I recently bought some new chisels. After looking at a number of options (Lee Valley, Lie Nielsen, new Stanleys, Narex), I decided to go with the Ashley Iles Mark 2 bench chisels. At about $30 each, they are not cheap, but are about 1/2 the cost of Lee Valley or Lie Nielsen, and 1/3 the cost of brands I did not even seriously consider like the Blue Spruce. I don't have a large supply of vintage chisels where I live, or I might have gone that route.
The closest comparable in price seems to be the new Stanleys at about $20 each. Although the fact that Lee Valley is now selling them almost convinced me to give the Stanley socket chisels a try, I just couldn't figure out what the steel is. I have handled the Narex before, and for whatever reason, they did not really appeal to me (although you can't beat the price, and a number of people including George Wilson have indicated that they are good steel).
At the end of the day I went with the Iles because they are O1 steel and half the price of the Lee Valley. If I could figure out what the new Stanleys are, or if Lie Nielsen still made chisels in O1, I might have gone a different direction, because I like the socket style a little more then I do the tang.
I have seen a number of comments about the "fit and finish" on the Iles being poor, or about the steel being poor (chipping, "crumbling", etc.). Having used them now for a couple of days, I am not seeing any of that. Most of the reviews I could find were old, so maybe they used to have a problem and fixed it. I don't know. The British gurus I could find comments from apparently like them. Since Tools for Working Wood and The Best Things both sell them, I figured they must be pretty decent despite the bad reviews that I see floating around out there.
On the ones I got at any rate, the steel seems to be excellent, and takes a very nice edge. If there is anything to complain about in the way the chisels were ground and finished, I am not seeing it. The lands are very thin, and well done (no sharp edges). They came ground at 25 degrees, and the edges so far seem to be holding up well (I honed them at about 30). It took about five minutes with each of them to have them paring end grain nicely.
The handles are simple and functional. The ferrules were a little loose when they arrived (not falling off, but you could move them with finger pressure). They have now tightened up as they acclimate to my shop. The handles appear to have an oil finish. I don't really know what it is, but it has a similar feel to a couple of handles I have refinished with boiled linseed oil.
Overall, I think they are really nice chisels at a good price. I don't own the premium chisels, so cannot do a direct comparison, and perhaps there is something in them that I am missing (other than the premium steels, which I was not looking for), but I don't know what more I would ask for in a chisel.
If somebody were looking for a really good chisel, but does not want to spend the money needed for the Lee Valley or Lie Nielsen, I would not hesitate to recommend the Iles, particularly since both of the US suppliers have solid reputations for service.
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Originally Posted by Nicholas Lawrence
