Chisels - how low can you go?

[AndyT]

Woodbrains - you seem puzzled that I bothered to post this review. The simple answer is that I was curious to find out for myself.

I know that secondhand tools are brilliant value - two of the three other chisels in the group shot were bought secondhand. But it's easier to pop into a shop than it is to wander round a bootfair, especially at this time of year.

Also, judging from discussions on here, even if we aspire to do fine woodwork, for many of us that will be mixed in with general diy and household repair jobs. If you only do fine work, I envy you.

And I don't understand your comment about bevels.

 

[Carl P]

I found the review interesting precisely because it detailed the tools shortcomings, as to who it's aimed at, beginners would obviously find it most useful. I don't understand the waves of hostility this sort of post generates, for beginners and people with little experience of cheap tools, it is very informative and helps to gain a fuller understanding of what makes a good tool good.

Cheerio,

Carl

 

[Corneel]

One aspect of these cheap chisels is remarkable: the very flat or even a little concave face. When I buy old stuff, the faces are always bellied and pitted and usually cause a lot of work until I can easilly reach the edge on a flat stone to wipe off the burr, across the full width. The handle of Andi's chisel seems to be rubish, while the Aldi chisels seem to have reasonable ash handles.

 

[nathandavies]

when I first started buying tools, I had little money, but plenty of enthusiasm. this was before internet forums, possibly before decent internet. I bought what I could afford. Some tools I could not wait to replace, but some I continued to use until I just fancied getting better ones. If I was reading this forum I could possibly feel like I could not do anything of any worth unless I had top notch tools. I think we all know that is untrue. Nowadays I am a self confessed tool snob, and would encourage people to buy the best tools they can afford, but if you have a pound in your pocket and need or want a chisel then buying one of these will get your work done, you just won't be taking a selfie with it. I once watched a chippy i'd worked with quite a bit fit an internal corner piece of skirting, using an angle grinder to cut and shape it, I think he'd noticed my early tool snobbery and was proving a point. once fitted it looked better than a lot of skirting i'd seen. It's not what you've got it's how you use them.

nathan

 

[Jacob]

....
So where is it written that novice equates to garbage tools? I was a novice once and the only regret I ever had was wasting time with absolute, unadulterated, garbage like this.

Novices, like bad workmen, blame the tools.

There are fine tools which will do fine work, ......

Tools don't do fine work - the credit always goes to the workman. Better tools may help marginally but a competent person who hasn't been discouraged by the negative propaganda can do good work with all sorts of poor tools.
I get bored hearing the endless moan about garbage tools made of cheese etc. Generally these are from people who aren't very competent. They have to shut up when they have spent £60 per chisel or they'd also look like complete prats!

 

[markturner]

Well......no surprise here really. It's like anything else really in life..there is always somebody offering the same thing for less. except, when you look at it closely, it's not the same thing. Sometimes, the whole experience is worth more than the sum of the parts. If you are a complete tight wad who cares nothing more than paying the least price possible for anything you buy, then great... these chisels are for you.

Personally, I would rather pay £50 for something lovely and hand crafted by people like Lie Nielsen etc who care about what they do, than spend £2.50 on some piece of junk produced by a virtual slave labourer in china that gives zero satisfaction from holding and looking at it.

 

[MIGNAL]

Yes but you quite obviously have got £50 to throw at one single chisel. Many people don't. When I was getting into woodwork (at the tender age of 16) I didn't have 'loads of dosh' either.
It's a chisel. You can sharpen it so that it cuts wood. It works. So does a cheap Zona saw (I have one). So does the Aldi chisel (I have one of those too). I'm a tight wad.
What's the problem?

 

[AndyT]

Well......no surprise here really. It's like anything else really in life..there is always somebody offering the same thing for less. except, when you look at it closely, it's not the same thing. Sometimes, the whole experience is worth more than the sum of the parts. If you are a complete tight wad who cares nothing more than paying the least price possible for anything you buy, then great... these chisels are for you.

Personally, I would rather pay £50 for something lovely and hand crafted by people like Lie Nielsen etc who care about what they do, than spend £2.50 on some piece of junk produced by a virtual slave labourer in china that gives zero satisfaction from holding and looking at it.

I don't disagree with any of that, but the price of the chisel under review was £1.00.

 

[bugbear]

.... Not the sort of tool you'd want for finer cabinet work. ....

It'd be OK if that was all you had.

Why would the absence of other tools improve it? That's gibberish.

BugBear

 

[iNewbie]

....
So where is it written that novice equates to garbage tools? I was a novice once and the only regret I ever had was wasting time with absolute, unadulterated, garbage like this.

Novices, like bad workmen, blame the tools.

There are fine tools which will do fine work, ......

Tools don't do fine work - the credit always goes to the workman. Better tools may help marginally but a competent person who hasn't been discouraged by the negative propaganda can do good work with all sorts of poor tools.
I get bored hearing the endless moan about garbage tools made of cheese etc. Generally these are from people who aren't very competent. They have to shut up when they have spent £60 per chisel or they'd also look like complete prats!

Its still not about the tools, though. But keep it up. :mrgreen:

 

[Mark A]

I have three sets of chisels (in descending order of newness): some Narex bought from Workshop Heaven as a present, some 'new' Irwin Marples and some from B&Q called Magnusson.

The Narex take a lovely edge are treated well, the Marples are for more general use and the cheap Magnusson are for chiselling masonry and other rough jobs. I'm sure if the glue and cement was scraped of the Magnusson's and they were given a proper edge they would work just as well as a more expensive chisel. It just so happened that I was bought a set of Narex so the others have been demoted to other uses. However, when I first started woodwork the Magnusson's were my good chisels, and looking back they worked fine.

Cheap tools always have a place in the toolbox, either for the rough jobs we don't want to use our better tools for, or for the novice with budget constraints. Thanks Andy for the review!

 

[MMUK]

At the end of the day, it's a £1 chisel. It appears to do a half decent job. If you're on a budget or new to the hobby then it's a good starting point. Where's the point spending upwards of £50 on a set of chisels if a) you can't really afford it and b) you don't know if woodwork is going to be right for you?

I think this review is valuable for those new to the hobby especially. Those who aren't sure if they are heading in the right direction and don't want to spend hundreds on something that they may not carry on doing or simply cannot afford the luxury of a set or premium chisels.

I have several cheap chisels from either pound shops or markets. Some I've had for fifteen years or more and they still work. True, I don't tend to use them for "best" but they are generally good for hacking out the majority of waste stock before final trimming with one of my Dynagrip or Marples chisels.

 

[DTR]

I've been using Homebase chisels for the last three years

 

[PeterBassett]

Some fair snobbery being displayed here. If you wish to spend more on "nicer" tools, then that is entirely your call. I have some nicer tools myself. I also have a set of aldi chisels, amongst others, and they're fine. Take an edge, cut fine etc.

However, the opinion that these chisels, or any cheap tool, is inherently inferior even after they are demonstrated to work within expected tolerance can't be correct can it? For £1 you cant sniff at a chisel that can chop the odd hinge mortice, do some carving and paring. You might not want them yourself but you can't deny that other could make good use of them.

To do so would simply be foolish.

 

[monkeybiter]

Some fair snobbery being displayed here...... You might not want them yourself but you can't deny that other could make good use of them.
To do so would simply be foolish.

Where's the point spending upwards of £50 on a set of chisels if a) you can't really afford it and b) you don't know if woodwork is going to be right for you?

Spot on!

Thanks AndyT for an informative, realistic and unbiased review. Information not judgement.

 

[Jason]

Woodbrains - you seem puzzled that I bothered to post this review. The simple answer is that I was curious to find out for myself.

I know that secondhand tools are brilliant value - two of the three other chisels in the group shot were bought secondhand. But it's easier to pop into a shop than it is to wander round a bootfair, especially at this time of year.

I think part of the puzzlement might come, not from your review, but from the gushing afterwards and before. You describe a tool that would do at a pinch but with several inferior features. The post straight afterwards declares the chisel a great success, and no wonder as chisels are the easiest of items to produce - Jacob somewhat missing that your review pointed out that the chisel was dinged, had poor balance, a bevel that wouldn't help you and a poor handle (that might break).

To be honest, even though the the £1 chisel might be commended for it's impressive flatness, anyone in the market for a cheap chisel might do better hunting out something with a handle that wasn't rubbish, no? It's only easier until the handle falls off.

 

[nanscombe]

I imagine that if someone enjoys using £50 a time chisels then either their clients have probably paid for them or it's not their day job.

 

[thick_mike]

Isn't the point here that chisels are pretty easy to make so the variation in quality from the cheapest to the most expensive is small?

Planes are harder to make so the variation in quality from the cheapest to the most expensive is greater.

If you are on a very tight budget then spending more on a plane and less on the chisels is a more sensible way to divide your budget. You are better off with pound shop chisels and a Lie Nielsen plane than you are with Lie Nielsen chisels and a pound shop plane. (and yes, I know neither extreme is the best way to divide the budget! )

 

[woodbrains]

Hello,

'It is often said that a poor workman blames his tools, but even the best craftsman cannot do good work with poor tools, Buy the best tools you can afford'. Quotation from Jim Kingshott, an exemplary craftsman. If you are going to hinder the progress of a keen beginner, then disadvantage them from the start with poor tools. Most will give up with frustration, the rest will probably never realise the high standard they may be capable of. Secretly, is this what some people are aiming to do, so they can feel superior because they can do something others are struggling with?

Or let us think about it another way. Hands up who would swap their tools for low end rubbish like these chisels? No one I suspect. Then these tools are clearly lacking in ways that matter. What are we arguing about, we do not deserve to have to put up with substandard things in the 21st century, when fabulous, fit for purpose tools were made 250 years ago, by people without the advantages of us. Are we really going backwards?

Mike.

 

[Jacob]

You haven't said what was wrong with the chisel and why it would be impossible to do good work with it.