I am looking to buy a nice set of chisels for doing high-end finish carpentry and some cabinetry. I have a set of Stanleys now. They are ok, but they don’t seem to hold an edge as well as I would like. I have looked at sets from Freud, Two Cherries, Lie Nielsen, etc. I would like to spend around $200 and get a decent set. Any suggestions?
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Replies
I've bought several sets of chisels from Garrett Wade. The steel all seems to be very good quality, the important thing to me is the handle shape. Check their web site.
All the woodworkers over at knots really like the Two Cherries. They're not cheap but they will last the rest of your life. $200 will get you a really nice set. I can't imagine that Lie Nielson would ever be bad. What about Japanese chisels?
I have an older set of Marples that I love, but am going to get a few of the Two Cherries.
The lie nielsens are beauties, but cost from $300 - $500, a little more than I have to spend right now.
http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ToolGuide/ToolguideDirectory.aspx?dir=Chisels+and+Carving+Tools
I think that the best chisel is a sharp one. Your ability to sharpen and maintain sharpness is the most important aspect of chisels. If you already have any chisels, I'd make a Tormek sharpener your next purchase if you don't have one already. Cutting with a properly flattened cheap homeowner chisel that has been sharpened to a mirror polish is better than using a $200 japanese chisel out of the box. Stanleys are perfectly fine chisels. I don't think that it matters much which particular brand you get if you buy craftsman quality chisels. I'm sure there are subtle differences in steel, but as long as you can sharpen it quickly it doesn't matter to me.
I like to sharpen my chisels often so I don't really care for the hollow grind of traditional japanese chisels, it takes more work to maintain a proper hollow than I'm willing to spend.
I have to 2nd this sentiment: the best chisel is a sharp one. If you know how to sharpen one and keep it sharp, well then hardware store chisels will do you just right for finish carpentry. If you don't know how to make an edge, then you're wasting your money on anything else.
Thanks. Of course, apples-to-apples, I prefer a really high quality, really sharp chisel to anything else...
I love the Stanley Fat-Max. Long handles and the continuous steel throught the handle make it the perfect chisel for the type of timber work I do. If I did lighter cabinet type work I'd opt for longer blade chisels. The blue Marples ones have always been pretty good for me.
The blue Marples ones have always been pretty good for me.
Same here. They aren't real expensive, so if I really abuse one, I can replace it.In the time of chimpanzees I was a monkey.
Lee Valley has some nice choices, in their own labels, and others.
Flea market. Old Stanley, Greenlee, Buck Bros., Charles Buck, New Haven Edge Tool, etc. Cheap, better than most of today's, and laden with the character a proper trim carpenter needs.
Failing that, Barr or Ashley Isles.
Andy
"Never try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig." Robert A. Heinlein
"Get off your dead #### and on your dying feet." Mom
Edited 7/22/2006 3:27 pm ET by Andy_Engel
Anyone have experience with the Stanley FatMax chisels? they seem to be geared more towards framing, but I like the steel strike plate and the assortment of sizes (1/4" - 2"+). That, and they average about $12 a piece
I have a few of them and like them. They are a good job site chisel.
Just in case you need to they can and will cut a 16d nail if that problem arises. They will need to be sharpened afterwards. I have a 1-1/2" fatmax that looks like it has teeth, they resharpen pretty good too.I'm stronger now even after all the things you did to me, still alive and kicking.
For $200 you arnt going to get Two Cherries or L-N, unless you only want a few chisels.
I have several sets, including my day to day blue handles Marples, they do anything that I need. I build cabinets and furniture.
What the new guy says(truckee I think) keep the chisels sharp, thats the main thing.
What Andy E says, flea markets, garage sales, auctions....... you can find some good buys there, just have to be patient and do the leg work.
To reiterate, if you cant sharpen a chisel then your wasting your time on a high dollar set.
Doug
"
"For $200 you arnt going to get Two Cherries or L-N, unless you only want a few chisels"
99% of my work with regular bench chisels involves 3-4 widths, and that's all I need. I have two full sets but only use a select few chisels.
A vote for the blue marples, unless you need specialized stuff like a slick or mortise or bruzz or something. The marples are functional, but not pretty like some of the high $$ chisels, if thats what you are looking for.
And a dedicated sharpener would be an awesome asset for anyone doing high-end chiselllling...
For $200 you might think about two sets of marples and a large tool roll to keep things organized.
When working it's nice to have an extra chisel so your focus isn't interupted for sharpening. When the sharpening plate is out doing two chisels doesn't take much longer than one so it's a bit better on two fronts.
While not a good practice, once in a while I've had to resort to a short handled 2lb. hammer and moderate blows to the Marples to chunk out large amounts of wood without a problem.
I can't sharpen a chisel to save my life. I do have a LARGE selection of dull ones, maybe 30 of them over the last 15 years.
Time for em to learn a new trick!I hope Chuck Norris never potato sacks me!!!!
bstcrpntr --- I hope to grow into this name.
sharpening is actually pretty easy.
you just have to practice, like everything else.
I prefer waterstones, some like oil stones, while others use sandpaper.
In an easy 20-30 minutes,I can grind and hone all my regular work chisels and plane irons.
Sharp $20 chisels cut much better than dull $200 ones!
You don't need chisels, you simply need a good sharpening system.
The scary sharp system is good to learn and works with very little money up front. I use a version of it almost on a daily basis.
To keep things simple, durable, effective and compact I use a piece of 3/8" acrilic with a half sheet of 2000 grit carbide sandpaper glued on with spray adhesive. In a zippered bag there is the acrilic board and a few sheets of 2000, 1500, 800, 400, and 220 grit carbide wet/dry paper.
If a chisel is dull, start with a coarse sandpaper simply placed on the acrilic sheet and rub the chisel side to side, and work down through the grits until the 2000. Change the angle with the 2000 grit and just get a tiny microbevel. The more you do it, the better you'll get. For most touch ups, only the 2000 grit is needed and it barely takes a few short minutes to get sharp enough to shave hairs.
If nothing else an acrilic plate with 2000 and 400 grit carbide sandpaper would be better than 95% of the sharpening stones in use.
What about the craters caused by 16D nails?I hope Chuck Norris never potato sacks me!!!!
bstcrpntr --- I hope to grow into this name.
What about the craters caused by 16D nails?
Turn a belt sander upside down and pour a little water in a bowl. With the belt running sprinkle a little water on the belt and dip your chisel in the water bowl. Don't try to take all the metal off at once, but as soon as the water on the chisel evaporates off redip the chisel. Try to keep the chisel cool enough to touch, so use that water and stop for a few minutes if it's too hard to keep the temps down on a long grind.
If the belt becomes dry sprinkle a little more on it.
Never let the metal get so hot that it turns color, which would mean the temper is lost and you can either throw it away or carefully grind down well past the color change.
Also, make sure the chisel is being ground at the correct angle, or it makes more work later.
Used carefully, the belt sander will take off a large amount of metal safely. Then start with the 220 grit sandpaper and work up. Heck, new 220 will take off a lot of metal, it just takes longer.
Good sharpening
Gonna get the belt sander out tomorrow after I set batter boards for a new house and check o the bridge I started today.I hope Chuck Norris never potato sacks me!!!!
bstcrpntr --- I hope to grow into this name.
http://www.craftsmanstudio.com/html_p/L!5001501.htm
Knock yourself out
Thanks for the advice. I do know how to properly sharpen a chisel. The technique described here works great http://www.shavings.net/SCARY.HTM This is how Lie Nielsen recomends their tools be sharpened.
Here are Hirsch chisels, which are the same as Two Cherries (made in the same factory). I have a set, and they are beauties.
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=46403&cat=1,41504
However, I did not know how nice they were until...
http://www.leevalley.com/wood/page.aspx?c=2&p=51868&cat=1,43072,43078
Seriously, this jig is awesome. You could make a nice set of chisels out bread knives with this thing. It is worth every penny. I've tried all the fancy systems, and this is the best.
And there you go. For under $200, you have a set htat will last you a life time.
-------------------------------
People are entitled to their own opinions; People are not entitled to their own truth.
Jacob
edit: spelling
Edited 7/26/2006 1:01 am ET by MrJJ
I bought some Marples (blue chip) a few years back to augment my existing 20+ year-old Craftsmans, which I really like (take and hold an edge really well, comfortable handles). Part of my motivation for going with the Marples was that they are inexpensive enough that I bought extras of a couple of sizes and re-ground them as skews. The only thing that I dislike about the Marples that I got was that they didn't hold an edge very well -- the steel seams to be too soft. IIRC, I've seen similar complaints about late-model Marples over on Knots.
Marples - thousands of timber framers can't be wrong.Seriously, every timberframer I know has a set of Marples for day to day work. We all have much bigger 1.5" and 2" chisels for chopping mortises and paring, and plenty of other specialty chisels, but just about everyone uses a set of the blue handles.They take a beating.Japanese chisels are great...until you hit a knot and a huge chip breaks off because they are so hard.