# New Stanley 750 sweetheart vs Dewalt Home Depot chisel



## Holbs (Nov 4, 2012)

My new set of 8 piece Stanley 750 sweetheart chisels arrived over the weekend. Been using Dewalt chisels for a number of years as my main. Wanted to try out the infamous Stanley 750's (granted, these are not the pre-WWII ones but eh….).
I've only flattened and sharpened the 1/2" chisel. 
Use both chisels to hog out 1.5" hard maple dovetail waste. 
Dewalt chisel was sharpened by hand (via Paul Seller's method with no microbevel) and the Stanley was sharpened via Veritas MkII 25 degrees with microbevel.
Either I am doing something wrong, or something is terribly amiss with this one 1/2" Stanley chisel. Already, 3 knicks after a couple hours of use. In comparison, Dewalt chisel has no knicks after 20 hours of use. 
Took a picture of both chisels. Maybe you can see the slight knicks on the Stanley.
So far, not impressed. But yet, I'll entertain the idea that I'm doing something wrong. Maybe I should not use 25degree with microbevel on heavy chopping into hard maple (since the Dewalt was hand sharpened, it does not have a microbevel and could be between 30-25degree angle).


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## rad457 (Jun 15, 2013)

I hollow grind my chisels and do have a set of those S.W. 750s bevel at 30 degrees on 8000 waterstone no micro bevel. Memory serves me right it took a few sharpenings before they started to hold an edge? Find them a nice chisel to use, good balance and feel,,,,but usually go to a set of 2 Cherries for any heavier work.


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## wormil (Nov 19, 2011)

I have several brands of chisels but I've never chipped one. It's possible the edge was improperly heat treated, it can happen, and that grinding back a bit and sharpening again might solve the problem. But I would contact Stanley first. A good tool company will respond and replace them.


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## CaptainKlutz (Apr 23, 2014)

IMHO Chisels are like a women….. (fill in your analogy)

+1 New chisels can require a couple of hard uses, and re-sharpening to reach stable steel not damaged by factory machine grinding. So keep using and typically they improve some.

Using less angle is best way to reduce edge chipping when chopping wood, keep my Stanley chisels at 25 degrees without secondary bevel.

FWIW - Have a pile of different chisel brands, and that is why I want to compare chisel to women. Your post is making me think I need to date some dewalt's? haha
Bought some new Stanley 750's when they were released, disliked them over my other options. Even after many uses they damage more easily when pushed hard, especially with harder woods. My garage sale vintage 750 chisels (and some other's like cheap footprint and Grizzly Japanese) hold an edge better than newer Stanley for me.

Regardless, 
Key to chisel edge retention is finding the preferred cutting angle for chisel steel, and adjusting your technique to reduce unwanted stress on edge. (IE shallow cuts and side to side movement when tip is stuck in hard wood). 
Using a "woodworking" chisel instead of larger carpenter's firmer chisel or beefier mortise chisel when whacking out huge chunks of wood in mortise can result in reduce edge life. If I had to guess, the dewalt might be thicker than Stanley 750 and more like a firmer chisel?

Best Luck.


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## tshiker (Oct 25, 2014)

I suspect the Dewalt chisels were created more towards the rough carpentry trade then fine furniture making. So it's no surprise they're better at "hogging out" wood. I own the new 750's (same set you have) as well as a lot of vintage ones and my experience was similar to yours at first. It took a few sharpening's before they started to hold an edge and not chip or roll. I decided I wanted to create a set of 1/4" skew chisels, it was nice to be able to just order up a pair of new 750's and not ruin vintage chisels. I'm fortunate to have a Tormek and re-ground the bevel with that. I never had a problem with the edge on them.


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