Thread: Narex-are they any good?

What bevel angle are they being sharpened at? for chopping and cutting our mortises, you need to sharpen it at between 30 ~ 35 degrees. From what you have described, it is likely that the bevel angle is around 20~25 deg.

I have narex bevel edge chisels. I like them well enough. When they were brand spankin new, the same thing was happening when chopping into harder materials. The edge would fold over creating the burr and of course creating hard work for me. But because of the folding of the edge, it forced me to hone away a lot of material (about a millimeter) in a short amount of time and now the edges no longer fold over. It has been several months since I have put these chisels back on to the stones. I just chop chop strop strop chop chop strop strop. The stropping alone is enough to maintain the edge until I eventually creep the bevel angle too high and then I will fix it up on the stones and start anew.

Measure the total included bevel angle. If it's 25 degrees or less, there was not enough metal behind the edge to support it in service.
Like 'justonething' suggests, go up to 30-35.

kuffy, what would the bevel angle have to get up to so a stone job is in order?

I have 5 cleavers in my kitchen. Four of them are 15 degrees for meats and vegetables.
They tune up well enough on a 4k waterstone.
#5 is 6mm thick and very sharp at 40 degrees for bones. Usually worked on 600 grit automotive sandpaper.

I've really enjoyed using my Narex chisels in hard woods. Some users have experienced brittleness on the tips when first using them, however the steel is very good once the end 0.5mm is ground back. I've rehandled all mine too, because I found the original handles bulky and ugly.
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Originally Posted by Robson Valley

kuffy, what would the bevel angle have to get up to so a stone job is in order?

I don't measure the angle except by eyeballing "looks about right". When I hone on stones, I do end up with convex bevels, so the actual cutting angle could be anything but I like to think it is somewhere around the 30° mark not that I care one way or the other. When I strop a lot you can see how the light reflects differently over the bevel which indicates just how steep the bevel is at the business end. When it looks way more than what it looks like after I hone on the stones, I will then take it back to the stones when I have a free moment. Pretty rough I know, but sharp is sharp and anything else is just talk.

I have sharpened mine to 25 degrees so I might try changing that to 30 degrees and give them another try. From what I gather here the quality of steel is not too bad so maybe not worth spending the extra dollars for the other upmarket brands.

your best "test" is probably Lee Valley.
Lee Valley has carried Narex chisels for a number of years.
Given Lee Valley's level of customer service, if the steel in the Narex was suspect, I would think Lee Valley would have discontinued the brand some time ago.

I strongly suspect your "problem" is you have sharpened the chisels for use as parers and are using them as choppers, where a 30 to 35 degree final bevel is more appropriate.

Woodworking chisels are not built like razor blades for the reasons mentioned above.
The more I think about it, the more I'd go 35 degrees and only scrub it back if I had to.

My two pairs of Narex skews have been wonderful carving tools over the years.
Particularly a Pacific Northwest native design style called form-line.
Hopeless without a right & left pair, set up at 20 degrees.

You may well be experiencing a problem with the temper. It's my understanding that some manufacturers, and a massive-scale manufacturer like Narex would be a prime candidate, will temper the steel after the edge is ground. This results in the tip, which is thinner steel, heating differently and instead of hardening to the desired level, it becomes overtempered and brittle.

I may be using the wrong terminology, but the idea should make sense.

The fix is to grind them a couple of times and, eventually, they will function as desired.

I wouldn't give up on them quite yet. Narex are notable for having decent steel. They are only different from the big names in that their backs need to be flattened most of the time.

Hope that helps.

Cheers,
Luke

Narex make mortise chisels at a reasonable price.

Originally Posted by Fergiz01

...... Some users have experienced brittleness on the tips when first using them, however the steel is very good once the end 0.5mm is ground back.....

Seems to be a common complaint, alright; the set of cranked parers I bought a few years ago chipped like fury when I first got them, but re-grinding to remove a mm or so seems to have cured that. It's not unique to Narex, I had the same problem with a Veritas PMV11 plane blade, but after a re-grind, it's now performing up to expectations.

Originally Posted by Fergiz01

...... I've rehandled all mine too, because I found the original handles bulky and ugly. ....

Ditto here! The handles on the bench chisels seem to be made for giants. Those on the cranked chisels are more tolerable, but didn't feel right to me, so they were quickly replaced with handles that are much more suited to pushing with my palm: Handles cf.jpg

Cheers,

How easy is it to get the handles off?

Originally Posted by Fergiz01

I've really enjoyed using my Narex chisels in hard woods. Some users have experienced brittleness on the tips when first using them, however the steel is very good once the end 0.5mm is ground back. I've rehandled all mine too, because I found the original handles bulky and ugly.
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Originally Posted by chemfish

How easy is it to get the handles off?

Really quite easy. I put the blade in the vise, rest a flat bladed screwdriver on the ferrule and tap the handle off with light hammer taps. The original ferrules are flimsy and will likely be bent by this, but who cares if you're making new handles?

Yep, it's usually not too difficult to separate a new tanged chisel & its handle, but you do strike the odd stubborn brute with old, rusted-on examples. I do as Fergiz described except that I use a bit of square brass as the punch rather than a screwdriver, but whatever works for you. I try to move them gently so as not to damage the handle that's coming off, in case someone else wants to use it. Dunno why, really, I've got a boxful of the darn things & have had very few takers....

Cheers,