Wood River butt chisels

[john davey]

Well, I love the feel of butt chisels and when Woodcraft put the Wood River 4 piece set on sale I had to give them a shot. I really like the way they feel but of course that is a personal thing and others may not agree with that. They set up really fast. I had the back of the 1 inch chisel flat and a micro bevel on it in less than 10 minutes. My Narex took longer. Of course this may be do to the fact that I believe these are a little softer metal. I am not an expert on metal but they really did flatten fast. maybe I just got a real good copy?? Anyway both the Narex and the Wood River are RC 59 by the web sites but I really do not know what that means. I don't really like the ferrule they use. It seems to be a same color slip on that protrudes a little and since my hand actually is on that part of the chisel allot it is a slight bother. Other than that the first impression is pretty good. I will see how the edge holds up in the next few days....John

[Bobby O'Neal]

Keep us posted. I have the regular bench chisels. They do take a great edge but seem soft as well. It's fine as long as my strop is out and within arms reach, which it typically is.

[David Weaver]

They are decent butt chisels, chrome vanadium type of steel (59 is within a good hardness range for chisels).

I don't know what brand of chisels were being eyeballed when they made them or sourced them, but they look a lot like the pfeil or ashley iles butt chisels.

But regardless, they're a good budget option.

[Chris Griggs]

I have a set of the WR bench chisels. The ones they were selling for like $30 or $40 a set back in 2009 (I think) - they are also chromium vanadium, but they may not be the exact same steel. Other than the fact that the side bevels are huge they are actually quite nice chisels. They chipped a fair bit when new, but, now that they're good and worn in they hold an edge very well. Comfortable handles too. I don't really use them anymore, but they are a good user set of chisels.

[David Weaver]

Those bubinga handled big ones would be a nice set to try rounding everything over (on the back) like alan peters does. They have big lands, so rounding them off couldn't really hurt anything.

I thought the set I had were fine before I unloaded them, similar quality steel to the old marples blue chips (the ones that were good), profile not quite as nice, but those older blue chips are getting harder to find cheaply (and the new chinese marples chisels at their very best have a worse profile, even if the steel isn't worse).

[Don Dorn]

For the life of me, I don't know how I accumulated so many chisel sets, especially when I pride myself on keeping equipment on the lean side. I purchased the WR butt chisels but they were full price at $49 when I got them. Even so, I'm happy with them. The thought was to use them for dovetails so I wasn't working with anything too top heavy. They worked well, sharpen easily and now keep an edge fairly well too. However, I always go back to the cheap set of Japanese chisels for dovetailng - they drive like a railroad spike and take/keep an edge very well.

[Mike Henderson]

I bought the Wood River Butt chisels and like them. I haven't used them a lot but what use I have given them they've held up well. My only complaint is that they start with the 1/4". I'd prefer if they started with a 1/8" and left off the 1" - I just don't use a 1" chisel that often. They advertise that they're hardened to RC59-63.

Mike

[David Weaver]

It must be a lot harder to grind 1/8 chisels in an automated setup, because it seems like a lot of standard sets have come out in the last 4 or 5 years without a 1/8th chisel, which is a tough chisel to forego.

I wonder how many people are actually using those chisels to do the mortise for a butt hinge (perhaps where a 1/8th wouldn't be needed). I can't believe that they're being used for that nearly as much as people use them for general chopping.

[John Luke]

I have both the Wood River bench chisels and the butt chisels. They take a good edge and may need sharpening a little more than some of the more expensive sets. That said they are my goto chisels. If you touch them up before they get really dull I think they work fine. I like the 1/4 inch butt chisel for dovetail cleanout. I wish they made a 3/8 butt chisel. Can't beat the Butt chisels when they go on sale.