Cheap vs Premium Chisels: First impressions

[Frederick Skelly]

Thanks David! Your experience is a good calibration for me. Very much appreciate you sharing it.

Lowell, I read about Dickinson online, knowing from your posts that you live there. I hope you can recover your shop. I can tell by your posts it was a traumatic experience. Hang in there Sir!

John, I just checked again and both the LV and AI came with 30* bevels. To me, both looked like factory grinds. The AI really is a nice tool. Is it better-enough than my Marples to warrant buying a set? I still haven't decided. But I really like these things.

Fred

[steven c newman]

Used the wide Aldi's chisel today...trimming end grain...
chiseled.jpg
Had to power the chisel with my chin, though..
IMG_4376 (640x480).jpg
And the back?
IMG_4374 (640x480).jpg
Had two rails, with these tenons on both ends....didn't seem to bother the edge of the chisel..

.shaved end grain.jpg
YMMV

[lowell holmes]

Frederick, my shop is about back together. The rust is gone, the edges are sharp, and my saws were not lost.
My D12 has no rust, is sharp, and has a new curly maple handle.

[John C Cox]

Steve,

I am always amazed at how much work you get out of those Aldi chisels.... Mine roll the edges when push cutting end grain.. I get maybe an inch of smooth cutting and then it goes awry.. I have a suspicion that my Aldi chisels share a common diagnosis I recently stumbled upon with my HF chisels... Specifically - Something awry with their factory Heat treatment routine lead to very shallow hardening... In the HF chisel - this created a thin section of hard metal over a much more malleable core... It's a classic concern with simple water hardening steels. And my aggressive chisel prep routine may have gone right through it leaving the softer material underneath as the new cutting edge.... As a data point - new Buck Bro's chisels (tested at Rc56-57@ hardness) honed to 30 degrees do not exhibit this same problem... So provisionally it's not 100% me...

The way to test my hypothesis would be to get another set and do the absolute minimum edge prep required to sharpen them - especially the backs - and then have at it... Unfortunately - Aldi's chisel stock was long gone before Easter and Mother's day... And it's still plant and gardening related seasonal.. Father's day is still a month away... So that test is on hold (at least until the new Lidl opens up in town...)

[Warren West]

I thought we might hear about how the Blue Chips compare. I have a couple of the recent Irwin which are purported to be garbage and find them quite good in use and edge holding. Not heirloom works of beauty by any means but more than good enough for any actual use short of mortising which should be done with a mortise chisel imho.

[Frederick Skelly]

I thought we might hear about how the Blue Chips compare. I have a couple of the recent Irwin which are purported to be garbage and find them quite good in use and edge holding. Not heirloom works of beauty by any means but more than good enough for any actual use short of mortising which should be done with a mortise chisel imho.

I hope to compare my Blue Chips this weekend Warren. Like Mr. Newman, I get a lot of work done with my Aldis and my Blue Chips. That's what motivated my experiment here. It's been fun so far.

Fred

[Stewie Simpson]

I polished the back of the LN chisel, even though it came lapped. I just wanted to. Then I honed the bevel. It's sharp and cuts notebook paper cleanly.

Next, I lapped the back of the AI. It came with a bit of a rough surface on the back and 2 factory ground hollows. (See ##, below.) Took a bit of work, but I got it lapped. But then I dropped the doggone AI and chipped a corner. That forced me so see how it ground and sharpened. All of that went fine. Very very very sharp.

So I then cut about 8 pair of dovetails, alternating between the AI and LN. By the time I was done, I found myself reaching for the AI more often than not. The LN was thicker at the bevel and just did not give me as clean a baseline cut as the AI.

Of the two brands, I think I prefer the AI so far. But I still need to cut a bunch of dovetails and alternate between my cheapo Marples Blue Handle and the AI. I definitely like the thin AI and it's low profile side bevels.


##About those 2 factory ground hollows:
* The first hollow starts about 1/2" behind the cutting edge and is about 1 1/2" long. To me, it looks like they deliberately machined it a couple thou deeper to reduce your lapping. (TFWW website mentions that.)
* Then there is a second hollow that looks like the back of a Japanese chisel. This begins where the handle meets the blade and extends forward about an inch.
* Between the two hollows is a flat spot that is coplanar with the first 1/2".
Two hollows seemed odd, but it's what I have. Dunno.

More to come....
Fred
.

Fred; the following video outlines the benefits of those factory ground hollows on the back of the Ashley Iles Mk-II. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ENqMrvsR3q8

[Frederick Skelly]

Thank you Stewie!
Fred

[Tony Zaffuto]

Well, one pretty common issue that Fred also discovered is the chisels love to roll off of the bench and almost always wind up hitting the deck edge first..

Not always-once in a while a wayward chisel decides to roll off the bench on a beeline for your ankle....

Also, Joel, from "Tools for Working Wood" has a nice article on his blog mainly about paring chisels, but includes bits about angles of bevels and descriptions of vintage chisel construction.

[Frederick Skelly]

Well, I like the AI better than the LN. So tonight, I compared the AI against my Marples Blue Handles. My objective was to see if there was enough difference for the work I do, to warrant replacing the Marples with AIs.

Well. I'm not sure there is. For me.

* Chopping out waste from dovetails, the Marples seemed to cut faster and more cleanly. I recognize that part of that is because my Marples have a 25* bevel, compared to the AI at 30*. I don't think all of it is. (I dont really want to grind a Marples to 30*, then take it back to 25* after making a direct comparison.)
* The AI really does get into the corners nicely because of the thin blade and thin side bevels.
* The AI is a nice, balanced tool. But it doesn't feel that much better in-hand than the Marples. To me.

I think I answered my initial question. My cheaper chisels seem to work well enough for me and I don't get a lot by replacing them. It's not like the mammoth improvement I got when I hung up my Box Store backsaw after I bought my first LV backsaw. Or even the jump I got moving from my LV backsaw to my LN backsaw. It also isnt the major upgrade I got when I bought the Knew Concepts fretsaw and threw away my old coping saw. I just don't see enough change to warrant the cost.

But if I didn't own any chisels, I think I'd buy the AI. It's a lovely, balanced, capable tool.

YMMV.
Fred

[John C Cox]

Which variety if Marples blue chip do you have? Current SBD production, Irwin pre SBD China made which looked kinda like the Sheffield ones, or the Sheffield ones?

My impression is that the SBD made Marples chisels are the best in the "budget" price range.... They sharpen easily and hold an edge well enough. They make pretty good "regular bench chisel" chisels....

[Frederick Skelly]

Which variety if Marples blue chip do you have? Current SBD production, Irwin pre SBD China made which looked kinda like the Sheffield ones, or the Sheffield ones?

My impression is that the SBD made Marples chisels are the best in the "budget" price range.... They sharpen easily and hold an edge well enough. They make pretty good "regular bench chisel" chisels....

John, I'm not smart enough to know. They are probably 10-12 years old. Blue handle with a white ring. Handle is a glossy plastic that's shaped much like the ones on the AI. They are nice tools and feel pretty good in-hand. It says "Marples" in silver on the handle.

[John C Cox]

Typically the British made ones say something to the effects of Sheffield or England on the blade.... But that description sounds like the England made ones before they went over seas.

[Frederick Skelly]

Typically the British made ones say something to the effects of Sheffield or England on the blade.... But that description sounds like the England made ones before they went over seas.

Edit: John, I don't recognize the acronym SBD? Based on your thoughts I looked more closely. I can see a faint "Made in Sheffield England" that I didn't recall. Any idea whether these are the "SBD made Marples chisels are the best in the "budget" price range"? (Sorry to be so dang dumb. I just don't know.)

Fred

[John C Cox]

Sorry..
SBD = Stanley Black and Decker.

Sounds like yours are the Record made pre-Irwin chisels....