# Stanley SweetHeart 750 Series Socket Chisel



## SSG (Sep 11, 2012)

I have been searching high and low looking for good chisels, not easy while I was living on the west coast. Family members always telling me that I should just get a set of Buck Bros, I bought them and obviously did not like them. I waited until I moved to West Virgina, and I did a lot of shopping at old antique stores along the way. I was very disappointed in selection of tools at these places. Honestly I found mostly junk, the good stuff most likely has already been purchased. I read the Popular Woodworking Hand Tool Essentials and in chapter 2 it gives an really nice shopping list of hand tools to purchase. This was written by Christopher Schwarz, judging by the price he expected to pay it was a long time ago. He suggested paying no more than $4 for a used chisel and $7-$11 for a new one, What is fair today? Seeing that finding these 750 Series chisels are kinda limited to new ones sold by Stanley, Lie Nelsen, or Blue Spruce, or others, whats the best alternative? I have purchased a few of the new sweetheart 750 and found the backs to be a little difficult to flatten but not as bad as it could have been. But is the new metal any different than the older metals?? I have not seen any documentation saying the Stanley Chisels are made from A2 tool steel, however they seem pretty sturdy. I have always believed you get what you pay for, and I have not been disappointed in Lie Nielsen hand planes. However is $340 for 5 chisels worth it? $570 for 9?? I have not had much luck finding Mortise Chisels at all. But I have become very discouraged and I am contemplating to buy new and forget about the actions, antique stores, flea markets. How much time on average does one take to find the right tool?


----------



## ShaneA (Apr 15, 2011)

Quite a few people on here love the new SW 750 chisels. I recently purchased some Ashley Isles chisels, and have been happy. Not budget busting, kind of mid range option. So many choices…two cherries, lee valley, vintage, japanese, on and on.


----------



## dkirtley (Mar 11, 2010)

From all reports, the ones you mention for new are nice chisels but expensive.

If price is an issue, I think the best option if you are coming up empty is to contact one of the usual used tool pushers and have them make up a harlequin set of good vintage users.

Also, I have been happy with my cheap Japanese chisels from Grizzly. I really don't think that there is a better bargain for a pretty good chisel set for not too much money - $15 each for the 10 pc set. No, they are not hand forged masterpieces but quite nice.


----------



## Smile_n_Nod (Jan 20, 2011)

I've had good results with the Stanley FatMax chisels with the yellow/black handles made of clear plastic and rubber, with a steel strike plate. They don't look like traditional woodworking chisels, but they hold an edge well and worked great for chopping mortises for my SYP bench.


----------



## Smitty_Cabinetshop (Mar 26, 2011)

You can get the full set of SW750 re-issues for around $200. Not A2 steel, but in my experience they're holding an edge very well. Leather roll is a nice touch, too.


----------

