Craftsman – Diving Airplane Chisel

Many thanks to Randall Nelson for bringing this chisel to my attention.

This beveled and tanged chisel must have looked quite striking when new due to its highly figured masur (curly) birch handle. The dark steel hoop on top of the handle is pierced and held in place with small nails. The ferrule at the bottom of the handle, although dirty and tarnished, is brass.

The back of the blade has the “Diving Airplane” stamp on it.

The decal on the handle consists of a simple dark green rectangular perimeter, dark green lettering, and a bright yellow background. The lettering on the decal reads “Craftsman | * GARANTI * | ESKILSTUNA – SWEDEN”.

I couldn’t help but notice the similarity between the above decal and the one on the Eskilstunasteel Garanti chisel shown below. (Thanks Russ S for the photo).  The only real difference on the decal below is the text “ESKILSTUNASTEEL” instead of “Craftsman”  and the decorative marks surrounding “GARANTI” (i.e. ~ versus *).

It’s possible that Eskilstunasteel made this Craftsman – Diving Airplane chisel, although I would need to see more proof before stating that as a fact. I also wonder if Eskilstunasteel is responsible for many of the other mystery brands of Swedish chisels. Some day I hope to find information that either supports or disproves that notion.