Need chisel set advice

[Matt Allan]

Long time lurker, need some advice from you guys.

Finally time to get myself a good set of chisels. I know some would advice me to get a nice old set and recondition, etc. But I have some reward points from a company to spend on any website I want and have a lot to spend, so the first thing I want to get is a nice set of chisels. I know I still could get old chisels and spend the money on something else but my mind is made up! :)

Now having said that, I have been eyeing the Lie Nielsen set and was wondering if anyone had any opinions on those or any others I should take a look at instead.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Thanks

matt

[Jack Young]

Matt-

Take a good look at the Pfeil bench chisels available through Woodcraft. In my experience they beat the Marples, Sorbeys and the such hands-down for both edge and holding that edge. If you want what many think are the best, anywhere, check out the Japanese chisels. They don't cost all that much more, but are better, even, than the Pfeil, IMO. I have both, and I love working with them. Many of the good retailers carry the Japanese chisels, such as Garrett Wade, Lee Valley, Woodcraft, Highlands, and there are a few that vend Japanese tools only. I think Woodcraft is the sole purveyor of Pfeil in the U.S.

Jack

[Dennis Peacock]

This orta be a good thread. I have two different sets of chisels and don't like either one of them. yes, they are cheap, but I needed chisels. I have marples and I can't seem to keep "good edges" on them for very long when working with hardwoods. :confused:

[Jack Hogoboom]

Try the new Lie-Neilsen chisels. Based on the quality of their other tools, these would be the ones I'd buy if I were in the market for chisels.

Jack

[Mike Cutler]

I'm pretty much certain that you couldn't go wrong with the Lie Nielsen set. Two Cherries are also highly regarded. If you haven't done so already, you may want to move this post to the Neander Forum. There may be more options available that they would be aware of. Maybe flag Dave Anderson of NH, He's the resident guru on slow moving sharp tools, that don't have forked tails :D

[Jim Taylor]

I recently purchased a set of Ashley Ilses, and am very happy.... recent thread (maybe 2 mo ago) in neander section provides additional info.

-Jim

[Martin Shupe]

Matt,

Welcome aboard...

I bought a set of the LN's, used them, then sold my set of Two Cherries.

Now, I am far from an expert, but the LN's feel nice in the hand, sharpen up to a razor's edge (so did the TC) slice through wood like a hot knife through butter, and the edge lasts longer than TC's (my humble opinion).

There are people on this and other boards (Bob Smalser, I think) who swear by buying old chisels and rejuvinating them. I have nothing against that, but I would rather spend my limited time building furniture (and Texas is not a really great place to rust hunt, or maybe I would be more into it).

The TC are a close second, but you have to spend a lot more time cleaning off the lacquer and flattening the backs. I am told that LV sells another brand of chisels (I can't remember the brand) that are identical to TC and made in the same factory, but sold under a different brand. They are cheaper, and if I had known that, I would have bought them instead of the TC when I made that purchase. Perhaps someone else can name the brand.

If you can afford the LN, then go for it. You won't regret it.

[John Shuk]

I saw the LN at a show and they are really nice. I can't see that it would be a bad investment.

[James Carmichael]

Try the new Lie-Neilsen chisels. Based on the quality of their other tools, these would be the ones I'd buy if I were in the market for chisels.

Jack


Awful pricey. You might check out the Two-cherries economy set, I belive Traditional Woodworker and/or Diefenbacher (sp?) sell these which are less than 1/2 the cost of the LN set. Diefenbacher also has some other sets and lots of good information about chisels and steel hardness.

You can also get the set of Hirsch Firmers from Lee Valley, which would probably be my pick. Then this set from Grizzly is, I belive, the same one that WWS used to sell and was Wood Mag's pick for best value last year:

http://www.grizzly.com/products/item.cfm?itemnumber=G5836

In my experience, vintage chisels are very hard to find in a complete set and command a large premium when you do find one.

[Kevin Brown]

I'm a relative newbie to the chisel scene myself, but I got the Hirsch Firmer (http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?page=46403&category=1,41504&ccurrency=2&SID=) set from Lee Valley and have been very pleased with them :)

[Frank Pellow]

I have had the referenced: " http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.asp?page=30028&category=1,41504,43500&abspage=1&ccurrency=2&SID= "
boxed set of 7 chisels from Lee Valley for about 10 years and am very happy with them.