Vintage chisels from Sweden are usually quite exceptional due in part to Swedish steel. Some of the most common Swedish chisels found in North America are those manufactured by Erik Anton Berg (E.A.Berg) manufacturing company, founded in the town of Eskilstuna. The company was founded in 1880, and made straight razors. In 1896 a catalog shows the introduction of woodworking tools such as chisels, knives and plane irons. Eventually the company was bought by Sandvik. In the 1950’s the chisels were being cold in the U.S. under the “Shark Brand” by Sandvik Saw & Tool. They were advertised as being “genuine Swedish charcoal steel hardened and tempered”. The company was sold in the late 1950s to Swedish company Bahco, and which was itself bought by Sandvik in 1991. Eskilstuna was the home to a number of tool manufacturers. Unfortunately little can be found in English relating to the historical Swedish tool industry.
Here is an example of the label usually found on a E.A.Berg chisel. When the company first started, the logo was apparently a Wels catfish, although it later changed to the ubiquitous shark shown below.
An example of the blade markings of an E.A.Berg chisel (left), and that of another manufacturer from Eskilstuna – EskilstunaSteel.
A comparison of various E. A. Berg logos can be found on Kim Malmberg’s Flickr site. Compared side-by-side the chisels look very similar. They both have brass ferrules, although that of E.A. Berg has more refined offset knurlings, versus the vertical knurlings of the EskilstunaSteel chisel.
Brass ferrules of E.A.Berg versus EskilstunaSteel
The handles are extremely similar. It is said that the higher end chisels had handles manufactured by a company that used birch, and the cheaper chisels by a company that used beech. The cheaper looking ferrule on the EskilstunaSteel chisel may substantiate this somewhat.
Cost-wise, Jim Bode Tools has a number of sets for sale, with a 6-piece set ranging in price from US$500-700.
NB: Here is an ad for chisels in Post magazine, circa 1953.
A good progressive study of E.A. Berg plane irons can be found here.
working by hand 
Sir,
Interesting article. I have found a plane which has an AE Berg cutter in it – and the lever cap of the plane has ornate markings (shield shape) on it with a capital “E'” in the centre. I cannot find the Make/ brand anywhere on the plane (other than on the blade and the lever cap) and was wondering if it is an EA Berg plane made in Eskilstuna. I have not found any reference anywhere to EA Berg manufacturing Planes – only plane irons. Since you have done a bit of research on the chisles – I was wondering if you haven’t come across reference to an Eskilstuna or EA Berg Plane??? Any clues would be helpful.
Hi,
E.A.Berg made a lot of tools, including pliers. There is an article on wkfinetools, which shows some plane cutters, so I imagine they manufactured them. However, I have not seen any planes from E.A.Berg. They were likely the supplier of blades to other manufacturers. A good example is JPBO (Johan P Bendixen, Odense), a Danish manufacturer of plane bodies – there was no steel production in Denmark, so they obtained their blades from Sweden and the U.K.
An example can be found here (on eBay of all places!)
I have just purchased a set of 5 matching E A Berg chisels with the blue label intact and legible on each, but the brass ferrules are of the two different sorts as pictured. So I don’t think it is true that E A Berg’s handles always had the fine patterned ferrules.
It’s possible they didn’t. That’s the problem with doing these studies – there is very little information out there on some of the tools, so sometimes you just have to speculate based on the information at hand. It is possible such information is available in Swedish somewhere???
I can attest to that. I have the ESteels and they all have figured birch handles AND fine, defined feathered knurling of furrelsmas well. They were my grandfathers, bought in the 50’s from Simpson Sears.
E:A Berg never manufactured hand planes. They made plane irons for all kind of planes, knives, leather working tools, both cutters, splitting wedges, pliers, straight razors and chisels as well as some specialty tools for the army.
I have a Berg plane blade with a shark logo, but above the logo is an elephant. Any info? Thank you.
Hi Wayne,
Yep, it appears the markings belong to Edward Zinn, a distributor who imported European edge tools into the United States.
There’s a great article on galootopia… http://galootopia.com/old_tools/chisels/swedish-chisels/berg-chisels/zinn/
I have a pair of long nose pliers marked E.A. Berg (Shark logo) 530-6” then on inside of handle 1963-1 with shark logo
I have probably better than a dozen Berg chisels. Some are well-worn and some are like new. I’m uncertain if I should polish them up and sharpen them and such although I would like to use them since they belonged to grandfather and my great-grandfather. I have one chisel in the Box that is wrapped in a cloth which is well-greased. I believe it to be a new unopened Berg chisel but I’m not sure. I hate to open it up for fear of lose value although and maybe more valuable to me as a useful tool. Although I’m 63 years old with some experience off and on with woodworking I see myself as a beginning woodworker and probably will primarily work on projects only on the weekends. So my question is should I sharpen these chisels and use them or not touch them for Prosperity sake? What about the one that appears to be new, do I dare unwrap the cloth around it?
Hi Lon,
Vintage tools in pristine condition are a bit of a catch-22. One one hand we want to preserve them, in the hope that they
will retain their value, on the other hand what are hand tools if not extensions to our hands to be used to make things with?
If a tool has historical value, i.e. is very rare, was owned by someone important, or is ornate, then I would likely not use it,
but I would say most of those tools are bought up by collectors, who likely have them displayed in cases, and they are never
really used (some would argue that some were likely not even made to be used). Some vintage tools just aren’t that comfortable
or easy to use. But I think a lot of tools have some form of sentimental or aesthetic value, because of
where they come from, or who owned them before – these tools should be used because the act of using them adds to the value
of their story. Market value is another thing, and while berg chisels are $$$ at the moment, don’t let this prevent you from
using them – they are extremely well designed, and will be a pleasure to use. Sharpen them, use them, add to their story.
I have an interesting box of Eric Anton Berg Tools bought in 1952 for 15 pounds 5 shillings (Australian). It consists of 5 trays of tools that has a rod in one corner and the trays swing out.The lid says ADD-A-KIT it then has a picture of a shark, under that SHARK BRAND,The Finest Swedish Tools , Eric Anton Berg – Eskilstuna Sweden .The top tray has 3 chisels 1\4 1\2 3\4 inch the second tray 3 gouges1\4 1\2 3\4 inch the small and large gouge has the bevel on the outside the 1\2 inch on the inside, the third tray has 3 sloyd knives one curved one straight and the other is like a half circle with Birch handles the 4 th tray has 3 tools a pair of multi grips a pair of long nose pliers and a pair of side cutters , the fifth tray has 5 tools a finger vice a flat curved blade knife 215 mm long with some plastic slipped onto the end 100 mm long for a handle, a center punch a cold chisel and an unusual screwdriver its 145 mm long the handle is 70 mm long made of Birch the screw driver mechanism is 65 mm long 18 mm in diameter and is hollow there is a spring loaded pin you pull and the 4 blades come out on two rails you then spin the blade you want 180 degrees pull the other blades back into the hollow body and the spring loaded pin locks it in place. Every thing is marked E A Berg Eskilstuna Sweden except the center punch . every tool has its own hollowed out place in each tray ,it was given to me about 20 years ago I have never used any of the tools they are all in new condition . I have about 40 E A Berg chisels that i have bought at auctions and markets for not much ranging in size from 1\4 to 2 inches they are all sharp i’m not saving them for anyone else and i use them all the time.
I bought today an unused complete set of E.A. Berg chisels of 15 pieces from 3mm untill 51mm. I have been working to get it for about two weeks and I’m extremely happy, especially when I heard that the previous owner has been one of my favorit teachers from school for about 55 years ago.
Lucky!! They are usually too expensive! Tried finding some in Norway – no luck!
Jeg ejer 3 stk. E:A: Berg stemmejern med skæfter af masret birk og det blå emblem bevaret.
Jeg bruger disse stemmejern ofte da de er prima!.
Min far var møbelsnedker med eget værksted og jeg kan huske at E.A. jernene var de stemmejern der hovedsagelig blev brugt der.
Jeg mener at huske at skæfterne på en del af disse stemmejern var forsynet med emblemer i metal. Disse emblemer var fæstnet til skæftet med 2 stk. messingstifter med rundt hoved.
Er der nogen der ved noget mere om disse emblemer i metal?
Hi,
I would try Galootopia, which seems to be the English-language source for Swedish chisel info.
https://galootopia.com/old_tools/
I’d love to dive in more, but just don’t have the access to the chisels!
cheers,
Mike
Mig bekendt har Berg aldrig brugt den slags metal emblemer på deres skæfter. De har altid “kun” haft et klistermærke. Der var dog andre svenske firmaer, også fra Eskilstuna, som lavede god kvalitet stemmejern. De kunne måske have brugt den metode