# Wood Chisels



## JBorfair (Jul 1, 2014)

I'm in the market for some new ones. I've been doing a lot of looking around and notice a rather large disparity in prices. I am a firm believer in "you get what you pay for" but at the same time, that doesn't hold true 100% of the time. My dilemma is where to draw the line on price vs. quality, as I am not very knowledgeable in this area of tools. What are the best chisel sets for the money these days? They will be used primarily for clean up on dados and the like. In the very near future I am going to venture into tenon and mortis joints so they will be used there as well.

Thanks for in advance for any info.

JB


----------



## Tim457 (Jan 11, 2013)

It does seem you get what you pay for with chisels too. It's just you pay a lot more to get a little more after a while. 
The lower end best value are the narex chisels. After that the Two cherries chisels seem to be better and cost a little more. The Stanley sweetheart reissues are well liked too. The Lie Nielsen Chisels are very well liked too. These are just a summary of some of the best value options mentioned in similar threads where this was asked.

The other way is to spend some time assembling some vintage chisels. You can get some top of the line chisels for cheap if you put time and a bit of elbow grease into it.


----------



## Pezking7p (Nov 17, 2013)

I've got the narex bench chisels, they do very well.


----------



## robdem (Apr 7, 2011)

Have the woodcraft wood river set .Good value and work well .Handles are made of bubinga .


----------



## sikrap (Mar 15, 2009)

IMHO, you don't need high quality chisels to clean up dados. On the other hand, I would recommend buying good quality mortising chisels for mortise work. I have the Narex mortise chisels and they're fine. I don't think you should be chopping mortises with bench chisels, but I know some do. If you are going to be chopping dovetails, then I would get some good quality bench chisels. I use the older Marples and I think most of the vintage chisels are good (Stanley 750/720, Buck Bros, Witherby, Pexto, etc.)


----------



## BubbaIBA (Nov 23, 2011)

For a mid price chisel the Veritas PM-11 chisels are hard to beat, they will take as fine an edge as a O1 chisel and they will hold a working edge almost as long as a good Japanese Oire-Nomi white steel chisel.

For a little more you can buy a set of "Koyamaichi chisels" and have a life time set.


----------



## waho6o9 (May 6, 2011)

Router planes work best to clean up dados IMHO
you can even mortise hinges.


----------



## waho6o9 (May 6, 2011)

http://www.ebay.com/itm/8-PC-JAPANESE-WOOD-WORKING-CHISEL-WOODWORKING-TOOL-SET-/290506492346?pt=US_Hand_Tools&hash=item43a38949ba

+1 on the Japanese chisels. This set from Jabetc on Ebay works well
has great edge retention and the balance is amazing.


----------



## rad457 (Jun 15, 2013)

No matter which Chisels you get the secret is getting them sharp and keeping them that way. Invest in some good water stones, the Narex would be a real good first set to learn sharpening and will be good bench chisels down the road when you want to upgrade. That Japanese set doses like pretty enticing I must say, I have a few Japanese chisels in my collection and they are pretty amazing. Another save bet are the Stanely Sweethearts which so far are my go to set.


----------



## helluvawreck (Jul 21, 2010)

I have some Robert Sorby chisels which are very nice but cost quite a bit. However, I also have some Narex chisels which I use as well. I have some nice older Marples chisels that I got from Ebay and they are wonderful chisels for the money.

helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com


----------



## CypressAndPine (Jun 14, 2013)

I'll have to agree with rad457. No chisels are good until you learn to sharpen them. They will need sharpening after every one or two uses. I also use water stones. I have Japanese chisels and I like them, but you have to be careful because they are brittle. I've never heard a single complaint about the Lie-Nielsons or the Veritas. I'm really interested in trying the new PVM-11 steel from Veritas.


----------



## JBorfair (Jul 1, 2014)

THANKS Everybody!!!


----------



## ACHiPo (Mar 10, 2014)

I have the Veritas PM VII and they are flat, smooth, and hard from the factory. A translucent oil stone won't touch them. Not cheap (guess it's relative) but worth every penny.


----------



## Redoak49 (Dec 15, 2012)

What a wide variety of suggestions. Some are at the $60-80 a chisel such as the Veritas PMV11 or the Lie-Nielsen at just a little less.

The Stanley Sweetheart chisels are nice around a piece. Then on the lower end the Narex or Irwin Marples chiusels which are generally a Cr-Mn steel.

Personally, I have a couple of the expensive ones that I use for special projects and cutting dovetails. For everyday work in the shop I use some of the Older Marples Blue Chip that were made with Sheffield steel. My real beaters are a 40 year old set of Craftsman. All of these when properly sharpened work well. But the cheaper ones do not stay as sharp as long. I like having some chisels that I can take out and use anywhere and am not too upset if they are abused. How many of us have had a chisel be dropped or roll off onto the floor.


----------



## MrSmith670 (Jan 26, 2014)

+1 for Narex chisels. I have them, great chisel for the price.


----------



## NinjaAssassin (Sep 5, 2013)

I'm going to +1 the Narex, too. The chisels are great as far as I can tell. When they're not (I had two that had real problems) Lee Valley will make it right and fast. I bought my chisels last October and my 1/4" and 1" were degrading quickly. At first I chalked it up to my novice sharpening "skills." However, as my sharpening improved, those two chisels never did. I emailed Lee Valley not expecting much help since I bought them so long ago. They immediately sent out a replacement for both as well as paid shipping to return the defective chisels. Apparently, they run tests on the defective products to determine what went wrong and why. Customer service was only ever super respectful and helpful. The new replacement chisels don't have the problems the originals had so all is well.


----------



## planeBill (Oct 21, 2011)

In the price vs quality arena, Ill have to give the nod to narex, so plus 2 for the narex. Next would have to be the Stanley sw series, which I have chopped many dovetails with. Those two would have to be the top two picks where money is an issue. Not saying the narex are better than the Stanley sw's, just that they are cheaper and really close in quality to the stanleys. Never, ever liked two cherries,or Hirsch. Old vintage chisels give the most sense of satisfaction and are very hard to beat for quality as you really cant find the same quality of steel today.
In the Japanese section, Koyamaichi, not Koyama, are truly a lifetime set and worth the expense, but as stated, learn to sharpen them properly, you may already and if that's the case buy a few quality waterstones and learn to use them properly. A King 800, a bester 1200 and a suehiro rika 5000 would be a great starter set and will work, I use the same three for a quick basic tune.


----------



## JBorfair (Jul 1, 2014)

Thanks all, I wound up getting the Narex chisels, and the little I have used them so far they have been great. I also got a good chisel sharpening stone with guide.


----------



## Grasshopper000 (May 18, 2014)

I really like the Ashley Iles MKII bench chisels. Got a set of 6 for about $150 and got the backs flat and the edges to a mirror finish in an afternoon. Come pretty close from the factory. And I like that this is a family whose heritage goes back to Sheffield England. Check them out on toolsforworkingwood.com and thebestthings.com. I've heard great things about their English style mortising chisels made by one of the sons I think, Ray Isles. FWIW.


----------



## spclPatrolGroup (Jun 23, 2010)

I was looking at a pretty expensive set, until I came upon this video, then I bought a set of Narex did the same thing this guy walks through, and I cant imagine a more expensive set giving me any more benefit.


----------

