Boxed Narex Bevel Edge Chisels Set/6
by Highland Woodworking
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Category: Tools See more product details |
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Tools and Hardware Reviews of Boxed Narex Bevel Edge Chisels Set/6
Customer Review: Good set..
Summary: 4 Stars
My neighbor gave me this set of chisels. His sweetie bought him a very expensive set. I have a few chisel's, not a matched set but they belonged to my granddad and are good one's. Nice box, much better than some I've seen. I make boxes so that is the first thing I look at. I like these tools, they have a good feel and heft to them and I like the length of the handle and overall length. Even the 1/4 inch doesn't feel like it will bend or break if you lean into it. Chrome-moly blades are not usually my first choice in cutting tools, but these are reported to be hardened to rc58. Thats pretty good. Now, he said he couldn't get a real good edge on em and they wouldnt hold an edge long. But I've known him a long time and he has trouble sharpening a pencil so I didn't take that to heart. They needed to be flattened and squared, not a big deal, couple minutes on the stationary belt sander and 8" grinder got em ready to be sharpened. I sharpened em up on my 1" belt sander, using Lee Valley's sharpening grits and then lapped them on glass with lapping compound. I am happy to report they take a nice edge, very nice. I've only used the 1/4 and 3/8 chisels so far, cleaned out some dovetails in black mesquite. They both did a real nice job, and I noticed no loss of edge. One small item, they are closer to the metric size than standard. Not a big deal as long as you are aware.
All in all this is a nice set, I didn't have to buy it, but I think I would if I had to do it again. Recommend these to anyone who wants a good, sturdy chisel set.
Customer Review: You get what you pay for
Summary: 4 Stars
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. Out of the box these seemed to have a pretty good edge, beveled at 35 degrees. When doing dovetails, however, they weren't sharp enough to cut soft maple well, but compressed the middle fibers, resulting in shoddy tails. Fortunately, this is hidden when the joint goes together. I sharpened the entire set on water stones (back and bevel)--starting with 220, finishing with 8000. After cutting another set of dovetails, I noticed the 12 and 16mm chisels were ragged, chipped from cutting poplar. 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. IOW, contrary to the description, the steel is brittle. I just resharpened them again and they made it through another set of dovetails without chipping. I'm still undecided.
Customer Review: My first set of REAL chisels
Summary: 4 Stars
I had been using cheap Chinese made chisels for the past
few years. For some reason this set caught my eye..Spent
the past couple of hours making a box for a single straight
razor using these chisels..I am very pleased. I was able
to do a side by side comparison with the inexpensive
Harbor Freight chisels... The Narex are a pleasure to use.
Take an edge and hold it. I was working with western maple,
not particularly hard, but quite tough..After sharpening the new chisels, I just started working the wood. Every now
and then I would pick up one of my 'old' chisels to compare.
Both were sharpened exactly the same, but the Narex is
substantially superior...If you want a nice set of chisels
at a very reasonable cost,, buy these...you will like them.
Jim in Gold Bar
Customer Review: Quality chisels!
Summary: 5 Stars
I bought this set after reading the other reviews, and I haven't been disappointed.
These are well-made chisels that took minimal time to flatten and hone. I have a set of Japanese bench chisels (from Grizzly) that I use for general work, so I re-ground the bevels to 19 degrees and use these as paring chisels -- long blades, sturdy handles, and razor-sharp. They hold an edge well and cut beautifully.
I like them so much that I bought the remaining sizes individually to complete the set.
Customer Review: Do not stay sharp long
Summary: 2 Stars
I saw one other reviewer had similar problems to mine. 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'm mystified by all the positive reviews both here and in "Fine Woodworking". 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. Maybe i just got a bad set. Very disappointing.