Andy Kev.":glc0jy9w said:
DW, out of interest, how do you rate the Veritas bench chisels? I ask because I have nothing to compare them with but a single 1 1/2" Stanley chisel with a blue plastic handle from the 80s. Both take a very sharp edge but the PMV 11 of the Veritas does seem to hold the edge longer.
Come to think of it, this is, I suppose, a bit academic because if you get into the habit of sharpening frequently and/or just before anything critical, then you always have a sharp chisel in your hand.
I've never bought them just for curiosity, they're too expensive (the veritas chisels) for that and I'd lose $60-$80 in the exchange of playing with them and reselling them. So, I don't have an opinion other than having played with the steel in planes and looking at it under a metallurgical microscope after sharpening it.
It should make a good chisel. I doubt it makes a better chisel than white steel (which is the gold standard for chisels and probably always will be, but at the same time has to be forge welded to something and will never show up in western proportion chisels because of that), but I'd guess that it's probably on par with something like an old ward chisel in experienced hands.
Except a ward chisel will sharpen more easily and if you're in the UK, probably cost less.
The iles chisels are the most for the money at this point unless you need heavier chisels than their profile. Sheffield made footprint is very similar in terms of edge retention (but you have to look around to find something other than acetate handles if that kind of thing bothers you). If the veritas chisels outlast ashley iles chisels in real world use, the sharpenability of the iles chisels (functionally) on a single oilstone would negate any advantage that they have.
I found the plane irons to be like a better version of A2 steel (a2 will not sharpen properly on some things, and it releases globs, which leave lines on finish planing work and send you back to the stones earlier than you'd like). But I didn't find them so good that they would overcome plane design. Most notably, in sizing billets, I could get more done with an old try plane and a (good) butcher iron before sharpening than I could would the veritas custom plane, and with a lot less effort.
Well, the try plane was a new one that i made, but old design. The iron is old - I don't usually make irons except for moulding planes and specialty planes where I can't find a suitable old one.
In a contest of taking thin shavings in really hard wood with metal planes, the V11 iron would've won hands down - it makes a very good iron for what most people do with modern sharpening stones and generally finish work only.
Anyway, i don't think there's likely to be a practical benefit that would justify the cost difference between V11 and Ashley iles chisels. And "edge chasers" will prefer japanese chisels for things like dovetail sockets, anyway. You can literally sit down with a white steel chisel with a finish stone beside you and work indenfinitely. You can, of course, do the same thing with any chisel if you make the stone a little bit more coarse, but the level of sharpness and fidelity in the edge of the japanese chisel through the working cycle is far nicer/crisper/closer to initial sharpness.
(I wouldn't buy most modern white steel chisels, either - most are overpriced. All of the vintage japanese chisels I've bought have been made to the same standard as long as they don't look like old hardware store junk - but you have to order them from japanese auctions, which won't appeal to some people).
