Japanese chisel makers ????

[Graham Skinner]

Hi All

Can any of you give me some information about these two Japanese chisel makers, "ie" are they any good? how much did they cost when new?

1) HIDEO (a son of Iyoroi)

2) Miyanaga

I am just wondering because I found some for sale on e-bay at prices that seem to good to be true for Japanese chisels?.....

Thanks for reading this....Graham Skinner....

[Wiley Horne]

Graham,

I think I know the seller you mean. I can't speak for the Iyoroi son one way or the other, but my guess is that the Miyanaga's are a very good chisel at a very good price. I have some of the Miyanagas sold by Japan Woodworker.

The JWW Miyanagas are blue steel backed by iron, and in price would sell at a premium compared to the white steel backed by mild steel being offered on ebay.

However. I have looked at the ebay Miyanaga's and they show good quality in the details that can be seen, so I would say they're an excellent buy at the offering price. I don't know where you can get an exact retail comparison on the ebay chisels.

Wiley

[Pam Niedermayer]

These are good chisels, but not the best. They are great chisels for the money, assuming you don't have problems buying things without accurate photos (a 3mm chisel listed, an 18 mm chisel shown), inaccurate descriptions (tenon chisel???!!!), and other such anomalies.

Pam

[Derek Cohen]

I have a few of the Hideo from Peter's eBay site in the form of 6/12/18/24mm slicks. They are indeed excellent for the money (actually quite a bargain for what I paid). They differ from a couple of (unknown) vintage Japanese slicks that I have in that the latter have thinner blades (about 2-3mm). The Hideo are about 3-4mm thick. No complaints about the quality of the steel.

Edit: The 18mm slick is not a Hideo but a Miyanaga. What happened was that Peter sent me this in error (I had ordered 12/18/24 in the Hideo). When I pointed it out, he no longer had any of the Hideo left, so after discussion he sent me the 6mm as a replacement. And asked me to keep the 18mm Miyanaga any way. Good guy. In looks and use I cannot tell the difference between the Hideo and the Miyanaga - with one minor exception, that being the Hideo has a slightly longer handle.

Older picture - Iyoroi bench chisels, Iyoroi fishtails, Hideo slicks, and Koyamaichi dovetail chisels (not the same ones as on the eBay site as present).

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a262/Derek50/Chisels/Japanesenomi-storageMay2007.jpg

Regards from Perth

Derek

[Michael Schwartz]

I don't want to hijack the thread or anything but does anybody have any experience with the 10 peice set of Japanese chisels Grizzly sells for about a hundred bucks. At this price they cost about = to Marples, altough I can't imagine them beeing any better than another 10 dollar chissle.

[Graham Skinner]

Hi Derek

If you ever want to sell the 18mm Miyanaga slick, please let me have first offer, I would be willing to pay all postal cost from Australia to Canada.
I just bought the 9mm version from Peter at ebay, based on the advice I got from this thread, but it was the last Miyanaga slick that he had in stock.

Thanks for the advice, regards...Graham Skinner...

[Mike Henderson]

I don't want to hijack the thread or anything but does anybody have any experience with the 10 peice set of Japanese chisels Grizzly sells for about a hundred bucks. At this price they cost about = to Marples, altough I can't imagine them beeing any better than another 10 dollar chissle.
I have the Grizzly Japanese chisel set and am satisfied with them. They hold an edge well. My only compliant is that the handles are not comfortable but I think the handles are about the same shape as any other Japanese chisel.

Mike