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Thread: How do you guys get Aldi chisels to hold up?

  1. #136
    Quote Originally Posted by John C Cox View Post
    What's the secret sauce on these Aldi chisels guys? spill the beans... What are your secrets?
    You mean, like, from the grocery store? Spill the beans, like cleanup on aisle 4? They may have secret sauce, but they don't sell dishwasher detergent, and they charge for a basket, so I never went back.

  2. #137
    Quote Originally Posted by Tony Zaffuto View Post
    Out of curiosity, what is your background?
    I was going to say I was an Elementary school teacher, a professional artist, or a florist... But nobody would believe it anyway... .

    So then - is engineering more plausible? . ....

  3. #138
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    Quote Originally Posted by John C Cox View Post
    I was going to say I was an Elementary school teacher, a professional artist, or a florist... But nobody would believe it anyway... .

    So then - is engineering more plausible? . ....
    My reply to such a question used to be it was easier to mention what wasn't on my resumé than to list all the places who have employed me.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  4. #139
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    "Jack of all Trades, master of none"?

  5. #140
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    Quote Originally Posted by John C Cox View Post
    I pared off end grain plywood. That's the weight of the plywood shavings.
    John, it would be interesting for you to say what conclusions you can draw from the weight of shavings. I can follow distances planed and thickness of shavings. You could in fact take three shavings and get the same weight as fifty shavings. The iron or blade would be cutting through the same length of glue (you said you used plywood) with each stroke for instance. Please help me understand what conclusions you can draw based on weight of shaving.
    Jim

  6. #141
    Yep... And if you are an engineer long enough - you end up doing all of it....

    Anyway - assuming my test isn't a fluke... What would cause this sort of behavior? It's got to be some sort of microstructure change because the bulk hardness didn't change enough for me to tell.... But now - the edge wears down instead of rolling and they cut at least 2x as long...

    But this may also explain why some folks get good results out of them and others don't.... Perhaps the tempering was correct on some and not on mine... I am assuming that professional heat treaters with the right equipment and knowledge/experience with the alloy could get a lot better results than I do in the kitchen oven....

    I am going to try these out some more - but I (provisionally) like them a whole lot more now...

  7. #142
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    Not an engineer, though I employ several! Not a metallurgist, though I employ one. Not a teacher, artist or florist either, just the poor, dumb owner of a powder metal part manufacturing plant.

    My opinion is based on raw material available in our industry, called "re-mill", which simply is comprised of the tailings of powders from presses. The composition can have high contents of nickel, or copper or none at all! It can have low carbon or high carbon, or none at all. I would suspect the raw material used in most very low cost chisels, does not have tight specifications, leading to the variability issue. Also, as Aldi's is a grocery chain, with these chisels generaly showing around Father's Day, I would suspect most are impulse gift buys, with few purchased by serious users. I would bet that few ever touch wood.
    If the thunder don't get you, the lightning will.

  8. #143
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    Quote Originally Posted by steven c newman View Post
    "Jack of all Trades, master of none"?
    Open and fast to learn a new job when needed, able to have mastered a few.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

  9. #144
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    Aldi's sells a lot more than just food items....maybe a trip inside would be in order.

    I can't say for sure....but, I think they went on sale today.....one carton per store....

    stashed.jpg
    Hmmm, yep, these do get used...a lot. these are my user chisels.. YMMV

  10. #145
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    Quote Originally Posted by steven c newman View Post
    ...they went on sale today... one carton per store...
    I think they must be trying to create a run on the stores. They get some folks in forums talking the chisels up and next thing you know they sell a few chisels and maybe a bag or two of generic potato chips. The question is, is mr newman getting reimbursed for his endorsements?

  11. #146
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    No, he is NOT....

  12. #147
    I heard on the internet that Andy Kaufman faked his death and is now selling chisels for a supermarket chain.

  13. #148
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    More Fake News, eh? maybe you two should ask the OP.....I have work to do...
    .IMG_4683 (640x480).jpg
    Right after I get this mess swept up....

  14. #149
    Quote Originally Posted by Tony Zaffuto View Post
    Not an engineer, though I employ several! Not a metallurgist, though I employ one. Not a teacher, artist or florist either, just the poor, dumb owner of a powder metal part manufacturing plant.

    My opinion is based on raw material available in our industry, called "re-mill", which simply is comprised of the tailings of powders from presses. The composition can have high contents of nickel, or copper or none at all! It can have low carbon or high carbon, or none at all. I would suspect the raw material used in most very low cost chisels, does not have tight specifications, leading to the variability issue. Also, as Aldi's is a grocery chain, with these chisels generaly showing around Father's Day, I would suspect most are impulse gift buys, with few purchased by serious users. I would bet that few ever touch wood.
    Very cool stuff there... Are you doing MIM or compression pressing and sintering?

    I did a quick bit of math on the Aldi chisels... I have no idea how they can make anything to a spec for that price.
    $7/4 = $1.25/chisel retail price.

    Assume a standard 7:1 export price structure = $0.18/finished chisel packaged FOB chisel factory.
    Assume 10% materials cost - and all the materials run $0.018/chisel... Blade, hoops, handle, paint, cardboard, lacquer, plastic protector, plastic bubble, and staples... Let's be generous and say the blade is 20% of the total material cost... That means the steel in the blade costs $0.0036... Or $1 worth of their steel gets you 277.8blades.... 4 oz each chisel blade = 8000/ton.... A little math gives us $28.80/ton of high carbon alloy tool steel. YIKES!!! You can get more for scrap in the USA....

    Even if Aldi did almost all the leg work and it was an impossibly low 2:1 import multiplier - that means $100/ton of high carbon tool steel.... I still don't see it....
    Last edited by John C Cox; 06-13-2018 at 9:42 PM.

  15. #150
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    Right after I get this mess swept up....
    If only my messes could be so neat.

    jtk
    "A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty."
    - Sir Winston Churchill (1874-1965)

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