Good Woodworking Chisels for CHEAP 

Sure does! Tools, expensive or cheap, can be a bit of a hit and miss as far as quality and usability is concerned. Which is an exciting gamble on cheap tools and a deceiving one on expensive tools

Yes you were, thank you!

So many quetions and no answers 🤨

@ Like "How long is a piece of string?" or "how deep is a hole?" or "What's beyond space?" But the one that keeps me awake at night is "Is the hokey pokey what it's all about?"

Ou you are actually the first person I have heard hold that opinion! I all the woodworkers I know hate the handles. Is there anything you like about them specifically?

@ I have a few and even though I don't like their ergonomy as much, I like how they look, I like the darker handle and that it has a shape that helps me to feel what angle it is on. Also the metal ring on the back kind of gives that japanese chisel look to them, even though it could be way prettier, I agree. I haven't met woodworkers here that would hate it either! However, it is too bulky and I feel what you did to the side bevels really was a great improvement! I'm glad you have them how you like them now.

I don't think it would be just as effective but it would probably be a significant improvement over not having anything. It would need to be tested! Thanks for that response on the buttons. Totally makes sense; one less question floating around in my head aha

Thank you! Its a 120 grit aluminum oxide. Nothing special. I find on the belt grinder they don't last long though. I'm not sure if the rpm is too high or if I should look at more expensive belts designed for grinding metal? But even on wood they don't last long so I'm thinking its the rpm/fps

It was a sudden idea on the spot, saved lots of time and effort though!

The Veritas chisel's A2 steel (the one on the video) is in no way unacceptable or horrible, and I love the rest of the chisel. It's okay and I use their A2 steel for handplane blades or other tools. My issue with the steel is that it's on a chisel worth 100$. Aka, 4x more than the narex and twice that of the Swiss made chisels. As such, my expectations for the steel are above just being "good enough" or "fine", I would expect some premium steel that holds up better than a cheaper chisel. But in reality, their steel is only marginally better than the 18$ narex chisels. Chisels are put through a task most other workshop blades are not. With a chisel, the user will switch from hammer blows to softly pushed fine shaving. This means the steel on a chisel will make a world of difference. If the steel roles over just a bit on the hammer blows, the chisel won't take fine shavings when you push it by hand after. Now when it comes to PM-v11, I avoid the steel like the plegue. It breaks in chunks on handplane blades. So on hardwoods, after 45 seconds of rough use, the blade is already leaving deep marks. Then it just keeps breaking down and dulls quickly. I also find it harder to sharpen; you really need to go through all the grits and take good care to never miss a stroke. And that's without mentioning its high rate of faulty blades that break in half or in large chunks... I had a few pm-v11 blades and I sold or gave them away. I now avoid it at all costs. The interesting part is after talking about this with woodworkers, It appears no one can really say its better than other steels, they mostly say they buy it because its supposed to be better so why go for a cheaper option? There's a chance the 3 blades I used were all faulty but as far as I can tell, pm-v11 is a less than legit product. Definitely the biggest week point of a company which also sells some nice products, in my opinion

@ Whenever I have to both chop and pare with a chisel I always use two chisels. The one I chop with I don't use for paring and the one I pare with I don't use for chopping. There's no rule that says you must use only one chisel.

I have one of their mortise chisels too, the handles are even bigger than their bench chisels! In the end with the method of routing the square pockets, it was a pretty easy job. I'd recommend it for sure!

Oof yeah that would be long! A belt grinder is a must in any workshop in ny opinion. It so handy for forming any type of blade

Glad I could motivate you! I'm not totally sure why they have that flat. Prerhaps a mix of saving costs and because for rougher work it helps guide the chisel?

Flat right angle sides on wood chisels are more for mortising and just get in the way for dovetails. Each has an advantage depending on what you're working on or need them for.

@@AlAllerton These Narex chisels don't have large flat right angle sides, so it isn't because they're designed for mortising. They have a very small vertical section.

They don't have a wide flat side.

Music was played we could 'get a handle' on ourselves(!)😂

I like narex for the same reason as you. They are cheap so you don't have to be scared of beating on them. You can also make a diy lathe from some plywood, a few bearings and a drink or bench grinder. It's what I did for my first file handles and it worked pretty well

Their fine woodwoking chisels are 3 times the price and still have large flat spots. I also already owned these and didn't want to buy new tools :)