| Review by Roswell | posted 81 days ago | 1354 views | 0 times favorited | 11 comments |  |
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- NAREX Bevel Edge Chisels
- Brand: NAREX | Category: Chisels and Carving Tools
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First off, let me qualify everything I say by mentioning that this is the only proper set of chisels I’ve owned, and I’m a newbie, sorta.
I picked the Narex brand because FWW liked ‘em for the price. So did Wood Magazine, and a few blogs. I like them too, with a few noted shortfalls:
-The metal is definitely NOT hardened to Rc59 in mine. Moderate prying when chopping (chip removal) will bend the tip out of plane with the back on the standard 25 degree bevel. Using a 30 degree micro-bevel seems to have helped. Despite this, I chopped the mouth for a transitional plane body out of Bubinga with mine, and they held up pretty darn well. I’m actually fortunate they’re soft: My 4yo snuck out into the shop while dad was out of town and several of them got dropped/smacked on the floor. I’m glad they didn’t break!
-The backs take some serious work to flatten. It took me an average of 20 minutes per chisel on a 300 grit diamond whetstone to get them reasonably flat. That means I still may have a dime-size low spot at least an inch away from the tip.
Overall, I’d buy the set again. For a guy whose trying to find the 80% solution with a 1% budget, they’re worth the price and the work to flatten them. I can get them sharp enough to shave with pretty quick, and now that I’ve built a little bit of skill with them, I find myself reaching for them to clean up slop/mistakes I’ve made with other tools quite often. With them and a $30 Crown Gents saw, I was finally, FINALLY able to cut a good dovetail. For $70, it’s hard to go wrong with this set.
-- _Never argue with an idiot. They'll just drag you down to their level and beat you with experience_
11 comments so far
nwbusa
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868 posts in 455 days
#1 posted 81 days ago
Fair and accurate review, in my opinion. Mine also required the same amount of effort to flatten, but you only need to do that once. I noticed some edge deterioration when chopping out dovetails in white oak, and like you I increased the angle via a micro bevel which helped a lot. For heavy chopping, like big mortises I use their mortise chisels which I like even more than their bench chisels. These tools are definitely a good value for the money.
-- John, BC, Canada
Roswell
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64 posts in 487 days
#2 posted 81 days ago
Hmm, I’ve seen several good things about the mortise chisels now. Perhaps I can put that dusty Amazon gift card to use…
-- _Never argue with an idiot. They'll just drag you down to their level and beat you with experience_
Arminius
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219 posts in 1972 days
#3 posted 79 days ago
I own both sets, and I agree with your review. The mortise chisels are also superb value, and mine at least came with cleaner backs that the bench chisels did.
jmos
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637 posts in 538 days
#4 posted 54 days ago
Good review. I bought a set of larger sizes, 1” through 2” and they took a lot to flatten. Work pretty well now, hold an edge pretty well, I’m happy with them.
-- John
cagenuts
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31 posts in 389 days
#5 posted 24 days ago
Hate to break this to you guys but the backs are deliberately concave from the start.
-- Weekend Wood Wrecker
nwbusa
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868 posts in 455 days
#6 posted 23 days ago
Hate to break this to you guys but the backs are deliberately concave from the start.
Why would you think this?
-- John, BC, Canada
crank49
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2286 posts in 1139 days
#7 posted 23 days ago
The backs of all Japanese chisels are concave also.
-- Michael :-{| Diapers and politicians both need to be changed often; and for the same reason.
nwbusa
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868 posts in 455 days
#8 posted 23 days ago
Yeah, but the Narex chisels aren’t Japanese.
Japanese chisels are very obviously concave on their backs, as opposed to the Narex which appear to be designed like most other western style bench chisels—i.e. with backs that are (supposed to be) flat.
-- John, BC, Canada
cagenuts
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31 posts in 389 days
#9 posted 22 days ago
According to a seller in the UK, they are not completely flat so that you don’t have to spend an eternity polishing the back. It’s only the front cutting edge that does all the work anyway.
-- Weekend Wood Wrecker
helluvawreck
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10413 posts in 1035 days
#10 posted 22 days ago
Narex chisels did very well in a Fine Woodworking performance test of about a dozen or so different brands of various chisels.
helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com
-- If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured or far away. Henry David Thoreau
Roswell
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64 posts in 487 days
#11 posted 22 days ago
Ever get the feeling that there are people out there that get change back every time they put their two cents in?
-- _Never argue with an idiot. They'll just drag you down to their level and beat you with experience_
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