Thread: Looking for a good "Starter" Chisel - set and singles

Bunnies are clearing their boxed Irwin Marples chisel sets for $49

https://www.bunnings.com.au/irwin-marples-6-piece-ms500-chisel-set_p00834

Chief Tiff's suggestion is certainly one way to go. Lie-Nielsens they are not, but you did say 'starter set', and you wouldn't be too worried learning to grind & sharpen & experimenting with bevel angles. This is counter to the 'buy right, buy once' philosophy, but learning on 'adequate' tools isn't a bad idea, imo.

LNs are available singly, of course, but at over $Au100 a pop (the 1/8 B.E. is $129!), they will do a lot of damage to a restricted budget.

Another alternative would be to hit the fleamarkets & garage-sale circuit & browse the web for oldies. Old chisels won't have as fine or consistent bevels as LNs, and building a set up this way is slow, but fun if you enjoy the chase. It took me a couple of years to put together a set of Titan heavies, but I was chasing the socket variety, which are nowhere near as numerous as the tanged variety: Titan sockets.jpg

Have a look at the Bob Smalser 'sticky' at the top of this section for some recommended brands to look out for. He lists mostly US brands, but old "Sheffield" brands can be excellent. I still see good examples of old Titans & similar quality chisels in the $15-20 range, but it's patchy, & some people ask absurd prices. I read on immediately if I see the word "antique" anywhere in the description, it's usually an alert that the tool is in unusable condition. Being able to assess the tool in the metal before buying is preferable, I've bought a couple that looked ok in the pics online, but turned out to have more pitted backs than the picture revealed. That can be fixed, with a lot of elbow-grease, but it's a job best avoided, I'd rather leave the RSI to someone who enjoys the pain!

Lots of choices......
Cheers

Narex is another value for money set and will perform well for years. I recently bought a set of the Mcjing home brand which are made in China but the performance belies the reputation of the the manufacturer. I was pleasently suprised to tell the truth, very little back prep required and they can be made seriously sharp.

Originally Posted by togril

I am looking to buy my first set of chisels and was looking for advice and suggestions.
I would like to get something that has sets, but is also available singly

Very restricted budget, so would rather get 3 or 4 reasonable quality than many rubbish.
Will be used for general musical instrument work and hand carving.
Also any suggestions for good shops for woodworking tools etc would be great for future setting up of a small workshop / sanity shed.

Can I discourage you from buying a "set of chisels"

The only advantage of owning a set of chisels is that the handles all look the same and if you are lucky the steel is sufficiently consistent that sharpening is not too difficult.
But if you're like Ian W, you will replace the original handles with something better or more comfortable so what were flea market odd bods now look like a set.

If your budget is really limited, IMO you are better served by planing on buying a harlequin set and get the particular chisel you need only when you need it.
So, to start what sized chisels would you most use doing "general instrument work"?

BTW
hand carving is a whole other need when it comes to tools

Originally Posted by Chris Parks

Narex is another value for money set and will perform well for years. I recently bought a set of the Mcjing home brand which are made in China but the performance belies the reputation of the the manufacturer. I was pleasently suprised to tell the truth, very little back prep required and they can be made seriously sharp.

Are they the Qiangsheng (Luban) ones, 6 to a set, Chris?

I'm personally still playing eeny-meeny-miney-mo on a few chisels, and if these are decent, I'll make them a starter set and see how I go from there.

Originally Posted by Midnight Man

Are they the Qiangsheng (Luban) ones, 6 to a set, Chris?

I'm personally still playing eeny-meeny-miney-mo on a few chisels, and if these are decent, I'll make them a starter set and see how I go from there.

Yes, I bought the butt chisels set, at that price it didn't matter that I wouldn't use a few. The good oil is that they are Woodriver without the brand on them. I would recommend them to any beginner and also more experienced woodworkers as well.

I have a set of narex chisels. All the reviews you read are fairly accurate. They are excellent value for money. Does take some initial work to get them performing.

The only issue that I've discovered with them is they are not very consistent. Eg 6mm chisel isn't 6mm. Which is what you should expect from budget chisels, where quality control isn't it's priority. However you will only face this issue if you mix and match or buy multiples. If you only have one set you may not even notice, but if you decide to buy two narex chisels of the same size don't expect them to be the same size.

As a beginner I don't think the above will cause you any issues and quite frankly unless you're prepared to spend the money for the LN set it's a compromise I'm willing to accept and just work around them.

Originally Posted by tonzeyd

I have a set of narex chisels. All the reviews you read are fairly accurate. They are excellent value for money. Does take some initial work to get them performing.

The only issue that I've discovered with them is they are not very consistent. Eg 6mm chisel isn't 6mm. Which is what you should expect from budget chisels

I think the appropriate response is so what?

Chisels are a hand tool -- when you work with hand tools the aim is to make components that fit together. A tenon doesn't care if the mortice was chopped with a 5.5 or 6.5 mm wide chisel, only that the tenon is sized for what ever the mortise width came out to be.

likewise with dovetails. If your 6mm chisel is actually 5.7 mm wide, all you do is make the pin taht little bit narrower.

Originally Posted by ian

BTW
hand carving is a whole other need when it comes to tools

One that is endless!

I use 1S/12 skews for formline carving. My first Left&Right pair of Narex 1/2" (12mm) performed so well than within a week, I bought a second pair.
I needed to revise them from 25 degrees to 20. Of the second pair, one became a stop chisel and the other a narrow hook, both for carving.

It's good steel, not too hard to work with, good working life for a carving sharp edge. Not too fast to overheat and cook.
I think that Lee Valley markets Narex sets. Very good price when compared with all the others.
I'm told you have to go to the factory (Prague?) to buy Narex carvng tools.

Originally Posted by ian

.....I think the appropriate response is so what?...

Umm, Tony did say it doesn't really matter, Ian.

There may be instances where you would want two exactly matching chisels, but I can't think of any offhand. Of course, what Ian goes on to say, that the job is sized around the particular chisel you intend to use, is fundamental & almost goes without saying. This is how we were taught 60 years ago, & I presume woodwork is still taught that way, unless I'm even further out of touch than I think I am (highly possible! )

If you measure a batch of old chisels, you'll find quite a variation in width between chisels of the same nominal size & brand. Given they were hand-finished, it's no surprise that the widths vary slightly and the width/slope of the bevels on BE chisels is usually at least slightly asymmetrical. I'm more impressed by how close they got them by eye!

WRT the Narexes, they are certainly a lot of chisel for the money. A bit too much chisel, imo, I find them far too bulky for dovetail work, and those handles are made for giants! But that's a matter of personal taste & mileages vary greatly. Of the few Narexes I have, most are good wrt edge-holding, but a 3/4 cranked chisel (part of a set of 4) is a bit brittle & inclined to chip (& yes, I'm aware this is a common problem with new blades of many types, & have ground a couple of mm off, but the brittleness persists.) This is not a swipe at Narex, I've struck several chisels of other breeds that were over or under-tempered, over the years. The 1/2" blue-chip Marples I use as a beater came in a set of 4, the other 3 were reasonably good, but this one is way too soft. However, that's actually a good thing in a chisel I often use to cut around embedded hardware such as nails or bolts, it doesn't chip so severely when it accidentally hits the object I'm trying to avoid. Does need a lot of sharpening, though......

Cheers,

Agree, make your tenon match your mortice. However knowing your chisel/mortice is actually 6mm helps when laying out rather than having to +- 0.2mm.

It also makes chisels "incompatible" as I have also have set of their mortice chisels and for eg the 6mm mortice isn't the same width as the 6mm bevel edge chisel. So yes you can work around the discrepancy, but its annoying to have to chop into the knife line in a through mortice twice rather than just once.

At the end of the day it's important to me as I feel like it costs me time, which being a hobby woodworker time in the shed is valuable. But is it worth spending 5 times more? At this stage the wife would argue otherwise.

Big Narex handles: my handspan is 24cm without hurting myself so I suppose I didn't notice.
The Kestrel Constant for me for handle diameter for wood carving tools and adzes is 7/8" (22 mm ideally).

For effective carving, I must have the right and left pair of skews, usually carving with one in each hand.
The Narex are a fair match but absolute precision isn't a value.
Same goes for crooked knives with just one bevel. Haida-style knives have 2 bevel edges.

I'd buy and use Narex chisel sets if that's what I needed. The price won't hurt.
That's the only way to come up with ideas for anything better.

One of the reasons I bought the butt chisel set from McJings was because I find the Narex set I have feels clumsy in my hand doing some smaller work and the butt set gets my had closer making it easier to control the cutting end. I am in two minds of selling or getting someone to make new handles for them.