Experiment: Cheap chisels vs Premium Chisels

[Frederick Skelly]

Fred,
If you poke around the old ad copy floating around on "The Internet" - for a while both Aldi and Marples chisels called out nominally "the same" alloy. That has since been pulled down - probably too specific for the sourcing types out there.... While perhaps you may ultimately get a similar amount of work out of both before they won't cut - the Marples receives a much better heat treatment in my book and retains the sharp, smooth cutting edge longer during the cycle... After using both head to head - I prefer the feel of the Marples - it just cuts more smoothly.....

You wondered why I had so many 1" chisels.... Because I wanted to test them out to see how they worked in my hands.... There is something to getting them in your hands and feeling how they work in real life....

Understand completely John. Thanks. I agree the edge doesn't last as long on the Aldis, but figured that was due to my 22* bevel. What you said makes sense to me.

I enjoyed that pic you posted! Agree I need to put hands-on too. With luck, I'll have my two samples for the weekend and see for myself!

Fred

[Nicholas Lawrence]

Let us know what you think please.

[Frederick Skelly]

Let us know what you think please.

I sure will Nick!

[Matt Lau]

Thanks for the tip Matt.

Cheap (for me) are the Marples and Aldi sets I mentioned in the start of the thread. But you could probably stretch the definition to be "brand chisels you pay $10 or less a piece for." YMMV of course.

I'd recommend upping your budget to $5 or less

Seriously, it sometimes confuses me why in Japan they don't value the used tools as much as we do.
You may find a decent chisel in a lot for $5 on ebay in Japan (a lot of 5 or 10 tools, with 5-8 decent chisels).
Meanwhile, a cruddy worn to it's last legs Marples paring chisel or Berg will have an asking price of $30-50. Go figure.

[John C Cox]

Matt,

We can't read the Japanese maker's marks and are mostly unfamiliar with what's what...

And so most of us can't tell a rusty new production Grizzly Chinese knockoff of a Japanese chisel from that of a real 1st quality Japanese smith...

It's kinda like the Ebay grab bag lots of "vintage chisels" and when you look close - you can see there are 4 or 6 rusty Aldi and Harbor Freight as well as a couple rusty Ace Hardware chisels mixed in.. It's like they pull them out of the package and spray them down with salt water to make sure they get a little "rust patina" on them so they don't look new as a way to get a couple more units in the "grab bag lot"...

[Vincent Tai]

John,
Matt stated he couldn't read the Makers mark either (he can't read Japanese). Luckily buying from Japan means theres less of a chance a Grizzly chisel infiltrated (I think). Speaking of Grizzly J chisels, they're made in Japan the Grizzly website states. Never even thought of the possibility of infiltration, interesting point though. Thing is the Grizzly ones have fat handles that aren't properly shaped even in the ferrule area, strange ferrules That blend into the neck, and no "ears' or mimi. They are made out of a pre laminated steel stock (I forget the name for it; starts with R ends with an ai I think) so the factory cannot fold the carbon steel sides up and into the chisel body to form the nice strengthening ears. You can see these ears when looking at the bevel, Grizzly's just have a line across like a Japanese plane blade. Funny enough Grizzly and every tool retailer seem to avoid getting a shot of the chisel front that would reveal this detail. Only from pictures taken by actual users did I notice this. Point is you can spot a Grizzly easily enough. They might stick out more then your Aldi or Harbour Freight that have been vintaged. Personally I wouldn't go for anything thats rusty enough to disguise things if you're worried about a scam. There's lots of clues like lamination line, handle material and setup, condition, ferrule alignment, straightness, what the back looks like, is the neck centred. Wilbur Pan on his Giant Cypress blog did a post a few months back where he got an old J chisel for 20$ and showed the before and after, a good quick read. Hope that helps.

Vincent

[Tony Zaffuto]

John,
Matt stated he couldn't read the Makers mark either (he can't read Japanese). Luckily buying from Japan means theres less of a chance a Grizzly chisel infiltrated (I think). Speaking of Grizzly J chisels, they're made in Japan the Grizzly website states. Never even thought of the possibility of infiltration, interesting point though. Thing is the Grizzly ones have fat handles that aren't properly shaped even in the ferrule area, strange ferrules That blend into the neck, and no "ears' or mimi. They are made out of a pre laminated steel stock (I forget the name for it; starts with R ends with an ai I think) so the factory cannot fold the carbon steel sides up and into the chisel body to form the nice strengthening ears. You can see these ears when looking at the bevel, Grizzly's just have a line across like a Japanese plane blade. Funny enough Grizzly and every tool retailer seem to avoid getting a shot of the chisel front that would reveal this detail. Only from pictures taken by actual users did I notice this. Point is you can spot a Grizzly easily enough. They might stick out more then your Aldi or Harbour Freight that have been vintaged. Personally I wouldn't go for anything thats rusty enough to disguise things if you're worried about a scam. There's lots of clues like lamination line, handle material and setup, condition, ferrule alignment, straightness, what the back looks like, is the neck centred. Wilbur Pan on his Giant Cypress blog did a post a few months back where he got an old J chisel for 20$ and showed the before and after, a good quick read. Hope that helps.

Vincent

I tried a (one) Grizzly Japanese chisel several years ago and I did not care for it. Another was one Narex Japanese style chisel, and again, same thing. I bought a set of three Japanese chisels from Amazon several months ago-cost about $25 each or so. These are bench chisels and don't feel too bad at all. Had to set the hoops and took a bit of work (for hollow back Japanese chisels) to get the backs flat, but these are not just Japanese "styled". I haven't used them enough to offer any opinion. The Grizzly was given away. The Narex lays around somewhere (maybe near some paint cans!). The Amazon chisels will be tried.

[michael langman]

I just chopped 8- 3/4" wide,x 3" long mortices 3 1/2" through pressure treated yellow pine 4x4's using Aldis chisels for the first time. There were plenty of large knots, and the chisels impressed me, surprisingly.
I sharpened the chisels with a Norton coarse,fine bench stone and then hard white Arkansas and then a translucent Arkansas followed with the new strop I made.
I predrilled the holes with a 5/8" drill.
None of my edges rolled and they completed the job without touching up the chisels. I was not gentle either although I did use 12 oz. rubber mallet from harbor freight for a striking tool.
Also I left the primary angle at 25* as it came from the store.
The cutting edges lost their keenness and the end grain on the mortices did not slice as easily as when I started, but the still cut good enough to complete the job.