USA made (new) Buck Brother Chisels - have you tried them?

[Derrell W Sloan]

I noticed that Craftsman Studio sells Buck Brother chisels that are made in the USA

http://www.craftsmanstudio.com/html_p/C!00730.htm

Has anyone tried these and if so what did you think of them? Any idea how they would compare to the Narex?

[David Weaver]

I had a set of them. They are decent chisels, but you will want to make sure you're the type of person who works with chisels by holding the handle (instead of pencil gripping them somewhere near the blade) as they are short blades with super long handles.

I guess it's a challenge to make a very comfortable handle in an inexpensive chisel, and these are chisels that are designed to be struck, anyway.

Steel is similar to most others, it's some sort of chrome vanadium alloy, but they are fairly fine sharpening and cutting for being chrome vanadium. They are not hard like a premium chisel.

Lands on the sides of the chisels are variable from one to the next (don't know how they grind them), but lean more toward hardware store than fine woodworking. You can change that with a belt sander, though. I thought they were well worth the price, especially given the origin, but I am too rich of chisels to have kept them.

[Derrell W Sloan]

Thanks for the info David. Since you are rich of chisels I'm really curious about which chisels you enjoy using the most and why. I'm wanting to get something nicer than the blue handle Marples I'm using.

[David Weaver]

Any vintage american chisels that have a decent profile. Some of the vintage english chisels are a little on the soft side, and some are not.

I do like japanese chisels a lot (the most, I guess), but there are a lot of mediocre japanese chisels out there for a price that should be reserved for very very good chisels. In the good japanese white steel chisels, the fineness of the steel, and the balance of hardness vs. sharpening ease is really good. But they are expensive, and not everyone likes the style. The cheapest white steel "good" chisels are about $50 per. I can't see a reason to get any of the other mediocre ones over yard sale vintage american chisels.

This whole hand tool thing has really put the pinch on vintage american chisels, too, and you will get a dud once every half dozen or dozen out of those. By pinch, I mean that everyone out there buying old tools at public sales knows they can just go right out to ebay to dump their chisels, and that results in higher prices. You either have to find them at their origin, or find a dealer who likes to buy at public auctions and doesn't care if they sell for less than ebay price. I know if only one dealer like that, and he deals only in person in fayetteville, PA (and it's still one of those things where you get one at a time or so each time you pass, sometimes there's 3 good ones in the piles and sometimes none).

I've had a set of blue handled marples sheffield chisels, and they were passable, but every vintage american chisel (though each brand is a little different) has far better steel quality and the entire chisel is a little bit more comfortable to use. The blue handled sheffield chisels are a little bit bizarre in their size and shape, I guess because they are made to be jack of all trades. Shame, because their lands/grind were finely done. 4 of them were acceptably hard, one of them was soft. That's 70s and 80s england, though- they don't have japan's consistency.

Oh, and the ray iles mortise chisels are everything they claim to be. Fantastic, very tough, cleanly made and not too bulky. They are expensive, but you can figure out what size you like to use to cut mortises and get just one of them. Somehow, I have four of them, but I only really use two of them with any frequency. the 1/4" and the 5/16" are probably the two most practical sizes for 4/4 wood cabinet work, and they're cheaper (though not cheap) than the bigger sizes.

And one final comment, the american pattern or cabinetmaker chisels from ashley iles are a good compromise in cost and price, but they don't really hold an edge much better than chrome vanadium steel chisels. There's probably nothing that beats narex for price vs. performance, but if your marples are OK, that might be mostly a lateral move when you're probably looking to make a vertical move.

[Derrell W Sloan]

Thanks again for the info David. I think if I go the new route I'll probably save up and go for the Lie Nielsen or Veritas ones since I have heard nothing but great things about them.

[David Weaver]

I'm sure they would be fine, and it takes a lot less effort to figure out if they are "good ones" or not.

[Andrae Covington]

My first set of chisels were Narex, which I still use. Recently I bought a couple 1/4" Irwin Marples which I reground into skews for dovetails. They seemed a little softer to me than the Narex, but could just be the two chisels I happened to grab. From the perspective of someone with fairly small hands, most of the lower-end chisels seem to have "billy club" handles, including the Narex and Marples. It's not so bad when you're malleting them, but for finer work I find them a little cumbersome. I later added some Ashley Iles Mk 2 chisels for paring. I've been happy with those, though I suspect I would like the Lie Nielsen / Stanley 750 handles better. I think the best scenario is to physically get your hands on a set of chisels before buying, to see if you like the size, balance, etc.

[Jeff Duncan]

I believe your asking about cabinet makers chisels, but just as an FYI I recently bought a set of 5 of the Buck Bros cranked neck paring chisels. I figured for the price if they were half decent it was a good value! To my dismay, they were not half decent....not even quarter decent:( The blades on these are fairly long and not one was flat! The worst was off over 1/16" and the best was just shy of 1/64" over the length. I probably could have flattened 2 of them but the rest were too far out. The steel itself was also pretty roughly ground, not nearly as refined as say an inexpensive Marples blue handled chisel. Other than that I don't know how the steel would have held up as I sent them back.

I haven't heard similar from the bench chisels so maybe they're being made in a different factory....somewhere over there! I can say for sure the Marples are a better chisel than the BB cranked neck though.

good luck,
JeffD

[Bob Lang]

I've had a set for a few years, and think they are a great value. Cosmetically they don't look pretty, but at $11/chisel it's a good set to learn on. The sides are only beveled about halfway down, bucking the current trend but that is what I like about these. When you're cleaning up a corner of a mortise, or the shoulder of a tenon, you don't have to worry about the side bevels digging in to the corner. No complaints from me about flattening the backs or keeping them sharp.

Bob Lang

[Harold Burrell]

I noticed that Craftsman Studio sells Buck Brother chisels that are made in the USA

http://www.craftsmanstudio.com/html_p/C!00730.htm

Has anyone tried these and if so what did you think of them? Any idea how they would compare to the Narex?

I don't know if you noticed this little tidbit on their site, but it says: "If you're uncertain, buy one and try it out. If you like it, we will be happy to credit it towards the purchase of a set so you can take advantage of the set discount."

Here is the link: http://www.craftsmanstudio.com/html_p/BuckBrosChisels.htm

[Jonathan McCullough]

I have all three versions. The steel is very good, no complaints. Not the hardest I've seen, but easy to sharpen, and I'm able to keep mine very keen. I keep reaching for the bench chisels, especially the 1/2" and the 2". The 1/2" will stay sharp through quite a bit of abuse. The handles are comfy but not as ergonomic as older Buck Bros that I have. The handles on the paring chisels are thick, but this isn't an issue really. They've come in handy a number of times, including the crank neck/pattern makers' chisels. I see a lot of people grousing about them--usually with ridiculous complaints, leading me to the inevitable conclusion that they have no basis for judgment--but I can't really fault the chisels, and I've come across all sorts. Very reasonably priced too, and MADE IN USA. I have some Narex mortise chisels, they're very good and I like those too, but I don't think the comparison is apples-to-apples since I don't use them for the same tasks. Lots of good chisels out there, I don't think the Buck Brothers would be a mistake. One thing to note though--the lands on the bench chisels are too big for my tastes to do dovetailing. For that I use the Ashley Iles butt chisels.

[Randy Karst]

I've had a set of their bench chisels for almost 2 years now and I'd agree with most of what's been said about them here. Mine needed little flattening, sharpen easily, provide a fine edge, and stand up well in use, they have their limitations but for the price-easy money. No regrets for general bench use.