MHG chisels - Compare each other and Marples. 

That's cool. A lite sanding, a bit of sealer coat and you're on your way 👍

That mortice chisel is big. And when you're ready to purchase you'll know exactly what you get. 👍

@@twcmaker Aye mate! For 8-12 quid a pop, I'm pretty content. Means I can be a bit bolder refining my sharpening and reshaping the handles should I wish.

And I know you're happy to use these, grow with them. And then if you could, and the opportunity came along. What direction do you think you would take with more chisels?

Another cracking vid by the way. Thank you.

This one was unplanned. Just James and myself going through them. They will suit for as long as James feels. Japanese is a different ballgame to me. Mine are wonderful. I hardly seem to Sharpen them. But then I do use a lot of different chisels. Timber, joint, purpose and mood can change the one I pick up. But then the Marples in this video is a great chisel. We each do what we do.

Thank you Carl

@@twcmaker I’d like to show you a picture of my marples shamrock shatterproof chisels. Beautiful red and yellow toffee coloured handles. The steel is beautiful. I have three very very old shamrock chisels, same spec different shape. They must be pre 1940’s. I won’t even tap them with a mallet they’re so precious to me. I actually look forward to paring and cutting joints, just so I can unroll my chisels. Japanese chisels were beautiful, but these are better still. I think I may need therapy 🙈

Chisels are amazing. That balance between hard enough to keep an edge but not too brittle. And then the different steels, grinding, the handles and ferrules. Hoops or not.. They're wonderful tools

I'm looking forward to the next stage. How flat are they? Do they sharpen too easily? The 25° edge, how accurate is it (I know it's not a deal breaker) and how well does it hold onto the wire edge? Some good old chisels would hang onto their wire edge for ages. I don't think we'll be in that league. But, interesting though.

@@twcmaker absolutely and your in a different league on the sharpness gauge to me

It was a direction that suited the tools, that's all. It's not hard to achieve these days.

I suppose the first thing here is. The HMG are new. Anything that James doesn't feel is right or acceptable, as a new chisel, he can send them back with no fuss. The second thing is. The Ebay find might be great. But, It also might not be a good experience. The chisels may require a lot of work to get; 1. A flat back (I know your views on this) 2. The bevels might be all over the place too. Out of square, rounded over, chipped etc. 3. The handles might need some work or replacing. 4. Ferrules may be damaged or split. And not shown on photo. I know you can see the photos on Ebay. So it's down to how observant you are. Things can easily be missed. Jamie Now be nice.

@@twcmaker I couldn't agree more, ebay is a place where you get a barging or not but a lot of the time you can get a good idea of what your buying, another trick is to wait until something is local and collect it yourself. I've just come back from buying a Axminister sander (very happy) got some free wood :)

@@purpleom9649 Nearby can be brilliant 👌 I got a Parkinson Perfect vice about 7 years ago. £20. Over the moon with it. Seller wasn't happy. But nobody else wanted it. I think partly because it was collection only. You win some, you lose some.

Hi mate. Sorry for the delay, I only just saw this. You're right about the steel being good. I have some old Marples that I picked up off eBay for a really good price. I like them a lot, even if the bevels on a couple are pretty wonky and I do periodically watch for more. That said, I have a few reasons for buying these instead of piecemealing a collection of Marples from the secondary market. First off, it's an understatement to say I hate working with imperial and find it easier to measure and mark-up using metric - maybe preferring base ten is the ex-maths teacher in me? These days, I have a TBI and with it comes short term memory issues. It means I have to do a lot more stopping and checking my work than most. As I'm more familiar with, and operate in metric, having a metric edge in hand better allows me to use that to spatially gauge and visualise where I am at and need to be when cutting a joint. Second, I'm currently doing a carpentry and joinery class alongside Jamie's lessons in which tools take quite a beating. I wanted something that I could use for finer work, that holds a surprisingly good edge but that I can also knock about a bit sans guilt. I fancy having a go at reshaping handles too and I'd feel a bit precious about doing that to some antique tools. That's just me though. With these, I can go to town reshaping and not be disheartened if I cock any of it up. Lastly, I enjoy restoring tools, I do. I have learnt a lot about how to do so from Jamie; he's some sort of hand plane whisperer. Alas, I have hand issues and I just don't have the time right now. My time is incredibly precious so what little of it I have, I want to dedicate to improving my actual woodworking rather than restoring tools. Paul Sellers really rates MHG so I thought I could take a punt safely and am very glad I did! I reckon I'll still grab some more old Marples to tidy up though, but they will be an extended rainy day project. Cheers :-)

I'll take hand plane Whisperer 👍 I think you're doing an amazing job. Love the direction you're going in James. Keep going 👌