First Chisel Set

[Jeremiah Moore]

So I've read through a few of these sort of threads and still haven't figured out how to go about this. I'm currently enrolled in a few woodworking courses and need a few chisels. I need some bench chisels and I'm in a hand-tool joinery course, so dovetail chisels as well. On one side I've seen some suggest Narex chisels for beginners to learn how to sharpen and beat on. On the other side I've read you should buy a quality set like LN or Iles, buy it once and learn on a quality tool. I'm leaning toward the higher end chisels, as I will have some books read and professional teaching. Hopefully this means I wouldn't ruin anything as I learn. I plan on taking plenty more courses, so the chisels would be used for furniture, instruments, etc.

Which would you recommend? If it helps, I also get 10% off the LNs. I'm 6'2 and have medium-large sized hands. Wasn't sure if the smaller handles would feel off. I'm not on a budget per se, but would prefer not to pay a ton for aesthetics like bluespruce.

[Peter Widders]

Greetings from Sydney, Australia.
I would suggest you will be happy with the LN chisels: I have 5 of the bevel edge socket chisels (1/4" to 1") and they are great tools. Very nice balance and steel- I have 0-1 except for the 1" which is A-2. On the other issue - I am 6' 3" with similar-sized hands to your description and have not had an issue with the size of the LN chisels....whether striking or paring.
Good luck with your decision.
Peter Widders

[ken hatch]

There is an old saying: "A rich man buys once, a poor man buys many times". Buy the best you can, you will save money in the long run. BTW, a high price does not equate to a better chisel but there is a strong price/quality correlation.

[Harold Burrell]

"A rich man buys once, a poor man buys many times".

Oh, great. Now you tell me...:mad:

[Mike Holbrook]

Other "premium" chisels: Barr Specialty Tools hand makes quality heavy duty chisels, Lee Valley/Veritas offers their PM-V11 chisels & Japanese "Dovetail" Chisels (made by Koyamamaichi), Tools for Working Wood offers a good selection of several types of chisels, If you get the urge to use nice Japanese chisels you can order from Tools from Japan and save some money, Koyamaichi, Ouchi & Fujikawa. Be aware that Stuart at Tools From Japan is often very busy and it may take a while to get an order made if you are not sure exactly what you want. Stuart is very knowledgable and a good resource if you don't have time constraints. If I was starting over I think I would buy a few of the LV PM-V11's for paring and light work and Ouchi or Barr chisels for the heavier work with a hammer or mallet. I think I would go for a couple of the long handled Japanese paring chisels too.

[Daniel Rode]

There are some amazing chisels out there. I actually fantasize about the LN socket chisels and will probably buy a set of Ashley Iles MK2s some day. Some are breathtakingly expensive some are dirt cheap. Some have harder steel that might keep an edge longer but might take more work to resharpen.

I have a several brands of lower end chisels. Some Stanley Bailey, Some Marples Blue Chips, Some recent Marples/Irwin, even a Narex. IMO, they all seem to sharpen up well and can slice pine end grain like butter. They were fairly inexpensive but it took more effort to get the backs perfectly flat. I haven't see the thing that the expensive chisels do that mine do not. Heck, I have some ancient home center butt chisels that are so sharp I can pare pine with them.

It's not a terrible idea to start with some harbor freight chisels or the Irwin/Marples chisels. They will mostly likely take much more effort to flatten the backs but you can get a whole set at HF for $8 or 3 for $5/$6. Good practice on the cheap.

I have 1 Narex mortise chisel. Based on it, I'd buy the bench chisels in a heart beat. You can buy several sets of some chisels before you cover the cost of a single LN or Blue Spruce chisel. It's just going to take a bit more work with the cheapies.

A rich man doesn't buy an AMG because it lasts longer or get's better mileage. Likewise, some tool purchases are luxury buys.


The most important thing is learning to sharpen whatever chisels to buy.

[paul cottingham]

The Narex chisels from LV can't be beat for value. I really love mine, $50.00 for 4 very good chisels. I do have a 1" "premium" LV that is terrific. I will eventually buy a set 1/4", 1/2", and 3/4" to go with the 1". I just prefer the handle and the lands of the LV chisel -a lot-. But I am in no hurry whatsoever. The Narex work great, and are a fantastic bargain, in my opinion.

As an aside, if I were to buy premium chisels right off the bat, (and was made of money) I would buy the LV premium chisels or the lie-Nielsens. They are both great chisels. You can't lose with either.

oh, and whatever you buy, budget for sharpening. An eclipse guide and a combo stone will get you started and last you a long time. I would consider a 1000/4000 stone. But there are other, far more knowledgeable people here about that. If they offer advice, follow them!

[Matthew N. Masail]

I had a set of koyomaichi chisels, I have used narex and own a narex mortise chisel, and I recently sold the koyomaichi and bought a set of Ashley Ills mk2. The Mk2 are my favorites but I wouldn't hesitate getting a set of narex and using them my entire life, I Would turn new handles for the narex, if you do that you'll have a set you will not want to part with. Edit: note the Ashley Ills are ground a little thinner and resemble vintage chisels, you can get a set of 6 with a jeans tool rool for just 150$ At 'the best things'. The narex are more stout and you would probably feel more comfortable doing heavy work with them if you don't own mortise chisels. Both have very good steel but the Mk2 is drier much nicer to sharpen than the narex. I recommend you also buy a fine India stone and maybe a good hard arkensas from somewhere where the stones are top quality and come flat like Dan's whetstone. I wish I had done that when I started out.

[Jim Matthews]

I have owned high end chisels, and beaters.

Most of the modern steel, even in cheap Chinese imports
(I've tested this at my local clearance store, Big Lots)
gets really sharp.

Better steel has better edge retention, but that comes at a cost when it comes time to sharpen.

If you're buying the modern powder steel chisels, getting them sharp takes proper tools.
If you're using vintage middlin quality chisels (I like the Marples brand, pre-Irwin)
they're easy to get sharp, by hand with commonly available media.

If you're buying new, I strongly recommend the Narex steel.
I don't like the hooped handles, but the steel is excellent.

The Ashley Isles chisels are also excellent, but slightly more expensive.

If you can find the "Faithful" brand plastic handle chisel
from China, it's nearly the same formulation as my vintage
Marples chisels.

The only modern chisel I would avoid is the Stanley Sweetheart reissue.
One of or own had one fail after a few uses.

Premium prices should get perfect products.

[Warren Mickley]

I recommend getting the Narex chisels and holding off on dovetail chisels. You might get away with just two or three. As you gain experience, you can look at other chisels and have some basis for judgement. Maybe you can try out someone else's chisels, find out what sharpening media you like. Then gradually buy a few different chisels one at a time and find your preferences.

I am a professional woodworker and have been using chisels seriously for 45 years. It was a nice thing that two chisels I started with had wonderful steel, and I agree with Ken that it would be best to start out with quality. However I personally feel that the LN and LV chisels are kind of trashy. Both companies are trying to make a good product, but they don't seem to know very much about chisels. Same with the Blue Spruce.

Welcome to the forum, Jeremiah. I don't think you will get a consensus about what is the best chisel, but you can get some feel for why certain people prefer certain chisels. Be cautious. Lots of guys have bought multiple sets, each time thinking they were buying the best.

[Josh Rudolph]

Now that I have multiple sets of chisels....I would recommend buying the LN chisels and two of the smaller size Narex chisels to grind into skews for doing half blinds. As others said LN isn't the only maker of high quality chisels, but with the 10% off that would swing the pendulum to them for me.

I don't think you really have to have dovetail specific chisels. Heck you don't even need the skew chisels I recommend, but it makes life a little easier and for the cost, I felt it was a worthwhile investment.

[Matthew N. Masail]

Now that I have multiple sets of chisels....I would recommend buying the LN chisels and two of the smaller size Narex chisels to grind into skews for doing half blinds. As others said LN isn't the only maker of high quality chisels, but with the 10% off that would swing the pendulum to them for me.

I don't think you really have to have dovetail specific chisels. Heck you don't even need the skew chisels I recommend, but it makes life a little easier and for the cost, I felt it was a worthwhile investment.

Narex make skew chisel sets quite inexpensive.

[David Weaver]

It seems at first like it matters what chisels you get, but it really doesn't. Buy whatever you'd like to have and you'll be fine.

[Brian Holcombe]

You can use bench chisels for dovetailing.

I have LN and blue spruce chisels, and they but work nicely IMO. Given the opportunity to chose again I'd probably go with Japanese chisels, I like the fact that the backs are hallow ground on them making them much easier to flatten and work the back.

I use a lot of japanese tools for gardening/bonsai, they really put an incredible effort into forged steel tools.

[Kees Heiden]

What I like about the Japanese chisels is the super high quality workmanship, the forging, the lamination, the white steel etc. That's a kind of craftmanship you don't find in the western world chisels anymore. My Koyamaichis weren't even that expensive and they are very good indeed.

But I totally agree that you don't really need that kind of art. Narex is plenty good enough and a lot cheaper.

[David Eisenhauer]

I would consider starting with the decent Narex now, and then, if I still wanted to later on, buy a "nice" set based on my experience (hopefully "years" rather than "weeks") and or perceived preferences. Owning two (or more) sets of chisels is pretty typical at any rate and then you have a set you don't mind knocking into something that looks a little dodgy and a set for the "good" projects. The nice sets available now will all probably do the job to most everyone's satisfaction, but as you gain experience, you will tend to develop personal preferences as to length of the iron, size/shape of the handle, etc. that may push you to one specific nice set over another perfectly acceptable set. Drop the $ on the Narex now and spend the rest on top quality sharpening stones.

[Jon Nuckles]

I have the LN set, but have never liked them for dovetailing because they don't hold their edge well enough. I bought the Narex set after trying a Narex mortise chisel. I find them much better for chopping and I save my LNs for paring. For the price, the Narex are great.

[Tom M King]

I do this stuff for a living. I get to deduct anything I spend on tools. My yearly budget for tools is around 20K, but that includes other things like scaffolding and stoneworking tools, as well as woodworking tools. Sorry boutique tool makers, but none of that budget will get spent on hundred buck chisels. Some days we use chisels all day long, and sometimes, several days in a row.

I have some really nice 750's that were passed down from my Dad, but they rarely get used, and not for the all day jobs. I have some Boxwood handled Marples that I bought new when I was younger, and have stumbled into a few other sets for next to nothing that I couldn't turn down. Those are the ones that get used in the shop. The ones that get used 95% of the time are the blue handled Marples/Record's. I like them just fine. They are easy to get really sharp, and hold the edge longer than you might expect. I have no desire to own any that are harder, and take longer to sharpen. Any of the Marples chisels will quickly take an edge that will slice off a shaving a fraction of a thousandth thick on endgrain. They can still be found individually, and in sets, fairly cheaply on ebay.

Just for what it's worth in the conversation. I'm not trying to talk anyone into, or out of buying what you want.

[Jeremiah Moore]

Thank you you everyone for the quick responses. It looks like the majority recommends the Narex as a first set with LN close behind. David's response made a lot of sense to me. It sounds like the Narex will require a bit more work as far as flattening and sharpening, but I can live with that.


I would consider starting with the decent Narex now, and then, if I still wanted to later on, buy a "nice" set based on my experience (hopefully "years" rather than "weeks") and or perceived preferences. Owning two (or more) sets of chisels is pretty typical at any rate and then you have a set you don't mind knocking into something that looks a little dodgy and a set for the "good" projects. The nice sets available now will all probably do the job to most everyone's satisfaction, but as you gain experience, you will tend to develop personal preferences as to length of the iron, size/shape of the handle, etc. that may push you to one specific nice set over another perfectly acceptable set. Drop the $ on the Narex now and spend the rest on top quality sharpening stones.

As far as stones go, after reading a few other threads, I'm thinking about going with 1000, 4000, 8000 shaptons (pro) and a diamond plate.

[Jim Koepke]

Jeremiah,

Welcome to the Creek. Your profile doesn't indicate your location. You may live close to another member who would be happy to let you test drive their chisels before you make a decision.

I have never tried the Narex chisels, but from the comments of everyone here who has purchased a set they sound like a good buy.

If it is possible for you to attend a Tool Event (sponsored by Lie-Nielsen or another wood show) you will get to put your hands on some of the different chisels to see how they feel in your hand.

To me the feel in my hand is important enough that almost all of my chisels are socket chisels so a quick session at the lathe can make a new handle to my liking.

jtk

[Jeremiah Moore]

I live in Southern California. I'm sure I could use some of the other students chisels to get a feel for them. I do need my own set of chisels ASAP, so I wouldn't be able to do that for my first set. I'm required to attend a woodworking event in one of my courses, so I'm sure I'll have plenty of opportunities down the road to handle other chisels. I think I'll make a more personalized purchase then.

I will be taking some lathe courses in the future, so I suppose new handles wouldn't be a problem either.

[Mikhail Lermontov]

Thank you you everyone for the quick responses. It looks like the majority recommends the Narex as a first set with LN close behind. David's response made a lot of sense to me. It sounds like the Narex will require a bit more work as far as flattening and sharpening, but I can live with that.




I'm a noob and had a similar dilemma. Ended up with a few Japanese chisels and a set of Stanley SH 750s. The good thing about Stanleys the steel is tough and I don't have to worry about the chisels when I do rough work. LN or LV are definitely too good and too expensive for my skills. Anyway, congratulation with a great present to yourself.

[Jim Matthews]

To me the feel in my hand is important enough that almost all of my chisels are socket chisels so a quick session at the lathe can make a new handle to my liking. jtk

+1 on this
I had a decent set of Japanese chisels that gave me the creeps.

Nothing wrong with the steel.
I hated the hoops.

[Tom Vanzant]

I use Narex BE bench chisels and mortise chisels from LV, and I'm pleased with their performance, especially for the price. I bought the skew chisel set but don't use them. They are based on 1/2" chisels and are too large in many cases.

[Joshua Hancock]

David said it best....it doesn't really matter. However since you asked for a recommendation , I can personally recommend the narex chisels. They can hold a very good edge in my experience. I saw a review that put it best "they are cheap in price but not cheaply made". If I do recall FWW tested them in a chisel shootout and they were rated just below the on and lv. HOWEVER as I have noticed, and the replies above indicate, ask 3 woodworkers on chisel advice and you'll get 8 answers. Watching videos of many woodworkers you'll see much variety (like Doucette and Wolfe using blue handles on their work). Remember for the $275 us you spend on the LN you can get the narex set, some good sharpening equipment AND possibly a good user plane off eBay that your top not sharpening set can be used on.......but just my humble opinion.

Respectfully,
Josh

[Malcolm Schweizer]

Well you have gotten a lot of good advice, and ultimately you have to decide what gives the best advantage and least compromise. I LOVE my Lie-Nielsens, and just wanted to comment about the fit for large hands. Although only 5'7", I have the hands of Goliath. I find the LN's comfortable to hold with the standard handles. The long handles are actually for paring where you are not hitting the chisel, but using your hand alone and the long handle gives more control and leverage.

Since you get a 10% LN discount, take advantage of it at least for a pair of skewed chisels or a fishtail chisel for your dovetail work, then if you want to get a less expensive (not "cheaper", but less expensive) set, then you will still get to try out the LN's and when you go to get the full set you already have a few accessory chisels. One thing about the LN's- the handles are removable, which is good, but you might want to either glue them in, or at least put hairspray on them (sounds crazy, but works) to get them to stay seated.

[Josh Rudolph]

Narex make skew chisel sets quite inexpensive.

Yep. However I wanted something narrower than 1/2" and bought two of the 1/4" chisels and ground my own. That was also when I was playing around with small houndstooth dovetails.

[Curt Putnam]

I have larger than average hands so fit was important for me. I went to WIA and tried the LNs and the LVs and the BSs (Blue Spruce). I liked them all, but in my hands the LVs felt the best, so I bought the full set (one time money windfall.) Since then I've bought the Narex mortise set and the Narex paring sets (introductory price too good to pass up.) I totally skipped Japanese chisels because I was (and still am) totally mystified by the the different steel types, different smiths, the whole hoop thing, etc. The LV PM-V11 steel really is better (in my less than experienced woodworking mind.)

If you can't try them, in person, then I'd say get the Narex and worry about upgrading when you know more. If you can try them, get the ones that fit your hand and mind the best, regardless of price within reason.

JMO & YMWV

[Mike Holbrook]

Derek Cohen, a frequent poster here, has some excellent tool reviews on his pages, including reviews of chisels. He does a test or two to compare various steels used for different types of chisel work too. Derek owns many of the tools he reviews and is one of our more experienced wood workers. Derek posts many projects, jigs and tools he has completed using very hard native Australian woods:

http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ToolReviews/index.html

[Matthew N. Masail]

Yep. However I wanted something narrower than 1/2" and bought two of the 1/4" chisels and ground my own. That was also when I was playing around with small houndstooth dovetails. Funny we have them here in sets down to 6mm. Not that there is anything wrong with making them .

[Simon MacGowen]

I recommend getting the Narex chisels and holding off on dovetail chisels. You might get away with just two or three. However I personally feel that the LN and LV chisels are kind of trashy. Both companies are trying to make a good product, but they don't seem to know very much about chisels. Same with the Blue Spruce.



Not meant to pick a fight here, but would you care to expand or support why you think the LN and LV chisels are poor? It is a pretty strong statement to say they don't seem to know much about chisels when they must have sold thousands of chisels over the years.

Simon

[george wilson]

Warren,what chisels WOULD you recommend? I'm still using my old 1960's set of Marples. But,I don't recommend the new sets. The old ones have done everything I ever needed them to do. All the projects I've posted here were made with them. PM me,and I'll tell you where a NOS set of old,boxwood handled Marples can be had. They are older than mine.

When I was young,we were pretty poor. I had a few 50 cent flat,stamped out chisels about 1/8" thick with plastic handles. No doubt made of low grade steel!! I could get them very sharp,at least. I did some good work on my early guitars with them.

It's like Jim Matthews(I think) said: It's not the bow and arrow, it's the Indian.

[Tony Zaffuto]

Interesting (to me, at least) is that in the tool well of my bench, I have a number of dividers for chisels and a pretty good variety of chisels at hand to choose from. I seem to reach repeatedly for either a new Stanley Sweethart chisel or one of the Greenlee's I picked up very early this year. The Greenlee's are green plastic handled chisels, made in Sheffield and appear to be nearly identical to the Record or Marples.

[Adam Cruea]

I have a set of the new Stanley Sweetheart chisels.

They've worked well for me and I find them very well balanced. For what it's worth, I'm 5'8" with wide, stubby paws (my hand is about 4 1/8" x 4 1/8" and my longest finger is about 4 1/8" long).

[Warren Mickley]

My main point to Jeremiah was that I thought it was foolish to buy a whole set of chisels for a premium price when he did not know much about chisels. I wanted to emphasize that there was no consensus about what are best. I think the companies in question are more concerned with marketing and customer service than with what a fine craftsman might want. I use mostly 19th century English chisels.

Here is what I like;
1 I like a forged tang chisel made of a clean steel without chromium.
2 I like a fine tang that tapers uniformly to a nice point, for easy handle fitting.
3 I like a real bolster.
4 I like a chisel that tapers toward the bevel, around 1/16 thick at the bevel.

This type of chisel might be much too expensive to make today, but in the late 18th century a craftsman could buy a set of 16 for about two days pay.
296095296096

[Simon MacGowen]

Thanks for the clarification.

I do agree that LN and LV both pay a good deal of attention to customer service which is a prime issue to consumers and customers in general. I wouldn't recommend someone starting a purchase buying a whole set of chisels unless the set is too good a deal to pass. But the general advice when it comes to tools is still good: Buy the best you can afford and you may never need to buy a replacement. Narex is indeed a good choice for the budget-minded and the PMV-11 is very high on the list for those who afford it.

Chisels are a very personal thing; for most hobbyist woodworkers (they far outnumber those who do woodworking for a living), the LN, LV, AI and what not are more than good enough. Yes, it is the woodworker not the tool (or chisel in this case), unless the tool is really a bad one.

Simon

[Matthew N. Masail]

The AL are as close to the vintage chisels that I've seen than any other, that's why I bought them. I often thinkbvto myself if someone were to make high quality new bailey planes (not rediculasly baulky ones) and other vintage tools, it would be amazing for us and they would do great. Maybe I'm wrong, but if I am why are we all hunting the old good stuff..

[Jim Koepke]

Maybe I'm wrong, but if I am why are we all hunting the old good stuff..

There are many reasons. For some the primary reason may be the cost. Just last week a 3/8" Buck Brothers chisel was bought to fill a gap in my accumulation. It may actually predate the rest of my Buck Brothers chisels, it doesn't have the stag head, but that isn't a big concern to me. The total cost was less than $20. From Lie-Nielsen the cost would be $55 plus shipping. A #4 hand plane will show an even larger gap in their respective prices.

For my own tastes the Bailey design appeals to me more than the square top Bedrock design. My preference there is also for planes from before the 1930s.

I also like the idea of saving some of the old 'history' from rusting away.

Then there is my own desire to have more than a single set of chisels. My two main sets are Buck Brothers and Witherby. There are many other makes mixed in from years of accumulation. My Buck Brothers are my main paring set. The Witherby set gets used for other light work. There is an accumulation of short (butt) chisels for light work such as setting hinge gains. There are various firmer and crank neck chisels for dado cutting. Mortise chisels for mortise work. Then there are various chisels for general utility or working outside or on dirty wood.

After all of that my eyes are still wide open looking for more chisels.

Some people are fortunate in finding a single set will meet all of their needs.

People here have spoken so well of the Narex it has been difficult for me to not buy a set.

When I want to buy another chisel and SWMBO questions my intent, I merely go to the LN site and show here how much I am saving.

On a personal note, the feel of a tool in my hands and how it works in my hand is of great importance to me. That is one reason many of my chisels have handles of my own making.

jtk

[Matthew N. Masail]

There are many reasons. For some the primary reason may be the cost. Just last week a 3/8" Buck Brothers chisel was bought to fill a gap in my accumulation. It may actually predate the rest of my Buck Brothers chisels, it doesn't have the stag head, but that isn't a big concern to me. The total cost was less than $20. From Lie-Nielsen the cost would be $55 plus shipping. A #4 hand plane will show an even larger gap in their respective prices.

For my own tastes the Bailey design appeals to me more than the square top Bedrock design. My preference there is also for planes from before the 1930s.

I also like the idea of saving some of the old 'history' from rusting away.

Then there is my own desire to have more than a single set of chisels. My two main sets are Buck Brothers and Witherby. There are many other makes mixed in from years of accumulation. My Buck Brothers are my main paring set. The Witherby set gets used for other light work. There is an accumulation of short (butt) chisels for light work such as setting hinge gains. There are various firmer and crank neck chisels for dado cutting. Mortise chisels for mortise work. Then there are various chisels for general utility or working outside or on dirty wood.

After all of that my eyes are still wide open looking for more chisels.

Some people are fortunate in finding a single set will meet all of their needs.

People here have spoken so well of the Narex it has been difficult for me to not buy a set.

When I want to buy another chisel and SWMBO questions my intent, I merely go to the LN site and show here how much I am saving.

On a personal note, the feel of a tool in my hands and how it works in my hand is of great importance to me. That is one reason many of my chisels have handles of my own making.

jtk

Yeah price, but that's not all. I should have mentioned - what you said is what I love about most old style tools, the way they feel. it seems to me that in the old days they thought about that stuff and made a well balanced tool. nowadays it "super heavy casting no.4 with thick blade and bla bla.." yes it takes a good shaving, but it feels like crap compared to a bailey.


A friend of mine has the LV no.4, now I do have much respect for LV, so I was surprised that the plane has no elegance what so ever, I didn't even want to hold it. it made me sad.


I guess my point is that I wish people making tools cared like they used to about the tool itself. it has wasted lots of my money, and time, finally figuring out what is good and what is marketing or just plain unrefined. and I'm not sure I understand WHY so many makers are making tools the way that they are, where a much better balanced and practical tool could be make at the same cost just different design, ECE is one example, they could be making great traditional wedged planes. the only place to get that that I know are boutique makers.


There are makers that care very much and make fantastic tools, but it does come at a high price. I was glad to see the LN no.4 was only slightly heavier than a bailey, I hope to try one one day.

[David Weaver]

I'll say what I'd do if I had to do it again and money mattered at all..

I'd get the narex chisels or anyones' budget set that had a hardness spec that was high 50s to low 60s. If I didn't like the profile, I'd just belt sand them down to as gradual as I'd want - having a sharp edge all the way to the corner isn't always a great advantage, though, as it makes the steel at the corners of a chisel a bit weak, and it will look like those corners are wearing fast, but they're actually chipping off.

Then, I would spend my time finding good vintage chisels that were intended to be sharpened on oilstones and that have simple alloys. If I had a set of stanley 750s, I wouldn't consider trading them for LN or LV anything - just my opinion that chisels and oilstones make for the least amount of total maintenance time, and damage on the vintage chisels, should you have any, is easy to remove.

I had a fascination with super hard chisels when I first started, but it's worn off. The most ideal chisels for most bench work are the types that warren talks about, though. A lighter chisel encourages you to make sure you're working it straight into the wood.

[Tony Zaffuto]

Regarding Narex, the tang is blunt with very little taper (I believe modern non-borg Buck chisels are similar). I've re-handled a few of these chisels and ground as much of a taper on them as I could and then used a taper drill bit (think drill bit like used for Miller Dowels) to drill the handle & burn them in. First few I used London style handles from LV, then through experimentation, found that London style handles are very easy to turn.

[Mike Holbrook]

The Ouchi Yama-ari-nomi chisels I got from TFJ are shaped very much like Warren's picture above. The Yama-ari-nomi are a modification of the traditional Kaku-uchi oire-nomi that Stuart has been requesting from Ouchi. The tangs may be different, but I find it hard to fault the Japanese tang design.

I understand how a large range of chisels might work well for cleaning up saw, plow & router plane work on a small scale. It seems to me though that if one wants to work the chisel with a chisel hammer or mallet, the traditional Japanese hooped handles are better suited to the task. Barr Specialty Tools also forges chisels that can stand up to heavier use on larger work. If one is interested in precise paring, Japanese paring chisels with their long handles offer a secure two handed grip and a long enough chisel to simplify getting the whole body behind the chisel.

The point being that someone buying chisels may want to first evaluate the kind of work they want to do and the methods they may want to use to accomplish those goals.