"thumbs" wrote in message
...

Have found excellent info. on this forum about chisels. Have worked
w/various brands of chisels (Mostly Cheap) and have been frustrated
w/quality and frequency of sharpening needed. Was going to look for a
set of quality chisels and mentioned it to a deceased friend's widow
and she gave me a set of his. They have hardly been used and I have
been unable to find info. on them.
On the handle they have a paper label which contains the following.
BRACHT, in a triangle, w/ the words CARANITE, VANADIUM, AND WOLFRAM on
the sides of the triangle. On the Blade it has: Wo-Va,
BRACHT(IN
TRIANGLE), and #

26
Would appreciate any info as to: value, quality, origin, and care of
them.
Thanks for any answers to my questions
--
thumbs

IIRC, "Wolfram" is in common usage in Germany and is the same as tungsten
(which is why "W" is the symbol for tungsten on the periodic table). I'm
guessing that Bracht is/was a German company that manufactured chisels. No
idea what caranite is, but apparently the steel is alloyed with tungsten and
vanadium. Vanadium improves toughness and ductility in steel, while
tungsten adds hardness and wear resistance.

todd