MHG Mortising Chisels

[Dan Barr]

Anyone use/own these? any reviews/feedback on them?

v/r

dan

[Brian Kent]

Dan,

I noticed you posted at 4:11 AM. Isn't this time switch awesome? I am sitting here at work an hour early, because I set some of my clocks back, but ran out of the door after looking at one that wasn't!

Here is a recent set of comments about MHG chisels.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=66788

If you are still interested in the MHG mortice chisels, buy one. They are pretty cheap. Then mortice the heck out of some scrap oak. Pound hard. Pry hard. Do things you would never do to an innocent bench chisel. That's what mortice chisels are made for.

At the end of the session you will either have a chisel you love or you have a chisel you will send back. Either way you can use up enough energy to snap you into the new time zone.

[David Weaver]

I put a lot of posts in that last one. I still have the chisels, but they have to be blunted pretty well to work nicely. The only other mortise chisel I have is a LN mortise chisel, and some turn of the century chisels that I haven't gotten fettled yet.

There is no contest between them and the LN steel. They are 61 hardness according to the ad, but they're not as tough as the 61 hardness hirsch/two cherries steel.

They are probably decent in terms of price because where else are you going to get a set of chisels for a little more than $20 per?

If you want a first set to be your last set, get something else, though. I kept mine after thinking about it because I can deal with having to hone them often until I get a few more chisels. The chisel size I use the most is the LN chisel, anyway.

If you're thinking about chopping mortises in anything harder than domestic hardwoods, these are not up to the task, though.

[Peter Tremblay]

The more that I use them the less I like them. As I said in another post that is why I am waiting for some Ray Iles english stlye mortise chisels.

If I had to do it over again there is no way that I would have got them.

Peter

[Don C Peterson]

I can't speak to the MHG chisels, but I have a couple of Ray Iles and one LN mortise chisel. I tend to like the Iles chisels a bit more, mostly because of their beefy handles. I have seen some criticism of the LN mortise chisels for being "lightweights". They aren't as heavy as the Iles chisels but I have beat it and pryed out waste etc... and it has just taken it all in stride. You couldn't go wrong with either of those choices.

[Dan Barr]

Thats what i guessed. they are not all that great apparantly. I'll just have to stick it out for the Barr's or LN's one of these days. I'm no production woodworker, but there is nothing i hate more than having an edge fold over and having to spend, yet again, another 10 minutes honing something that ought to be fine. I cant stand interruptions when i work. right when i get into something and have been making smooth progress for a while.

:D

v/r

dan

[Jack Camillo]

One option: just buy one at a time, the size you need for a particular project. The next size, buy from a different seller. You'll get a feel for both.