Reply To: Suggestions for decent beginner chisels?
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Hi Nate,
I’m in a similar situation as yourself, picking up hand tools again after 20 years and and I didn’t want to spend an arm or a leg. 🙂
For both cost and newbie reasons I got the Harbor Freight chisels (http://www.harborfreight.com/6-piece-wood-chisel-set-3816.html). Yes, they are not the top of the line by any stretch, but they have done the job for me. My reasoning was I was looking for something similar to the aldi chisels that Paul refers to (http://paulsellers.com/2012/11/buying-good-tools-cheap-starter-chisels-uk/, http://paulsellers.com/2011/03/uniform-predictability/) but I think they are only in UK. I didn’t want to spend too much on my first set that I was going to learn to sharpen on etc.
They worked great in the pine for the workbench. I have also cut some mortises in oak with them. In oak I had to resharpen after every 3 – 4 mortise (more practice for me 🙂 )
I think you have to spend more time upfront on these cheap chisels to flatten the back and get good edge, but it a great learning experience. When I feel that my skills are good I will then move up to the Narex chisels.