mtr1
Established Member
I am getting a new set of chisels soon, and am interested in three makers at the moment, Lie-Nielsen, Ashley Iles, and narex.
I will be using these everyday for my work as a cabinet maker, I am using the marples split proof jobbies, and various other chisels that I have picked up from boot fairs over the years. Which of course are fine, I just fancy a set that matches I know that sounds bad, but as I get older my retentiveness is starting to kick in, and everything in order and everything in its place is fast becoming my mantra(don't even talk about festool). Anyhow I first fancy'd the Nielsen's as they come flat(ish) and polished more importantly(if I'm paying a fair bit I don't want to do this really), and as I do a lot of reflective paring, they appealed a lot. However I do have some Ashley Iles carving gouges, which are just great. So am considering these also, however because I do a lot of reflective paring(I was taught by someone 50yrs older than Jacob so he must of been 150) my concern with these and also the narex's is the concavity of the back, now I know this has no bearing on how accurate these chisels are, but if I can't get the bottom 1.5" polished to a mirrored shine it will effect the way I work. So do I go for the American, the English, or the European??? Are there other alternatives? Oh lets not mention the Japanese jobs, how anyone can work with these is beyond me(and yes I have). TIA
I will be using these everyday for my work as a cabinet maker, I am using the marples split proof jobbies, and various other chisels that I have picked up from boot fairs over the years. Which of course are fine, I just fancy a set that matches I know that sounds bad, but as I get older my retentiveness is starting to kick in, and everything in order and everything in its place is fast becoming my mantra(don't even talk about festool). Anyhow I first fancy'd the Nielsen's as they come flat(ish) and polished more importantly(if I'm paying a fair bit I don't want to do this really), and as I do a lot of reflective paring, they appealed a lot. However I do have some Ashley Iles carving gouges, which are just great. So am considering these also, however because I do a lot of reflective paring(I was taught by someone 50yrs older than Jacob so he must of been 150) my concern with these and also the narex's is the concavity of the back, now I know this has no bearing on how accurate these chisels are, but if I can't get the bottom 1.5" polished to a mirrored shine it will effect the way I work. So do I go for the American, the English, or the European??? Are there other alternatives? Oh lets not mention the Japanese jobs, how anyone can work with these is beyond me(and yes I have). TIA