Two Cherries or Narex

[zinzander]

I am trying to decide if I should go for A set of 8 Narex chisels for $140 odd or a set of 6 Two Cherries chisels for $160 odd New Zealand dollars any thoughts on which one to get?

[jazzy69]

G,day Zinzander
It is probably 6 of one and half a dozen of the other. Word around the Forums is if you went for 2 Cherries get the unpolished. I have a Narex set but I have not used them yet
Cheers Ross

[hiroller]

Or 6 of one and 8 of the other!
I have few Narex. The handles are only average but the steel is good.

[chook]

I have 7 bevel edged and 6 mortice Narex. They can be got from Veritas cheaply and they work well.

[chook]

:B7 Narex are sold from Veritas for $74 US. At the current exchange rate of about 92 cents you will pay about $81 plus postage from America and I have no idea how much that is.

[IanW]

I've had a few Two Cherries chisels, and no doubt the steel is good - they take & hold an edge as well or better than many.

However, I have two issues with them that put me off. The first issue is the bevels. On the ones I had they were pretty skimpy (in fact, on the 1/4" I had you'd have called it a slight chamfer rather than a bevel!), and they weren't even symmetrical, which made them look pretty crude. The thick shoulders left by the skimpy bevels didn't fit into dovetail corners, resulting in bruising & visible marks on the finished object. The other issue was easier to fix, but annoying. T.C. polish their blades to a high shine. This looks good to the unwary eye, but it duffs the edges horribly. You have to spend a considerable amount of time & effort to flatten the backs at the cutting edge. It's been whinged about out on several forums & mags, and they actually offer unpolished sets in the US, but persist in foisting the polished blades on everyone else. Meh! :~

No experience with Narex, but they are reputed to be well-ground & everyone that has them says they are the bees' knees at edge-holding. For less money, you get two more chisels that should be more suited to cabinet work. If those were my choices, it would be an easy decision for me.. :U

Cheers,

[jazzy69]

Mytoolstore.com.au advertise the unpolished 2 cherries on their site.
Cheers Ross

[TermiMonster]

I've got a set of 6 2 cherries.
I got the unpolished ones (I think from ideal tools).
They are pretty good, IMO.
I agree that the bevels are a bit on the lean side, but mine are at least even.
I'm happy, but I didn't look at the Narex, and have no experience with them.
tm

[zinzander]

I am an apprentice carpenter (I have beater Stanley chisels) but have had little experience in cabinet making as a hobby so I really appreciate all the responses. I can only get the polished Two Cherries at a reasonable price, so the consensus seem to be go Narex by the sound of it. I know Paul Sellers Schools in New York uses Narex chisels so should be reasonable

[hiroller]

As an alternative to forking out for a whole set of new chisels, of which you will end up using only a few. You could pick up some quality 2nd hand chisels for much less and use the remainder on some sharpening gear (stones and or diamond plates).
There are always decent sets coming up on TradeMe. Might even be some there now!:;

[T.C]

I've got a full set of metric Narex 8116 cabinetmakers chisels, the 8882 mortice chisels as well a couple of skews and I'm happy with all of them so far. The 8116 and 8882 I got from Workshop heaven (UK based) nearly 3 years ago, that was before Lee Valley started to stock them. There seems to be quite a few more options out there now for the Narex chisels.

[62woollybugger]

The tool fairy left these for me today :D Picked them up from the forum marketplace for $170 delivered. The only 2 sizes that are missing are the 22 & 50mm. A friend is going over to the Czech repuplic to visit family, later this year & he will see if he can pick them up, along with a set of mortice chisels. All I have to do now is sharpen them all :C. Maybe I need to hold a sharpening party.
316320

Is there an Australian distributor for Narex?

Highland woodworking in the US sell the metric sizes, but I'm not sure if they ship to Australia. They have a set of six Narex chisels, with magnetic holder, on sale for $50 at the moment.

[Robson Valley]

I bought a pair of Narex skews from LV for formline wood carving.
Excellent edge-holding steel. Less than 10 days later, I bought a second pair
to be reground and repurposed as other sorts of wood carving tools.
The steel is easily comparable to Pfeil.

[orraloon]

I have both Narex and 2Cherries. Yes the shiney ones. I did not realise how shiney until I opened the box. Both have good steel but my leaning is towards the Narex as a more workman like chisel. You also get more for your $.
Regards
John

Regards
John