding. Very deep yet easy to understand. Your scripting, recording, and editing are on point. Earned a well deserved subscription

Thanks for the articulate and digestible insights into the evolution of steel in tools.

I've been wondering about this subject for a long time. A real blessing to see a nice history of it. Thank you!

Best explanation for tool steel and edge tools I've seen and I was a materials science technician and tool maker. I used to teach heat treatment of various steels to mechanical engineering students in the laboratory and then test for hardness and strength (toughness to resist impact damage). Well done!

Absolutely outstanding! Learnt more in that 101/2 minutes than I have for a long time! You, James, as always, continue to set the gold standard in information and knowledge. Thanks from NZ!

Amazing pill of knowledge put in very comprehensive way. Thank you!

Informative, concise and in no way condescending, Brilliant!!

good information, compact and easy to understand superficially something as complex as steel. finding the balance between excess and lack of information is difficult ! great screenshots of the steps at 10:02 👍

This is beyond expert craftsmanship. 👏 I appreciate all that you share

You are killing it! Stumpy! So much content and its all so good! Appreciate it!

This is a beautiful video…..not only for the educational value, but for the envious collection of “visual aids”! I’m building my T. H. Witherby collection of socket chisels. When things get hectic “upstairs” with my wife’s growing honey-do list, or the world gets too crazy, my Aussie (she just follows me and falls asleep) and I find it cathartically pleasing to retreat to the basement workbench, and work on my growing collection of chisels! Thank you, sir…..well done on another great visit to RU-vid-land!

Thank You so much. Your explanation of how steal is made is the best I've ever seen.

This has probably been my favorite video you have done to date Jim. Very interesting and informative. Thanks for the knowledge I can add to my noggin!

James you're a wealth of knowledge thats so enjoyable to learn from. Thank you!

I have gotten an Encyclopedia with of information from you, your channel and news letters. BUT, this is one of the COOLEST videos! Love the history, explanation and the outstanding presentation. I love history. To combine history with tools and woodworking! I'm all in. More please!

Very interesting and quite enjoyable to watch. Thanks for putting in the work!

and you are just narrating that like a total pro, and it's so concise and relevant and actually easy to follow *slow clap out of sheer admiration*

I will happily endorse Narex chisels. I own their cabinet-maker style chisels, rather than the carpenter's chisels shown in the video. The main difference is the thickness of the sides remaining after bevelling the top. Thicker equals stronger for the carpenters chisels, but harder to get into the corners of a dovetail. The carpenters chisels also have the split-protection ferrules at both ends of the handle. Narex are my main set of bench chisels and I find them excellent. They sharpen well and the handles show little wear after five years of solid use. I also have some carving gouges from them which are equally as good.

As a novice blacksmith who makes all my tools including chisels, you really did a great job explaining the manufacturing process of steel and history!

So clear and didactic. Wonderful video - from a long list of excellent videos. Thank you, James.

Thank you for explaining all of this - in one video you have explained multiple things clearly that I never really understood before.

OUTSTANDING Video! I found your information extremely interesting and informative! Thank you for posting !!

Wowy! Another fantastic informative video. The history lesson and science behind the metalwork process through the was super interesting. Thanks again!

Fantastic content, thank you. Enough depth to level up competence.

Thought I was in the classroom on becoming a steel engineer! Great lecture and loved the visuals. Thanks. Makes me appreciate the ones that I have all the more.

Fantastic vid! Great presentation, lots of really great info. I'll will re-watch, entertaining and informative.

Thank you sir. This was a very informative video, but not excessively complex. I have learned a lot of this in engineering materials classes and also by becoming more knowledgeable in the area knife making. Your calm voice makes it that much better to listen to. Keep it up!

Fascinating history of tool steels. Thanks for sharing.

Extremely informative and well done! Again! Thanks for sharing this gem!

Stumpy, I really love your history lessons concerning tools. Thanks for expanding my horizon. Felix

That was super interesting! Would love to hear more!

This was super interesting! I know almost nothing about steel and its various types & processing methods, and I was fascinated from start to finish. You laid this out clearly, in an easy to understand and interesting way. I would watch many more videos from you about the evolution of woodworking tools, both the materials and the processes used to make them.

Great stuff - thank you! I always put my chisels bevel down on the bench (and, for the same reason) planes on their side.

Very well said James!

My dad, now 97, has tools that he bought nearly 70 years ago and others from his dad, including wooden planes. They are beautiful to use, take a good edge, and will last forever.

This is a highly enjoyable video, which really shows off your qualities as a teacher and craftsman. It's remarkable how much information you provide in your story, without errors or tongue slips, seemingly even without any cuts from multiple takes?! And you contributed significantly to this video's enjoyability by adding so much relevant imagery. Thank you!

Thank you for this excellent tutorial. It comes at the most opportune time for me as I am looking for a set of chisels. A set of decent chisels along with a bench and block plane are the last tools I need to round out my furniture/cabinet making capabilities. I was leaning toward the Narex anyway. Also, Thank you for all or your videos. They have been most informative as either a complete explanation of a subject or a beginning of a long 'rabbet' hole of learning. Learning combined with entertainment. The best of all worlds.

Thank you for this video, and I did watch it all the way to the end!, Good info here and I love history lessons like this

Excellent all the way to the end! A useful addition to my memory bank. Thank you.

Very interesting video. I for one would be very interested in hearing about modern cryogenic steels and how they’re produced. Another top video, I really enjoy your channel and often refer people to your safety videos, particularly the table saw series you did a while ago, excellent work.

Thanks for this amazing video James. I learned a lot and have a new appreciation for tool steel.

Thanks James for this video. Super informative as always. You have obviously done your homework. I was sent to college by my employer, a steel producer, in the 1970s to learn all this stuff. None of it really made much sense then and it seemed to have little relevance at the time. Who would have known that i would need this knowledge later on when I took up woodworking? Your video condenses everything I learned in two years into one short lesson. Thanks again and good health to you.

How times have changed.... I want to thank you for existing, you are one of the people I see as my teacher, I learn from you and other youtubers, who would have thought... beginners, students of crafts can nowadays find ancient masters of so many crafts right here on RU-vid. So knowledge can be shared, by those willing to teach and those willing to learn. One does not exist without the other. You are a fine example of a human being, proud to be learning from you. Thank you

Excellent video! I’d definitely watch more of this type. I have the narex richter but I also have a huge set of Buck cast steel chisels from my grandfather who was a pattern maker after ww2. I like using both.

Excellent video!!! Thank you for the history lesson in steel making. Keep up the great work!

Love my narex chissels. Thanks for letting me know about them.

Thanks you explain everything very clearly and thoroughly.

This was the most interesting chemistry video I've watched in a long time. Excellent explanation.

Absolutely fascinating! Thank you for the thorough and clear explanations.

I also made it to the end and am ready for more. Thanks.

I for one, really appreciate the knowledge that you pass on.

Stumpy Do not stop doing this .I love to learn from your research .thank you so so much. Please keep it up.Julien Lamarche

Fascinating subject matter. Thanks for the in-depth information.

This channel is a gold mine of knowledge.

This video was excellent, I watched it all. Thank you so much for upload - that was very helpful and interesting knowledge! Cheers from Poland 🍻

Awesome explanation and video! Thanks for the awesome content, it always scratches my itch for any woodworking knowledge I can get my hands on.

Im in awe of your ability to take my career and passion into such articulated beauty. Thank you sir.

Another wonderful video, so clear, informative and interesting.

I never expect channels like this, which are not steel related, to get the details of the western development and production of steel right, but you managed to. Good job.

Very interesting. I have quite a few old planes and chisels. Thank you for the lesson.