Janport Chisels

Janport chisels were made in Eskilstuna, Sweden according to the blade stamps that I’ve seen. They show up most often in the USA and it appears that this brand was made for export to the U.S. marketplace.

I have not seen any Janport socket chisels so far, only tanged ones. Their handles are normally made out of beech, not birch. The brass ferrule at the bottom of the handle typically has coarse vertical knurling on it.

Below are two examples of chisels with different decals and blade stamps. The top chisels is a long beveled-edge cabinet-style chisel and the one below is a beveled-edge butt-style chisel.

Both chisels carry the distinctive Janport-style  decal consisting of a tall red rectangular box with beveled top right and bottom left corners and an “I” in the top left and bottom right corners.  These two chisels differ in that the diagonal banner on the background rectangle reads “SWEDEN” on the top chisels and “JANPORT ” on the bottom one. Chisels with “SWEDEN” on the decal seem to be more common than ones with “JANPORT” printed on them. The two rows of coarse vertical knurling is evident on both ferrules.

Here’s a back view. Both chisels are well made and nicely finished.

The blade stamps differ. The top chisel has the common generic “MADE IN SWEDEN” stamp on it. The bottom one has the traditional Janport trademark with “JANPORT” and “SWEDEN” printed on the diagonal.

Here is a variation on the Janport decals above. Black is used for the two “I” letters and the diagonal banner, instead of gold.

Here’s a variation on the Jarnport trademark on the blade stamp, with “Esklistuna” (versus  “Eskilstuna”) replacing “JANPORT” above “SWEDEN”.

Here’s another variation on the Jarnport trademark stamp on the blade with just “SWEDEN” on it.

Below is a chisel with a plastic handle and a Janport blade.

This particular blade identifies itself as having been made in “Esklistuna”, Sweden. As my friend Kim Malmberg astutely pointed, the name is misspelled. It should be “Eskilstuna”.

The front of the blade is stamped “BLADE MADE IN SWEDEN, suggesting that this blade was made in Eskilstuna and that the handle was added later, perhaps in the importing country. The blade stamp suggests an English speaking import country and this particular chisel was seen in the USA.