It’s chisel time! Chisel me timbers! Your fav chisels!

[LBCarpentry]

New chisels time for me. My trusty marples have been sharpened and sharpened and there ain’t much left. Have no experience of other chisels. I like the look of Narex chisels. Looking to spend £100 - £200 for a set of the classic 6 but 8 would be a bonus for the money. No plastic handles. Timber handles preferably with a hardened top as sometimes I do need to take a metal hammer to them .

Let me here your recommendations!

 

[Trevanion]

I'd personally prefer plastic handles if someone actually made decent chisels with a plastic handle like the early Marples and Stanley chisels when they just transitioned from using good steel in wood handles to good steel in plastic handles. I'm not sure what you're planning on doing with the chisels such as fine joinery or just notching out posts and rails etc. I wouldn't suggest a new Marples for fine dovetails and I wouldn't suggest a Lie Nielsen for prying old floorboards up, the choice of chisel really depends on the tasks you have at hand.

I bought a set of Kirchsen chisels with the octagonal wood handles about a year back to supplement the Marples chisels and they've served me well even when I'm giving them a lumping with a hammer. They're definitely a bit thicker and bulkier than the older Stanley and Marples chisels in both thickness of the chisel overall and the edges on each side of the chisel is considerable thicker, they do call them a firmer bevel edged chisel for a reason though. If what you want to do is have something reliable, robust and takes a good edge these are a very good all-rounder.

A good friend of mine has a set of Robert Sorby chisels on a London pattern handle and I think they're superb as far as a general chisel goes. They're not too fat, not too thin, can take an abusing whilst putting out very neat work.

Although I've not seen the Narex chisels much in person I've heard good things about them, the ones I did see seemed a little bulky compared to the usual chisel and perhaps a little less finely finished but they cut wood just the same.

No doubt everyone will tell you "Buy the Ashley Iles Mk2s" though, I've personally not had the best experience with them but everyone else loves them so I might be the odd one out. These are an alright choice if you're paring down joints and hacking out dovetails but they probably won't stand up to too much abuse.

 

[adidat]

Narex ones Are good use them as site chisels the brown wooden handled ones with the hoop on top, I always use the claw hammer with them and they can take a pounding!

Then have the robert sorby boxwood ones in the workshop, and they never see a claw hammer!

Adidat

 

[marcros]

What work are you doing with them? The adidat approach makes a lot of sense if you need a set to be used and abused for general work.

 

[Mrs C]

I have got a selection of makes, but my second hand old Footprints are by far the best for staying sharp. They are cheap enough that even if you do go for the plastic handle ones it’s not the end of the world if you destroy one. I think I paid something like £20 for a set of 4 on EBay, they were a bit scruffy but cleaned up really easily.

 

[kevinlightfoot]

I have many chisels,mostly marbles,Sorby,ward etc.,but I also have a set of eight Kirschen two cherries chisels which I bought many years ago,for the finer work where access is needed they are a little too bulky but for chopping out work they are very good,they have a hoop at the top of the handle and will take quite heavy blows and they take and hold a fine edge,I find I use them daily and they still look very good.One thing you may not like too well is the very shiny finish almost like chrome plating.If I remember rightly mine were bought from Axminster about twenty years ago,hope this helps,you could always buy two sets one for the finer tasks and the Kirschens for heavy duty work.Regards Kevin.

 

[g7g7g7g7]

Buy a set for hitting with hammers, Wilko's essentials have a pretty nasty looking yellow plastic handles but they hold a decent edge, they cost about a tenner but in my eyes they are as good as anything else made specifically for site/rough work.
https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-wood- ... /p/0343911

Alongside that buy cheap but good set of 4-6 cabinet making chisels for delicate stuff and paring the basic narex set are great and the money saved can buy a couple of their mortice chisels gaining you much more flexibility for your money than spending £100+ on the very good Ashley Isles.
https://www.workshopheaven.com/narex-ch ... -of-6.html
https://www.workshopheaven.com/hand-too ... etric.html

 

[E-wan]

I find one of these
ARNO FRAMING CHISELs

https://www.workshopheaven.com/arno-fra ... -30mm.html

Good value and usfule

If you cut the insulation on the handle back you can use it in a similar way to a slick as the handle is almost flush with the blade

Ewan

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[El Barto]

Another vote for Narex here. I also got a set of these (MHG Regular Chisels) a while ago and they've been great: https://www.fine-tools.com/stemmeisen.html

I think they're basically the same as Kirschen/Lidl/Aldi - I've been very happy with them.

 

[woodbloke66]

I'd go for the Japanese chisels from Workshop Heaven. They take a fabulous edge and can of course be used with a 'Birmingham tapometer'; provided you don't do anything daft with them like levering off old floor tiles (use you LN chisels for that :lol: ) they're pretty much indestructible - Rob

 

[katellwood]

'Birmingham tapometer' Rob

I think you are referring to a Manchester Screwdriver (hammer)

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Both probably better than a "gentle persuader".

 

[LBCarpentry]

What work are you doing with them? The adidat approach makes a lot of sense if you need a set to be used and abused for general work.

I am workshop based general joinery. Certainly no raising floorboards!

cutting in hinges, pairing back joints, fettling, chopping in locks, angling mortices in door stiles (often oak to allow for wedges) I do need to be able to use the "Alabama slammer" on them every once in a while.

 

[Bodgers]

I asked the same question here recently (have a look for the thread) and the consensus was Ashley Illes.

Until I am ready to plunge the cash into those, I bought some old (but new and in packaging) Stanley 5002s.

Sent from my Redmi Note 5 using Tapatalk

 

[thetyreman]

my favourite are lie neilsen chisels by far, but the set I actually use are narex, I'll get the lie neilsen set at some point.

 

[LBCarpentry]

Does anyone have any experience with Kirschen chisels? I always like to be a little different and I love pretty much all things German....

 

[Paddy Roxburgh]

I have always fancied some Ashley Isles chisels, I have one of their carving gouges and it is a thing of beauty. However I have a set of these https://www.workshopheaven.com/narex-ch ... tural.html for finer work and a set of Liddle chisels for bashing stuff. The Narex cabinet chisels are much better made, but I can'y notice much/any difference in the quality of the steel. Apparently the Liddle's are coming around in a few weeks

 

[Trevanion]

Does anyone have any experience with Kirschen chisels? I always like to be a little different and I love pretty much all things German....

My earlier post mentioned the Kirschen chisels as did Kevinlightfoot’s post.

 

[SVB]

Does anyone have any experience with Kirschen chisels? I always like to be a little different and I love pretty much all things German....

My dad has a set and I must admit i am very underwhelmed! Thick in the sides so if you’re looking to do any dovetail / cabinet making then they are not the tool for you.

AI tools get good write ups. I have LN socket chisels and love them but they do cost.

What type of work do you want to do with them?

Simon

 

[fezman]

Just taken delivery of a set of Narex premium / cabinet makers chisels(26 down to 6mm set of 6).

Cosmetically a little dissapointed with the box they came in / packaging. Hinges were loose, catch was not fitted well - waste of money, wish i'd bought them without the box and saved about a fiver.

The factory ground edge was next to useless.

Prepared the first two larger ones tonight following the same approach Paul Sellars does to flatten the backs and then sharpen the bevel, but using the 3m scary sharp films. One of them took a while to get the back sorted, but then sharpening the bevel was a breeze. I can confirm these are now scary sharp and I am well pleased with how easy and quickly i was able to sharpen them. I'll be doing the rest over the next few days (as the day job is getting in the way), then hopefully using them in anger over the weekend. Will report back if they are any different from the above, but first impressions are very favourable.