Narex Richter Chisels and WoodRiver Socket Chisels Compared. 

Oh, I love your 'No BS' review. There is so much nonsense spoken about chisels in other reviews and at the end of the day its down to if you have more money than sense go spend it!! I have been woodworking for about 60 years and have never spent hours preparing the backs of chisels and I don't think it has affected the accuracy of my joints. I still love my vintage tools and have only worn one chisel down in length in all that time. I'm sure if you have money to spare it's quite nice to buy the most expensive tools but it doesn't necessarily mean you will be a better woodworker. Great video and really good review.

I’m fairly sure Narex are Czech. Long tradition of engineering in Czech Republic so no surprise they’ll be quality.

I never really gave much consideration to chisel balance. I was always much more concerned with how they felt in hand while being used. My favorite have been the Stanley 750/Lie Nielsen style handles. They always seemed to me to be easiest to use for fine work. At that, those chisels were at one time used for general carpentry work…I suppose some carpenters still use them. But if I’m taking a notch out of a floor joist I’d much rather have a general purpose chisel with a thick plastic handle.

Tools that come in nice fitted boxes are problematic for me. Its impractical to keep tools in boxes as far as I am concerned and feel guilty throwing the box away!

Looks and feel are one thing. How flat and square are the backs? How did they perform parring and chopping tasks?

What would balance matter when half the time you are holding the chisel somewhere close to the edge or halfway down the steel?

Top

So which would you choose? Narex or Ashley Iles?

The problem with the Narex is the extreme polish all around. They went way, way overboard and managed to round the side edges on all of them. I've seen this mentioned numerous times, and certainly on mine there was as much as a 1/64th radius on the sides, which made getting right into corners impossible. Also, the polish on the backs was a complete waste of time as the backs were not any flatter than some cheap chisels I've used that cost 1 fifth the cost. The steel is good, but no better than any others of similar cost, no matter what some youtubers have tried to say. Narex could take a hint from Veritas PM-V11 or Blue Spruce Optima on how to make a back of a chisel flat. As far as balance, that's 99% a joke unless you have some ridiculously constructed handle. Handle shape is more of an indicator of comfort than most any other consideration.

can i buy from bangladesh?

Price?

B

Stop lying to yourself. 95% dont know how to work a chisel. So it doesnt matter. Of the rest 5%, some know what to choose and that they do. Brands and all that doesnt mean anything. Work with the tool does.

Didn’t cover anything worth while. just a lot of babble