|
It pared, mortised and carved with great efficiency. I acquired the bench chisels in both (one of each) and proceeded to use them both for things they were designed for and things they were not. You do have to sharpen them a little more frequently and you can't smack them with a hammer so much, but, how shall I say this - "FOR THE PRICE" - they are very good and I am planning on buying a set. For the price and quality of the tool, they are a buy and would do well as an everyday chisel in anyones shop.
You can purchase a set of these for the price of one LN chisel. When you grade them on their quality AND price - they are pretty much one of the best deals on the market. They are not junk and are not cheaply made - they are a good tool. I had read many good reviews on the Narex and I was in the market for a chisel set.being wary of reviews that say things like "great tool FOR THE PRICE", I decided to get a Narex and a Lie Nielson chisel and compare them side by side. Thr LN = Harder metal, longer blade retention and takes a razor sharp edge. Now, the Narex metal did not hold an edge as long, did not take quite as sharp an edge and looked pretty beat up after some mortice work, (but remember, it was not a mortice chisel) Having said that - I found the Narex to do very good dovetail and paring work and did take a very sharp edge. But I am still getting the LN's :) If you graded the Narex on quality alone they would be a good chisel for most work.
I don't like and don't buy cheap tools - I believe the pleasure you derive from owning and using fine tools is part of the woodworking experience. First of all, you expect the LN chisel to be better and it was.by far. They are very nice to work with and I will use them to do the dirty work and then finish up with my good chisels. Bottom line - I enjoyed the Narex chisel I purchased - and I enjoyed the money it left in my bank account too :) You can't go wrong with these at the price point they are offered at.
Maybe i just got a bad set. I've found i can only work for about 5 minutes with these chisels (just cleaning out mortises in soft maple, or even just making mortises for door hinges) before they get ragged on the edge. I saw one other reviewer had similar problems to mine. I'm mystified by all the positive reviews both here and in "Fine Woodworking". Very disappointing. I flattened the backs and sharpened the edge to a mirror shine right out of the box, but it gets really old having to resharpen them so often.
Fortunately, this is hidden when the joint goes together. I just resharpened them again and they made it through another set of dovetails without chipping. There is some levering involved in dovetails, so perhaps I'm too rough on them, but my guess is it comes from lower quality, coarse-grained steel. When doing dovetails, however, they weren't sharp enough to cut soft maple well, but compressed the middle fibers, resulting in shoddy tails. I'm not giving these three stars, despite the problems, since the price I paid for the entire set and case is equal to the cost of one or two expensive chisels.The bevel along the sides of the shanks is well-angeled for dovetails.
IOW, contrary to the description, the steel is brittle. Out of the box these seemed to have a pretty good edge, beveled at 35 degrees. I sharpened the entire set on water stones (back and bevel)--starting with 220, finishing with 8000. I'm still undecided. After cutting another set of dovetails, I noticed the 12 and 16mm chisels were ragged, chipped from cutting poplar.
I love them. I do have some really expensive chisels and I do not see too much difference. Definetly worth the price. I use these chisels for general woodworking and rifle stockmaking. They are easy to sharp and they hold good sharp edge for very long. Now I am looking to get a set of hollow chisels from Narex. I use them mostly on claro black walnut and maple.
I am very satisfied with the product I orderd and was very pleased it arrived on time for a Christmas gift.
|
