Lidl tool time again

[ED65]

DO NOT BUY THE CHISELS!!!
They are rubbish, bought them last time when they were on offer and the metal is just junk, they are decently sharp but... the metal quality is just garbage...

The steel is perfectly fine, as we can see from all the many happy users. It's the heat treatment that can vary unfortunately.

I was just reading the site of a woodcarver the other day who said that he occasionally comes across a Pfeil which won't hold an edge. If a quality Swiss brand can have periodic failures of their heat-treating process then I think we can forgive the anonymous factory in China that makes the Lidl ones the same

oh and the japanese saw isn't really that good either.

I've found mine (both blades) excellent. Haven't broken a single tooth in well over a year of use, on a mixture of softwoods (including some particularly tough fir), fruitwoods and hardwoods.

 

[Deejay]

Owsnap

Please go wash your mouth Mr.Racist and take a walk.

Eh?

P.S. It's rude to shout.

Cheers

Dave

 

[MrTeroo]

DO NOT BUY THE CHISELS!!!
They are rubbish, bought them last time when they were on offer and the metal is just junk, they are decently sharp but... the metal quality is just garbage, I would rate that their usable lifetime is about 20minutes before you get a large chip in the metal or the ends brake off .All of the 4 chisels are now goners for me.. They looked pretty quality in shop, and when you take them in hand they also feel very nice, but that's about it #-o

Bit of an over the top post for some £7 chisels? Did it really warrant the massive bold capitals?

FWIW I built my workbench using a set of them and they worked well and still do.

 

[Wizard9999]

Please go wash your mouth Mr.Racist and take a walk.

Calling somebody a racist today seems to be the modern day equivalent of the accusation of somebody being a witch in centuries past, once uttered it is so poisonous as to never need to be justified and cannot be argued against. It seems to be adopted as a cheap trick to gain the upper hand in an argument. But, the incorrect use of the word is gradually diminishing its true, horrible meaning. Somebody cannot be a racist where race is not an issue. Nationality is not the same as race. If the issue is one of prejudice because of nationality the correct thing to accuse somebody of would be xenophobia.

I am not saying anyone has or has not been xenophobic. But I am saying nobody has been a racist in this thread.

Terry.

 

[owsnap]

Well I must have had the only bad batch than...kinda doubt that. That's the point they are only £7 ,but still that's a £7 down the drain in my case as the metal just wasn't up to scratch in my case for almost anything.. I even chipped off half of a blade for one when trying to slice off a small 6mm pine plug with it.
The rest of the chisel had very impressive build quality and I thought I had gotten a nice bargain, wrong...


btw I saw today in my Lidl a ROS for only £12.99 , opened the box right there and than and that machine looked on par with the green £50 bosch ones- almost identical I would say. The build quality certainly wasn't what you would expect from a £12.99 machine.

Some joker has even listed it on ebay for £75
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/PARKSIDE-Rand ... xy4dNSyunS

worth a look in case anyone needs one, didn't bought myself as had no need for one but certainly looked very good value just for a few pennies.

 

[Eric The Viking]

Regarding the Lidl "Japanese" saws: I've got one, too.

I do find it useful, but truthfully the blade isn't as good as the real Jap "Z" saws I have, but then it was a small fraction of the cost.

I don't want to trigger a sharpening fight, but one thing I intend to try when it's really blunt is resharpening it - after a fashion. I thought I might simply try polishing the side of the saw using my Scary Sharp glass plate and going down through the grits in the same way as I would with any other (sharpenable) edge tool.

It won't cut off dowels because of the tooth set, which, although slight is still there. You can, just about, do it with my Z saws, but paper is necessary, and it probably won't be flush.

I've got a small cut-off saw by Crown Tools (British made!) for that, which works brilliantly. It has an asymmetric set to the teeth - on one side there isn't any set at all. The whole thing (set/no-set) is very subtle and it's hard to see, so I've sanded a small flat on one side of the handle (just enough to feel and see it) as a reminder of which side is which. I have sharpened that one, as it's a conventional Western tooth profile, but it's very hard to do as it's around 20TPI.

 

[memzey]

Who to believe?

Paul Sellers, lots of folks here who have been buying them with no problems for years.
Or
Someone who constantly moans about everything his host country has offered him and has a very dubious internet persona

Believe it or not we managed to work out for ourselves that at seven quid they were not absolutely top class.
They chipped due to misuse. :roll:

You need to be particularly dumb ( rudimentary knowledge of tooth profile tells you that) to think the saw would flush cut without marking,its not sold to do that.

Sir,I will post some pictures later on of the chisels.

btw I'm born in this country,moved away at age of 3 and recently moved back due to inherited property,can't say that I like this country very much due to people like yourself.
Please go wash your mouth Mr.Racist and take a walk.

Many of us (myself included) have met and know Jim (lurker). He is not a racist. You may have been upset with his post but your comment was unfair. Please do the right thing and take it back.

 

[lurker]

Cheers memzey

But I'm not at all bothered what the kid calls me

By the way Internet etiquette (godwins law) suggests I'm actually a nazi

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

My take on Lidl/Aldi tools is that in most cases, for general work, the quality is better than you might expect given the price and nature of the company's targets ie those on low budgets. I think where the risk lies is that the factories producing these have poor quality control and therefore some make it out that really are Friday afternoon tools. That sounds like what's happened in the case of the posters chipping chisels. There's no point in arguing about whose right/wrong because you're comparing apples with oranges in terms of the quality once its left the factory.

I've got a set personally, had for 5 years or so now and they're perfectly acceptable for generic work. But that doesn't mean someone else is an silly person when paring off a dowel! it just means the quality is variable. That's exactly what I would expect from the price point of these tools.

Given most have a 3 year warranty, you have to kind of think....who cares really. They're as close to disposable as tools get!

 

[lurker]

When I buy stuff cheap I have the expectation it will fail quickly that way you can only be pleasantly surprised.
And often with lidl stuff I am

 

[RogerBoyle]

Who to believe?

Paul Sellers, lots of folks here who have been buying them with no problems for years.
Or
Someone who constantly moans about everything his host country has offered him and has a very dubious internet persona

Believe it or not we managed to work out for ourselves that at seven quid they were not absolutely top class.
They chipped due to misuse. :roll:

You need to be particularly dumb ( rudimentary knowledge of tooth profile tells you that) to think the saw would flush cut without marking,its not sold to do that.

Sir,I will post some pictures later on of the chisels.

btw I'm born in this country,moved away at age of 3 and recently moved back due to inherited property,can't say that I like this country very much due to people like yourself.
Please go wash your mouth Mr.Racist and take a walk.

Please show me the racist comments that you are talking about

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

I think it's time to move along here folks. There clearly were no racist comments. I suspect that simply because the word "country" was mentioned, the poster has misinterpreted the sentiment behind the comments. We all know and respect Lurker, he himself has said he's not taken any offence so I suggest we take the spoon out and stop stirring now. Nothing to see here!

 

[Steve Maskery]

I've just bought the Industrial Fan heater.I don't know how much effect it will have in my workshop because it is SO HUGE and I might have to take out a mortgage for the electricity bill, but it appears to be well-designed and built piece of kit. Certainly suitable for a single-garage-sized home workshop.
I wish I'd seen the clip-on LED lamps, I'd have bought one for my drill-press.

 

[Gary]

Who to believe?

Paul Sellers, lots of folks here who have been buying them with no problems for years.
Or
Someone who constantly moans about everything his host country has offered him and has a very dubious internet persona

Believe it or not we managed to work out for ourselves that at seven quid they were not absolutely top class.
They chipped due to misuse. :roll:

You need to be particularly dumb ( rudimentary knowledge of tooth profile tells you that) to think the saw would flush cut without marking,its not sold to do that.

Sir,I will post some pictures later on of the chisels.

btw I'm born in this country,moved away at age of 3 and recently moved back due to inherited property,can't say that I like this country very much due to people like yourself.
Please go wash your mouth Mr.Racist and take a walk.

I don't see any racist comment there, but please do yourself a favour if you do t like this country. Sell up and leave, no ones forcing you to live here.

Remember it was you making racist comments last week.

 

[YorkshireMartin]

My take on Lidl/Aldi tools is that in most cases, for general work, the quality is better than you might expect given the price and nature of the company's targets ie those on low budgets. I think where the risk lies is that the factories producing these have poor quality control and therefore some make it out that really are Friday afternoon tools. That sounds like what's happened in the case of the posters chipping chisels. There's no point in arguing about whose right/wrong because you're comparing apples with oranges in terms of the quality once its left the factory.

I've got a set personally, had for 5 years or so now and they're perfectly acceptable for generic work. But that doesn't mean someone else is an silly person when paring off a dowel! it just means the quality is variable. That's exactly what I would expect from the price point of these tools.

Given most have a 3 year warranty, you have to kind of think....who cares really. They're as close to disposable as tools get!

I wonder if anyone has actually tried a warranty claim on a lidl chisel. That would be interesting reading...lol

 

[mahomo59]

I think chisels are more than acceptable. Got me out of a fix today, as I was hanging a door for a friend and had remembered everything from my workshop apart from the ... popped over Lidl 200m's away and bought a set, used straight out of the packaging, two hinges and a mortice latch no sweat. Neighbour even paid for them. What's not like

 

[RobinBHM]

Ive got 3 sets of the Aldi chisels and my experience is that the edges chip quite easily. They must be quite good steel though, as they can take a really sharp edge. Ive read on here that some chisels can be a bit easy to chip when new, but after a few sharpenings the edge holding improves, so Im hopeful.

 

[No skills]

Witch! witch! Burn the witch.. or was it drown the witch?
I can never remember.

Can anybody remember when narex chisels were becoming popular a while ago? Was widely acknowledged that the first few mm of steel was prone to chipping on new ones and a grind or two would get you to good steel - don't remember many moaning about that. Funny eh.

 

[sundaytrucker]

I picked up a set of the lidl chisels today, loads in malvern.

I wanted some rough chisels to practice free hand sharpening and for £7 I can't really complain. They will certainly do the job I bought them for.