Expected more, but They are good enough.

I got the MHG 6 Bench Chisels set. For the market price of $110 I expected these to be of somewhat higher quality than the “big store” economy sets.

The Feel
They actually feel lighter then the (english) rubber handle Marples I have, and the blade seems slightly thinner. other then that, they do feel very comfortable to hold, and work with. the handle is round, but flattened out on both sides, which keeps it from rolling around the workbench, and falling off the floor…

The Edge
I “scary sharpened” these using 100grit-230-400-600-1000-2000 to a miror finish, and a hair splicing razor sharp edge. they were easily sharpened (I read some reviews about people having a hard time sharpening these – but I noticed no difficulties). after being honed – it takes only a few strokes on the 600-1000-2000 papers to get them back to razor sharp edge (about a minute). once honed – these blades went through maple/birch like hot knife through butter – I was surprised myself as this is the first time I actually honed blades to this degree of sharpness, and didnt expect the results to be so extreme compared to the hard-labor I was used to perform when working with chisels…

I did read some reviews of the MHG blades not keeping the edge and folding over, and was somewhat concerned about this matter. After paring, and chiseling off 4 sets of 1/2”x1-1/2”x1-1/2” mortices and tenons I did notice that the edge of the blade was slightly folded over – and a rehoning (1 minute process) restored the edge to it’s initial razor sharpness. I do not have vast experience with chisels, and these are really my first set of chisels that I got for woodworking, so I am not sure how long edges are usually supposed to last before a rehoning is required? I somewhat expected the edge to last for a longer time, but maybe my expectations where a bit too high?

The Look
the wooden handle, and long blades definitely are a nice addition to the shop in terms of esthetics.

All in all, for a first set I’m pretty happy with those, and probably will never really need to upgrade them as I am a weekend warrior, and these will suffice for what I need them to do. I have no problem rehoning the edges as needed as this process doesnt require much time and effort. If you are similar in your needs to mine, and am looking for an all around fairly good chisel set- these might just be good enough.

-- My Drinking Club has a Woodworking Problem...