GarrettWade chisels?

Jeff wrote: > Does anyone have any opinions on the quality of the
GarrettWade branded > chisels? They are shown in the latest catalog at
a pretty reasonable > price point. But I don't want to pick them up if
they stink. :) > > Thanks. > Jeff

Jeff,

I've owned the boxed set of Garrett Wade Chisels for about three years
now. They are a good value for the money. They hold an edge well but
need to be sharpened before using as they do not arrive anywhere near
sharp enough.

Chris,

I didn't mean the lack of sharpness to be a slam on the Garrett Wade
Chisels, just wanted Jeff to be aware of the work in front of him. I
believe the Lie Nielsen chisels as well as most Japanese chisels are
sharp enough to be used as received. Of course, they are much more
pricey!

Yep, they appear to be the same chisels as the Lee Valley 'Narex'
chisels. And the price is definitely better at Lee Valley (although
they don't come in a fancy wood box apparently.) A set of eight
chisels is currently listed at $54.

Thanks for the pointer!

Although you didn't ask the question, you might thing about picking up
old chisels at flea markets; I generally don't pay more than $2-$5
apiece for the ones with handles, and those without handles $1, and
with the same sharpening effort they work just fine. There's a lot of
stuff out there.

Mutt

Rossmoor Galoot wrote:

> I've owned the boxed set of Garrett Wade Chisels for about three years
> now. They are a good value for the money. They hold an edge well but
> need to be sharpened before using as they do not arrive anywhere near
> sharp enough.

Do *any* machine-made chisels come sharp enough to use? I was under the
impression that only the hand-made ones were actually honed out-of-the-box.

Chris

On Wed, 09 Nov 2005 07:14:34 -0800, Jeff wrote:

> Does anyone have any opinions on the quality of the GarrettWade branded

The same Czech ones Lee Valley sells for a
fraction of the price? Or the Crown shinies?

I got one of the Czech chisels (from LV). It's ok. The handle dye made an
awful mess when I stripped the shipping lacquer off the blade. Some light
sanding and a couple coats of shellac took care of that. The back was
reasonably flat right out of the box. The lower ferrule looks kinda
chintzy, but the top one means business. I like the length of the blade.

Someone else can comment on the Crowns.

--
"Keep your ass behind you"
vladimir a t mad {dot} scientist {dot} com

On Thu, 10 Nov 2005 10:39:33 -0800, Jeff wrote:

> Yep, they appear to be the same chisels as the Lee Valley 'Narex'
> chisels. And the price is definitely better at Lee Valley (although
> they don't come in a fancy wood box apparently.) A set of eight

LV will also sell you a wooden box. Look for the description of their
branded chisels. Doesn't everyone memorize the LV catalog?