I managed to ruin an already pretty poor chisel out of a set, and honestly won't cry over it. It was the 1" out of my Stanley Chinese set from Home Depot.
My disdain for them comes from the short handles, meaning my big hands overlap below the handle and can run into the workpiece, or above and risk smashing with the mallet.
The irons for lack of a better word, blade, working metal whatever, is also too short to be all that useful for say cleaning up deep mortises.
The metal itself is the biggest issue. I used it for cleaning up the corners on my last flip top stand on the rabbets, and, well a sizeable, maybe 1/8" x 1/4" piece of edge flaked off.
So I am looking for reasonably priced, but, well, longer chisels made with better / stronger steel. It's not like I ever was abusive to these things until I went to reestablish the bevel on the 1"...
I am considering the Irwin Marples M444 6pc set. It has sizes 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 3/4, 1 and 1-1/4in which would easily replace the Stanleys, the handles and blades look to be a good bit longer than the Stanleys which should make for a more comfortable operation.
I know my local Lowes has them, but I am kind of hoping to hear from the person that owns one as it were. How is the metal on them? I can check for comfort / fitment in store but I don't want chisels that will flake apart as I use them...
As a frame of reference, and I am not talking the Stanley Sweetheart chisel but rather the cheap pack set one, I found the replacement on Amazon but still hate it...
And the Irwin / Marples chisel set.
My disdain for them comes from the short handles, meaning my big hands overlap below the handle and can run into the workpiece, or above and risk smashing with the mallet.
The irons for lack of a better word, blade, working metal whatever, is also too short to be all that useful for say cleaning up deep mortises.
The metal itself is the biggest issue. I used it for cleaning up the corners on my last flip top stand on the rabbets, and, well a sizeable, maybe 1/8" x 1/4" piece of edge flaked off.
So I am looking for reasonably priced, but, well, longer chisels made with better / stronger steel. It's not like I ever was abusive to these things until I went to reestablish the bevel on the 1"...
I am considering the Irwin Marples M444 6pc set. It has sizes 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 3/4, 1 and 1-1/4in which would easily replace the Stanleys, the handles and blades look to be a good bit longer than the Stanleys which should make for a more comfortable operation.
I know my local Lowes has them, but I am kind of hoping to hear from the person that owns one as it were. How is the metal on them? I can check for comfort / fitment in store but I don't want chisels that will flake apart as I use them...
As a frame of reference, and I am not talking the Stanley Sweetheart chisel but rather the cheap pack set one, I found the replacement on Amazon but still hate it...
And the Irwin / Marples chisel set.
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