Originally Posted by
ken hatch
Interesting thread that begs the question Why?
Unless you just enjoy mucking around with metal why not buy a good chisel first and put metal to wood. I know what blows your skirt is different for everyone and YMMV.
Anyway there are some really good blacksmiths working in Japan and even a few in the UK looking for a little love.
ken
I have chisels with excellent edge retention. I purchased the Narex because people have posted positive comments about them and I was interested to learn how good (or not) they are. I teach and people ask me for recommendations. I'd like to be able to make informed comments about the different chisels out there. For example, I may be able to say that the Narex are decent chisels but the edge does not hold up as well as some more expensive chisels - and you should expect to have to touch up the edge after chopping out two (for example) pins in a dovetail. I can only make those comments if I have some experience with the product.
Beginning woodworkers often do not have the money to purchase the more expensive tools, or don't know if they are going to continue and wish to purchase less expensive tools.
I have Japanese chisels and they are good chisels with good edge retention. Some Japanese chisels are very expensive - even more than the LV PM-V11 chisels - and I don't like the handles on Japanese chisels. I've rehandled mine to western handles. I just want the hard edge on Japanese chisels and to be able to use them like the rest of my western chisels.
Mike
[You can occasionally find antique laminated western chisels but the reason for laminating chisels in the west is different than Japanese chisels. Good steel was expensive in the west and makers laminated good steel to cheaper steel in both chisels and plane irons. But they didn't harden the good steel to the level that the carbon steel is hardened in Japanese tools. A good example of this is the laminated irons in older Stanley bench planes.]
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