Any hands on with Narex Richter chisels?

[Brian Biela]

I'm fairly new and building out my tools, I decided to try different makes to see what I preferred. I started with a Lie-Nelson, a Veritas and an original Narex. I hated that Narex. After watching the James Wright video I decided to try a Richter. I like it, its very similar to the Lie-Nelson. I did take longer to flatten the back, maybe 15 minutes or so. The Lie-Nelson is probably my favorite but IMHO its not 2x better. For whatever its worth, on my Christmas list are the remaining Richter chisels to round out my collection.

[Christopher Wellington]

I'm bumping this thread with a question about the back flatness on these Richters. I've read several comments across various sites that the backs are flat or nearly flat out of the box, and that they only took a few minutes to prepare.

I bought a 1/2" a couple of weeks ago and found that not to be the case at all. The back was smooth and shiny (apparently buffed at the factory), but not flat. It had a significant hollow that took several hours to remove. I have it flat and mirror polished now, and it's a very nice chisel, but for the amount of work I put in it probably would have made more sense to buy a Veritas or L-N.

So I'm wondering, when folks say that the back of a chisel is flat or nearly flat out of the box, are they normally referring to (most of) the entire back, or just the first inch or so behind the edge? This Richter did get flat for the first half inch within a few minutes (it was hollow, not bellied) and I guess I could have stopped there, but I like to have the whole back flat. Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment.

[George Yetka]

I have the skew chisels. but haven't used them yet

[Brian Ward]

So I'm wondering, when folks say that the back of a chisel is flat or nearly flat out of the box, are they normally referring to (most of) the entire back, or just the first inch or so behind the edge? This Richter did get flat for the first half inch within a few minutes (it was hollow, not bellied) and I guess I could have stopped there, but I like to have the whole back flat. Maybe I'm just a glutton for punishment.

They mean only a little bit behind the edge. A hollow is considered a good feature. It saves you a ton of time in sharpening, both initially and incrementally. Only the area next to the cutting edge is important for work. The rest is metal that the user of the tool is free to ignore as long as it's not bellied or corroded.

[Christopher Wellington]

Okay, that makes sense.

And I think the 1/2" I got was a particularly bad one. An 1/8", 1/4", and 3/4" came in the mail today and they're all much more flat than the 1/2". I should be able to get the rest of them flattened all the way back (gratuitous, I know) in less total time than I spent on the first one.

[chris carter]

I have a 1/2" one. It has a slight hollow that I ignore. I only flatten the pointy end of the back. I always considered a slight hollow to be ideal. In theory, if the entire back of your chisel is flat, then when you sharpen and flip to the back side you would have to do the entire back. Otherwise, over time if you only do the first half inch or inch or so, then you will eventually create a belly which would be bad.

[Christopher Glanton]

It took me over 45 mins to flatten a 1/4" Narex using 300 grit 3M sandpaper on glass. I dread doing my 1' LOL

[Warren Mickley]

It took me over 45 mins to flatten a 1/4" Narex using 300 grit 3M sandpaper on glass. I dread doing my 1' LOL

I have used one 1/4 inch chisel for over fifty years. It is the only 1/4 inch chisel I have ever owned. It has been sharpened so many times that at one point I put on a longer handle to bring it back up to an optimum length. For a tool you are really going to use, an hour of preparation is peanuts.

There are guys who are on their seventh set of chisels in the last ten years or something. For them preparation time is much more important: they are on to the next chisel before the work on the back has become a distant memory.

[Bill Carey]

I have the Narex Premium bench set, the 1/4" skew chisel set, 2 dovetail chisels and the mortise set. Very happy with all of them. So much so that I sold the Ashley Isles dovetail chisels. A few of the backs were poor, most were nearly ok, and a couple needed nothing. I think they are well worth the money.

[John Keeton]

I would think the main purpose of flattening the back is to provide an opportunity to have a straight edge. Otherwise, one ends up with either a “bowed” edge side to side, or a cupped edge. Flattening more than necessary to accomplish that is unnecessary in my opinion. And, a half inch of “flat” would last most of us a long time.

I know the question is about the Richters, but I also have the premium Narex and they are excellent.

[Christopher Wellington]

The back of the chisel also serves as a referenced surface in use, but I'm skeptical whether a hollow of a few thousandths really matters for that.

[Jim Koepke]

I have used one 1/4 inch chisel for over fifty years. It is the only 1/4 inch chisel I have ever owned. It has been sharpened so many times that at one point I put on a longer handle to bring it back up to an optimum length. For a tool you are really going to use, an hour of preparation is peanuts.

There are guys who are on their seventh set of chisels in the last ten years or something. For them preparation time is much more important: they are on to the next chisel before the work on the back has become a distant memory.

My 1/4" chisels are not confined to just one. There are a few for paring, one or two for mortising and a few for various other uses. For most of my needs there are at least four chisels of the common sizes in 1/4" increments.

Though what Warren says makes sense to me. Some folks take their chisels to the grinder every other time they need sharpening. For me a flat bevel avoids regular grinding. Most of my chisels have only had the bevel ground once in their years of use and sharpening.

My most heavily used chisels may be ground when the bevel starts to become rounded from sloppy freehand sharpening. That hasn't happened much in the past few years.

jtk