I've read many good comments here on SawMill Creek about the Narex chisels so when Gabor Siklos offered a set of 6 for $55 I decided to try them. I received them a few days ago and have used them making dovetails for the past two days.
Gabor had flattened the backs of the chisels so I was unable to evaluate that aspect of them - but I didn't mind missing that task. Thank you, Gabor.
I put the chisels through my standard sharpening routine, which is to grind a 25 degree primary bevel on them with a diamond plate on my WorkSharp, and then to put a secondary bevel at a higher angle on a Shapton 8000 stone. This is the same technique I use for all my chisels, including Japanese chisels.
My normal chisels for dovetails are my LV PM-V11 chisels but I certainly did not expect the Narex to perform like the LV chisels. However, I found that the Narex dulled fairly quickly. I was cutting pine cross grain and pine requires a sharp chisel to cut it cleanly. Once the edge rolls, the wood is not cut cleanly but appears to be pushed apart. Hard to describe adequately but I can quickly tell when the chisel is not cutting cleanly.
The Narex chisels took a keen edge and cut well just off the stone but the cut got progressively worse the more I chopped with it.
To help evaluate my expectations, I then got some of my antique Swan chisels, marked "Best Cast Steel," and used them to compare directly against the Narex. (I had already done a comparison between the Swan and the LV PM-V11 chisels and the Swan dulled much faster than the LV chisels). I chopped a set of dovetails with the Swan, then a set with the Narex, then a set with the Swan.
To my subjective evaluation, the edge on the Swan chisels lasted longer than the edge on the Narex chisels.
This only evaluates one aspect of the Narex chisels, using them for chopping dovetails in pine cross grain, but that's what I wanted them for. It's also possible that I just happened to get a set of Narex chisels that were somewhat soft. But this is what I experienced with the Narex chisels that I have.
Mike