Suggestions for decent beginner chisels?

There’s some great advice above. Just for another budget option if you’re in the UK, check out this blog post:

http://paulsellers.com/2012/11/buying-good-tools-cheap-starter-chisels-uk/

We used these on the month long course although I mostly used my set of old wooden handled Marples chisels I got on ebay. They worked well and I wouldn’t hesitate to buy a set if I didn’t have the Marples. Oh, and they are available for about half the price of the Narex in the UK:

http://www.my-tool-shed.co.uk/p10335/Faithfull_Blue_Bevel_Edge_Chisel_(set_of_6)_-_Wooden_Case/product_info.html

Hope that helps,

Phil

Happy with my Narex, not sure if you are using metric or imperial, but something to keep in mind is that Lee Valley is the only seller of true imperial Narex chisels that I am aware of, anywhere else is the nominal metric equivalent of the advertised imperial size (which will not be an exact match).  Lee Valley has treated me well with them as well, after an initial mistake where they sent me a 1/4″ instead of the 3/8″ I ordered, they shipped me a 3/8″ for free and allowed me to keep the 1/4″ no charge.

I have been using my older Blue Handled Marple chisel with good results, I also have the Narex Mortice Chisels and their skew chisels. The Narex are an excellent chisel for the money, you can’t go wrong. I butchered up one of my legs and had to redo but it was my fault not the chisels.

Most of my paring chisels are older vintage chisels but decided to use the Marple’s.

Steve