Narex Richter vs Stanley Sweetheart 750?

[Ken Fitzgerald]

After reading dozens of threads here and articles at other websites, including FWW, February 2nd I ordered a set of 4 Narex Richter chisels and the previously mentioned sharpening supplies. The chisels I ordered from Lee Valley. Initially they showed out of stock with an expected receiving date at Lee Valley of February 22nd, then it pushed out to a date in March and now onto April 1. The chisels are no longer available online at LV.

Yesterday I considered cancelling the order and buying some replacements. One of the replacements I was considering was the Stanley Sweetheart 750's. I never could find the RC number for them but I was willing to consider them Until....I saw a video comparison of the 750's vs the Narex Richter by a guy who has used the Stanley 750's for over 5 years, liked them and then received a set of Narex Richter chisels. When he showed the side by side comparison of a side of of the chisels, I decided I'd wait for the Narex. The consistent narrow edge on the Narex Richter like the edge of the one Veritas PM-11 I have sold me on the Narex over the Stanley Sweetheart 750s.

I considered other chisels as well, the Narex Premiums, the Veritas 01, the LN bevel edged, The Two Cherries bevel edged, and the Wood River bevel edged. Some were just too great an expenditure for me to consider as a rank amateur hobbyist on a fixed income and some just had too many bad reviews on quality.

Here's hoping that when they arrive, I am not disappointed!

The little kid in me is starting to get anxious for my new toys to arrive!

[Bob Jones 5443]

It’s been a tough year for in-stock tools. Good luck and I hope your patience pays off.

[Bob Jones 5443]

Ken, I don't know about the Richter line, but you might want to hold out for them.

I have one 750: a 1/8" I was able to snag early last year to supplement my standard Narex set that only went down to 1/4". It was fine at first. Then I picked up a gently used Lie-Nielsen set from a Creeker that included a 1/8". That's when a side-by-side comparison shows me the Lie-Nielsens have a much smaller land.

That's the 750 on the right:
1:8 750 vs. L-N A.jpg


Here's the 750 on the left:
1:8 750 vs. L-N B.jpg


By the way, in the other sizes, my 15-year-old "Classic" Narex bevel-edge chisels have lands that are imperceptibly larger than those on the Lie-Nielsens. There's no meaningful difference. I try to use the Lie-Nielsens for chopping and the Narexes for paring.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Ken, I don't know about the Richter line, but you might want to hold out for them.

I have one 750: a 1/8" I was able to snag early last year to supplement my standard Narex set that only went down to 1/4". It was fine at first. Then I picked up a gently used Lie-Nielsen set from a Creeker that included a 1/8". That's when a side-by-side comparison shows me the Lie-Nielsens have a much smaller land.

That's the 750 on the right:
1:8 750 vs. L-N A.jpg


Here's the 750 on the left:
1:8 750 vs. L-N B.jpg


By the way, in the other sizes, my 15-year-old "Classic" Narex bevel-edge chisels have lands that are imperceptibly larger than those on the Lie-Nielsens. There's no meaningful difference. I try to use the Lie-Nielsens for chopping and the Narexes for paring.

Bob, that was the type of comparison that the guy on youtube did and he said that the Narex Richter line stayed sharper longer than the 750s.

[chris carter]

I have a single Richter chisel in 1/2". I wanted to give it a go and see if it lived up to the hype. It does. Aside from the steel, it is just really comfortable. I would just go on Amazon and get the ones they have in stock, which looks like everything except the 1/4". You can get that one down the road.

[Tim Best]

Worth the wait. I have 2 Richters and 2 Narex premium chisels. The difference is noticeable even to my neophyte hands and eyes. The back of the Richters are close to flat out of the box. The same cannot be said of the Narex premium line. The Richters also take edge faster and hold an edge longer. I actually “unicorned” the 2 premium chisels to reduce edge failure. I really like the handles on the Richter line. The horn beam is solid but not too heavy. The premium line feels dainty in comparison. I also really like the handle shape of Richter line. The lands on the Richters are noticeably thinner which I have found really helpful while cleaning up dovetails.

I disagree with Chris on one point. Either wait for them from Lee Valley or order from Highland or some other wood working outlet. Nothing against Amazon (I spend money there all the time) but there is something to be said about buying from LV or Highland or others that specialize in wood working. Just my preference.

[Michael J Evans]

I have the Richter set and compared to my vintage chisels they are great.
I've found that for chopping I needed to increase from the factory 25 bevel to a 30 bevel.
I also read somewhere (maybe on narex website) that the first bit of the edge may be soft and need a couple of sharpening, I didn't know that when I first got them.
All in all I'm very happy with them. Flattening was a dream compared to some buck chisels I had bought new and even compared to a standard narex I had.

[Alan Schwabacher]

You could take a look at Tay Tools. While their Narex Richter sets are sold out, they do have some sizes of individual chisels left. You could choose a few that would complement the set you ordered from Lee Valley.

[Aaron Rosenthal]

Ken I have 2 of the Richters, a 1 1/2" and a 3/8". I alsoave a compete set of Ridgeway (Marple) chisels.
Everything you hear about the Narex Richter is true. I'm waiting until more stock arrives at my local Lee Valley to get the rest of the set, but my big one, I sharpened/honed, and got to work building a timber frame back gate using 4x4 treated, bridle joints and half-laps. The edge is still great after all that work.

[Ron Kanter]

I ordered a few of the Narex Richters from Taylor Tools.
Good company to work with.

[Thomas Wilson]

The Richters are highly polished which is pretty, but on mine, the polishing rounded the edge ever so slightly. I haven’t finished the widest chisel. When I go to the shop, I will try to remember to take a picture. It takes a lot of flattening on diamond stone to get it right. If you flatten on water stones, you might never notice it. I have the modern 750s also. I have had them awhile but I recall just needing to polish away some scratches. They were pretty flat.

You might want to get both. I have a set of “good” chisels that I save for finest paring and an “everyday” set for chopping.

[Thomas Wilson]

The Richters are highly polished which is pretty, but on mine, the polishing rounded the edge ever so slightly. I haven’t finished the widest chisel. When I go to the shop, I will try to remember to take a picture. ...

You might want to get both. I have a set of “good” chisels that I save for finest paring and an “everyday” set for chopping.

Sorry to be so slow on getting back to this. Here is the photo of the Narex Richter chisel. It is hard to get a good image when the main thing to see is a difference in reflection. Anyway, you can see a different scratch pattern at the edge and along the sides which I believe is due to over aggressive polishing. I stopped working on this one at a pretty coarse grit on the diamond stone. I will get there eventually.

NarexRichter.jpg

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Here is the photo of the Narex Richter chisel. It is hard to get a good image when the main thing to see is a difference in reflection. Anyway, you can see a different scratch pattern at the edge and along the sides which I believe is due to over aggressive polishing. I stopped working on this one at a pretty coarse grit on the diamond stone. I will get there eventually.

NarexRichter.jpg

That looks like there is a hollow immediately behind the edge.

[Bob Jones 5443]

Sorry to be so slow on getting back to this. Here is the photo of the Narex Richter chisel. It is hard to get a good image when the main thing to see is a difference in reflection. Anyway, you can see a different scratch pattern at the edge and along the sides which I believe is due to over aggressive polishing. I stopped working on this one at a pretty coarse grit on the diamond stone. I will get there eventually.

NarexRichter.jpg

Thomas, what did you use to work this chisel? From the photo it looks like there are deep pits in the surface, not to mention the sides and edges aren’t sharp. Are your stones flat?

[Gary Focht]

Sorry to be so slow on getting back to this. Here is the photo of the Narex Richter chisel. It is hard to get a good image when the main thing to see is a difference in reflection. Anyway, you can see a different scratch pattern at the edge and along the sides which I believe is due to over aggressive polishing. I stopped working on this one at a pretty coarse grit on the diamond stone. I will get there eventually.

NarexRichter.jpg

I just went and looked at my two Richter chisels. I think Thomas is correct that they rounded the edge with the polishing. Definitely not as sharp an edge between the back and the sides as with my Marples. Mine were not much trouble to flatten (except for that rounded edge I hadn’t noticed before) and they seem to perform ok in the little bit of testing I have done with them, but if that edge needs to be sharp, then there is an issue.