I completely agree that is a product doesn’t meet stated specifications it should be replaced at no cost to the buyer as fast as possible. The problem here is the stated specifications.
From Robs website….. sides square to the back (+/- .002 of an inch accuracy).
There’s a picture of a square sitting against the side of a chisel. Since there is no mention of parallelism are we to assume that the specified tolerance applies to each side individually and if so then the width can vary +/-.004 from the back to the face, or worse yet the chisel could be a parallelogram.
Also from the website….. Each chisel is tested on a granite reference surface to ensure the back is flat to within .0005 of an inch.
Flatness is a measure of a surface, not an edge. You cannot measure the flatness of anything with shim stock on a surface plate. I’ve seen several folks use that method to measure flatness of plane bodies and sharpening stones. At best you’ll determine that the area where you try to slip the shim stock under the item meets the surface plate but not the area between the edges.
Watching the video on the site, a .0005 piece of shim stock is placed on the surface plate and the chisel laid on top it. He can’t easily pull the shim stock out so the chisel is declared flat. This test tells us nothing. Using that method the back could be concave by a large amount and still pass the test or to take it to and extreme, it could have an 1/8” groove, 1/8” deep that runs the length of the chisel and still be declared flat. The back could also be twisted and still pass.
Rob is a good teacher and does a lot of good for our veterans and I have great respect for him but he’s giving us incomplete and intentionally misleading information to inspire us to buy.
Buyer beware
The significant problems we encounter cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them.
The penalty for inaccuracy is more work