Small Snap On Chisels

[Junkman]

I found these yesterday at a pawn shop. The price was $20 I have never seen a set this small before. Couldn't find anything about them on the forums. Are they scarce or rare?

 

[RTM]

Sort of a forgotten art, when shaft keyways were cut in by hand in the field (5& 6 down), I think are called cape chisels. I have a couple I use for grout work.

 

[Oldtuleguy]

The small early bluepoint ones are a bit scarce. Those are from 57, still not easy to find.

 

[Ricky Joe]

The first one looks broken or ground down, as does the one in my set. I have the same set, would have to check for date code, but seems like I remember it being mid 1960s.

 

[Junkman]

The first one at the top appears to be original in all aspects. The fourth one down from the top shows signs of having been ground down for some specific purpose. When I first saw these they were quite dirty and had rust on them. I washed them with a degreasing compound and then soaked them overnight in vinegar, and then ran over them with my bench wire wheel. I also washed the pouch with Dawn dishwashing liquid to get the grease off of it. I use all my tools, but I also make sure to put them away clean. That was a lesson that I was taught over 70 years ago that has stuck with me.

 

[d42jeep]

Here are my sets, a larger and another small one.
-Don

 

[Oldtuleguy]

Some various snapon and bluepoint little chisels and punches

 

[Private Lugnutz]

Couldn't find anything about them on the forums.

Here's a 1941 cat excerpt.



That's handy on my hard drive because I have a prewar set. Well, partial set, anyway. Missing the SVP-402 and SVP-405.



In terms of configuration (number and types of chisels and punches and their sizes...), this set pretty much remained the same for decades, if I recall, with the same part numbers, but you could always go to the catalog research tool at the 'Collecting Snap-on' site and scroll through the catalogs closer to your set's production era to find out more about your set. Also, @Old Radar has a super nice, super clean set in the original pouch around the same timeframe as yours, which he has posted on the Snap-on thread here.

Are they scarce or rare?

Always a tough question to answer. In the wild, I would agree with OTG that the midget sets are definitely scarcer than standard. I have a couple sets and some orphans, but many, many years walking flea market aisles. I wouldn't know about ebay or the like.

The first one looks broken or ground down,

The first one at the top appears to be original in all aspects.

I'm going to have to agree with RJ on this. Unless they made a special extra short one, the SVP-402 was always about the same length (3"). As you know, ALL pin point punches are fragile, 1/16" diam. is extremely fragile, as are ALL small punches in general. I don't think I have ever found a set from any maker that did not have at least one tool that was chipped, clipped, broken or re-ground. (Tangentially, it's interesting to note that these midget punches and chisels were one of a handful of items that Snap-on never included in their famous guarantee, for that reason.) I suspect it was broken and a PO did a very nice job of putting a nice factory-like finish on the tip. But, I could be wrong. If you're that sure, maybe you'll find something in the catalogs. It's possible it's a special and they used the same P/N, I suppose.

 

[MShaw]

This is my set from 1963.