I currently own a motley assortment of bench chisels purchased in the early 80's when cash was tight; a partial set of Sheffield and Japanese purchased from Garret Wade when they were still in Manhattan and still carried tools worth owning. They are traditional European bench and Japanese style. I want to upgrade each of these with a new set as they are pretty beat up after 30 years of use. I am currently looking at Ashly Isles for the European available at The Best Things http://thebestthings.com/newtools/ashley_iles_bench.htm and Japanese with a slight twist (High Speed Steel) available at Traditional Woodworker http://www.traditionalwoodworker.com.../products/633/.
As a matter of current work practices; I do all of my M&T work and Dovetails on machinery and not by hand, so I primarily use chisels for final tuning of joints. Also, I find I reach for my Japanese chisels more often than my European style for almost all tasks. I work mainly in white oak doing Mission and G&G pieces.
Can anyone who actually owns either of these comment on their ability to take a very sharp edge and retain it well compared to others within their respective types if you have that awareness or simply give a relative comment on how well they hold up between the need for sharpening.
I have not ruled out other the possibility of purchasing something entirely different, if anyone whishes to shear what has worked well for them, but this seems to be the way I m going so far.
I realize I am not perhaps your typical woodworker who hangs out in this section of the forum; but who better to ask then you guys given he higher level of usage you put on hand tools. So if anyone can help, i'd sure appreciate it.