# Axminster's cheapest chisels



## Anonymous (24 Jun 2007)

Heres a review of some cheapo chisels:

I recently bought a set of these, Axminster's cheapest chisels.
The finish is not particularly fine and they don't look very nice with the 2 tone handles, infact about as stylish as a 1980s shell suit. 
They come in an unattractive mock leather wallet which I found to be useless so binned it.
One of the chunky and clumsy looking handles had slightly off-center alignment with the blades; not so bad as to make it worth sending back at less than £3 each.

So are they any good?

Chunky handles quite comfortable in use.
Well they sharpened up with no problem - just a quick few passes on the oil stone, turned and wire edge removed from face, done in seconds. The faces show machine marks but are all flat to almost concave along the length - which is the perfect shape for rapid sharpening.
And they cut, and hold their edge, perfectly well. 
As well as my normal joinery I've been practising a bit of woodcarving on softwood and oak and so have given them plenty of use.
Ideal for a beginner to make all his/her sharpening mistakes on as they are "disposable" at this price.
But also perfectly useable for a pro.
Verdict: look nasty, but excellent value for money. 
Why pay more?


cheers
Jacob


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## Anonymous (24 Jun 2007)

Arhh, but can you waft them about like a fencer, talking about how well balanced they are, fit perfectly to a wood workers hand, and will they sharpen to a perfect 32.63472345 degrees with a double edge wiffle waffle bevel on the tip. Best stop there....


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## Scrit (24 Jun 2007)

Jacob

You old spendthrift! £3 a chisel? Scandalous! My super-duper set of 4 wooden-handled chisels from LIDL cost me all of £6.99 (or £1.74 and a bit) each, and I was reluctant to part with so much wonga. The only thing which persuaded me was the recommendation from JasonB that these chisels were in fact multi-purpose tools, being all-in-one wood chisels, screwdrivers, hacking chisels, mini-pry bars and paint tin openers. He was right. They do hold an edge reasonably, too, but sadly I've not found them much use for removing boy scouts from horses. Is there a more reasonably priced alternative you could recommend?

Worried of the Windy Pennines


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## Anonymous (24 Jun 2007)

senior":k4w8tgew said:


> Arhh, but can you waft them about like a fencer, talking about how well balanced they are, fit perfectly to a wood workers hand, and will they sharpen to a perfect 32.63472345 degrees with a double edge wiffle waffle bevel on the tip. Best stop there....


Forgot to say yah deffo perfectly balanced and probably cryogenically thingied. :lol: 
I used to have a woodworking mate who'd drop in now and then. He'd pick things up and do just that; "waft them about like a fencer", and say something like "I like the balance" etc. I never found out what he meant but don't think he knew either.:shock: 

cheers
Jacob


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## DomValente (24 Jun 2007)

I was taught that chef's knives were of good quality when you could balance them on a finger from where the blade ended to were the handle started, probably the same with a chisel, although I could never figure out what happened once you started sharpening it and it lost some steel, was it no longer of good quality  

Dom


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## Anonymous (24 Jun 2007)

Scrit":3liab97q said:


> Jacob
> 
> You old spendthrift! £3 a chisel? Scandalous! My super-duper set of 4 wooden-handled chisels from LIDL cost me all of £6.99 (or £1.74 and a bit) each, and I was reluctant to part with so much wonga. The only thing which persuaded me was the recommendation from JasonB that these chisels were in fact multi-purpose tools, being all-in-one wood chisels, screwdrivers, hacking chisels, mini-pry bars and paint tin openers. He was right. They do hold an edge reasonably, too, but sadly I've not found them much use for removing boy scouts from horses. Is there a more reasonably priced alternative you could recommend?
> 
> Worried of the Windy Pennines


Wish I'd known, I knew there'd be some even cheaper somewhere. Oh well can't send them back now, I'll just have to try and forget how much I paid  

cheers
Jacob


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## Scrit (24 Jun 2007)

Mr_Grimsdale":1usgua60 said:


> senior":1usgua60 said:
> 
> 
> > Arhh, but can you waft them about like a fencer.....
> ...


And there was me thinking that all fencers used were 28oz framing hammers and Passys......  

Scrit


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## Anonymous (24 Jun 2007)

Mr_Grimsdale":10nmpi1n said:


> Why pay more?
> 
> cheers
> Jacob



Because you can get even better chisels that way......


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## woodbloke (24 Jun 2007)

Mr Grim wrote:


> But also perfectly useable for a pro.


But what about the non pro's, the folk who don't have to use a chisel to lever off paint tins and disembowel boy scouts?....maybe us hobbiest woodworkers can afford something a little better  - Rob


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## Anonymous (24 Jun 2007)

As a pro I could afford the most expensive chisels out there, especially with no vat and offset against tax, I do not use them to open paint tins etc and yet I still choose to use very middle of the road chisels because I don't need super dooper ones. Not one customer has accused me of making their furniture with inferior chisels.


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## woodbloke (24 Jun 2007)

Senior wrote:


> I still choose to use very middle of the road chisels


You're the same as the rest of us then :lol: as I use LN chisels which are _middle of the road _ ....'specially if you compare them to these little beasties. It all depends really on _how_ you define cheap and nasty, middle of the road and stuff in the the very stratosphere of prices that need a second mortgage - Rob


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## DomValente (24 Jun 2007)

woodbloke":3jcmrgur said:


> ....'specially if you compare them to these little beasties.



I'm confused :shock: aren't they the one's everybody uses

Dom


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## Anonymous (24 Jun 2007)

Rob- your absolutly right its all very subjective

Dom, we can't all have your affluent lifestyle, I suppose you open paint tins with that type. What next, a hand made sign............


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## Lord Nibbo (25 Jun 2007)

Scrit":a8fhxc5i said:


> Jacob
> 
> My super-duper set of 4 wooden-handled chisels from LIDL cost me all of £6.99 (or £1.74 and a bit) each,



You was ripped off Scrit

You should have bought these from Screwfix






£9.99 includes a carry box & an oil stone. Knock off say a £1 for the box and £3 for the oil stone, it means the SIX chisels cost less than £1 each :lol:


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## MrJay (25 Jun 2007)

I doubt that box cost £1.


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## Lord Nibbo (25 Jun 2007)

MrJay":31lmu587 said:


> I doubt that box cost £1.


 OK lets say it's free :lol: Now add another whopping 16% price rise :lol: thats £1. 16p per chisel :shock: :lol: :wink:


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## Mike Saville (25 Jun 2007)

I've got those screwfix ones :shock: , used for hacking and general DIY. Admittedly I haven't tried to do any fine work with them . . . .yet


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## Alf (25 Jun 2007)

Lord Nibbo":7rat4p05 said:


> MrJay":7rat4p05 said:
> 
> 
> > I doubt that box cost £1.
> ...


Big spender; some of my best chisels cost me less than a quid a piece. For the equivalent to those, I'd consider myself robbed I was asked for more than a couple of quid the lot - and the seller better be the one stooping to pick them up... Tsk, these paid woodworkers don't half throw their clientele's money around, don't they? :roll: 

Jacob, in your fulsome review there was one feature I hope you could clarify. Axminster call them "bevel-edged" - would it possible to give an idea as to what that means in this context? Bevel-edged seems to cover the whole gamut from merely a slight dubbing of the corners right through to thin edges that can be actively painful.

Cheers, Alf


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## Lord Nibbo (25 Jun 2007)

Alf":341b9cnp said:


> Bevel-edged seems to cover the whole gamut from merely a slight dubbing of the corners right through to thin edges that can be actively painful.
> 
> Cheers, Alf


 Found that out the hard way !

I couldn't understand how I was getting blood everywhere every time I used my Bahco chisels, I never stabbed myself so where was the blood coming from? It turned out my habit of sliding the blade over my forefinger to keep the blade under control was slicing into my finger like a razor blade, a quick rub with some emery cured the problem :lol:


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## Anonymous (25 Jun 2007)

Alf":zsbboulb said:


> Jacob, in your fulsome review there was one feature I hope you could clarify. Axminster call them "bevel-edged" - would it possible to give an idea as to what that means in this context? Bevel-edged seems to cover the whole gamut from merely a slight dubbing of the corners right through to thin edges that can be actively painful.
> 
> Cheers, Alf


Sorta randomly bevelled from almost no bevel at all on the 6mm to a reasonably useful bevel on the 38mm, but non are very fine.
Bevel-edged ish, score 6 out of 10 praps. But then even good quality chisels seem to vary in bevelyness, except old paring chisels which can be beautifully fine.

cheers
Jacob
PS Axminster just offering these at anincredible price
Bevels actually don't look so different from the cheap ones (except the 6mm see above)


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## Alf (25 Jun 2007)

Ta muchly, Mr G

Cheers, Alf


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## lurker (3 Jul 2007)

I can beat that!
I bought a set of 4 from the 99p shop :lol: :lol: 

I thougth they would be rubbish steel but they ain't bad.
Handles are a bit uncomfortable


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## Scrit (3 Jul 2007)

This has got to be a first. A thread where the hand toolers are vying for the cheapest tools :lol:


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## Anonymous (3 Jul 2007)

I found some in a skip once. Does that count or does money have to change hands?
They weren't too bad except one gouge wouldn't hold an edge - I think it had been over-heated on a grindstone.

cheeers
Jacob


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## lurker (3 Jul 2007)

Regardless, with respect to the cheapest "real" tools, Alf's source is always the way to go.
Trouble is the car boots don't always have what you need at the time :evil: .

Hence buy everything just in case it might be useful at some time in the future :lol: :lol:


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## ByronBlack (3 Jul 2007)

In light of this new found thrifty-ness spreading it's way across the forum, what exactly makes more expensive chisels that much more expensive?

Is the tool-steel markedly better? Is it just the cost of production? 

I'm assuming here that most tool-steel will sharpen up to the same degree (for use with woodworking) is it just the time it takes to dull that seperates the more expensive stuff?

The reason I ask is that i'm looking at a quite cheap set of Dakota chisels from rutlands (I only have a set of stub chisels and need a longer set) but in the back of my mind i'm always thinking 'you get what you pay for' - but this thread seems to prove that wrong.


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## Mittlefehldt (3 Jul 2007)

My goodness, I have a reputation that labels me as somewhat parsimonious, but now well, it seems the four chisel set I bought from Lee Valley, (Narex) is rather extravagant, at today's exchange rate the set of four cost me 15 pounds 28, or $32.50 Canadian.

I suspect there are subtle differences in how the expensive chisels function, but if what you have does the job then what does it matter.


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## lurker (3 Jul 2007)

My main concern with cheap anything is safety.

I once watched a mate using one of those all steel hammers from one of the barns; a lump flew out of it and embedding in his eye brow - half an inch lower & ...............
Look carefully and you will see a warning label on such hammers telling you to wear eye protection.

The cheapo chisels I bought are basically a waste of money as I'll never trust them enough to use. Not even for opening paint tins.

For me, the older the steel the happier I am.
And from experience, the older the steel the longer & better it keeps its edge.


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## Woody Alan (3 Jul 2007)

> I once watched a mate using one of those all steel hammers from one of the barns; a lump flew out of it



I can't be 100% sure of this but I think the potential for that to happen is there with *all* hammers designed to hit nails. The reason is that the core of the hammer is soft metal but the outside surface is hard and designed to hit relatively soft (maybe hard masonary but the head is still small) nails and not damage the hammer. Wheras a lump or club hammer is soft relatively speaking and designed to hit cold chisels which are also softish at the hitting end so neither tool should shatter, but if you hit a cold chisel which is hard with a carpenters hammer there is a real good chance of a bit flying off (possibly from the carpenter if he finds you've got his hammer). 
This is not often mentioned in the detailed instructions with hammers  "Take aim hit what you are looking at". If someone has a more reasoned metallurgically educated response I am more than happy to know more because as lurker points out it can be a dangerous business indeed. I think the warning about wearing eyeshields applies to all hammers because a mis hit nail sure can find a nasty place to land and it might not be your eye it could be your mates. I wholehertedly agree buying cheap/nasty is false economy,(unless you buy quality cheap S/H of course) a good forged hammer will last a lifetime. 
Alan


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## bugbear (3 Jul 2007)

Woody Alan":2qvkctr5 said:


> a good forged hammer will last a lifetime.



I REALLY like buying hammers second hand. Apart from being dirt cheap, it's easy to spot a good 'un.

If it looks well used, but the face is neither mushroom'd nor chipped, you can be SURE it's nicely made and tempered.

Whereas all new hammers look (pretty much) the same - freshly ground.

BugBear


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