Jeb Taylor
Member
- Messages
- 518
- Location
- Decatur, Alabama
I just got a set of narex chisels in from lee valley, the ones they had on special. They look great, but I'm very unhappy with them. I was worried sharpening them, they sharpen extremely fast... I had planned on using them by hand only and sharpening to 20 degrees.
Flattened the back, cut the main bevel down to 20 degrees on my worksharp, then put about a 21-22 degree secondary bevel with water stones up to a 8000 norton. 10" long paring cut on end grain, and the edge was chipped in 3 places. Little frustrating. So I resharpened them to 25 degree secondary bevel, all the way through the stones. Did a short pair on end grain, then pressed the chisel by hand into the face of a board, broke the corner off. I was barely into the surface, about like my first cut at a mark line to establish a shoulder.
I also got a couple mortise chisels for my brother's birthday present, decided to sharpen them up at the same time for him. 25 degree bevel, pressed into the face of a board by hand, broke a 1/16" chip off the corner.
I'm used to pretty cheap chisels, I have a set of footprint chisels. About $10-15 each, nothing fancy but ok. They perform way better than these narex I just got. I don't know if I got a bad batch, or did narex get to popular and outsource? Anyone else have problems with the new bevel edge narex? Going to see if we have a hardness tester at work to check the steel hardness, and call lee valley in the morning.
Flattened the back, cut the main bevel down to 20 degrees on my worksharp, then put about a 21-22 degree secondary bevel with water stones up to a 8000 norton. 10" long paring cut on end grain, and the edge was chipped in 3 places. Little frustrating. So I resharpened them to 25 degree secondary bevel, all the way through the stones. Did a short pair on end grain, then pressed the chisel by hand into the face of a board, broke the corner off. I was barely into the surface, about like my first cut at a mark line to establish a shoulder.
I also got a couple mortise chisels for my brother's birthday present, decided to sharpen them up at the same time for him. 25 degree bevel, pressed into the face of a board by hand, broke a 1/16" chip off the corner.
I'm used to pretty cheap chisels, I have a set of footprint chisels. About $10-15 each, nothing fancy but ok. They perform way better than these narex I just got. I don't know if I got a bad batch, or did narex get to popular and outsource? Anyone else have problems with the new bevel edge narex? Going to see if we have a hardness tester at work to check the steel hardness, and call lee valley in the morning.