A look at Harbor Frieght Wood Chisels

[Don Dorn]

Like many others, I have too many sets (3) of good quality chisels to be concerned with HF. That said, I got a set of four as a gift and decided to see if they could be at all useful. Soft steel and was easy to flatten the back on an inspection plate w/sandpaper. After that, sharpened like usual (Sellers method) and found them to be very sharp. Frankly, I didn't use them enough to see how long the edge lasted and gave them a friend who had none. He was able to start with a sharp set. In the end, was surprised at how they could be turned into something that worked pretty well.

[Mike Brady]

I appreciate the feedback and criticism. Like the OP, Mike; I see it as healthy discourse.

[Leo Graywacz]

Mike, you seem like a good guy and I'm glad to see you contributing to the discussion here. I do have to question the value of this review as well some some other recent discussions of tools from Harbor Freight and other big box retailers. This seems to me to be a race to the bottom, based on lowest price. Harbor Freight is obviously successful at what they do and a person who uses a tool infrequently might best advised to shop there. The readers of this forum tend to be the frequent user, perhaps even very skilled. Tools from the lowest tier of quality are not likely to interest to them. I see little point in anyone wasting money on a tool just to do a review. Perhaps it makes the purchase seem justifiable.

Because sometimes you find a gem amongst the trash. You have to try some things out to find out if they have any real value.

[bridger berdel]

Those HF chisels are useable for purpose. The fit and finish of them is atrocious. The cost is appropriate.

[Jim Koepke]

Mike, you seem like a good guy and I'm glad to see you contributing to the discussion here. I do have to question the value of this review as well some some other recent discussions of tools from Harbor Freight and other big box retailers. This seems to me to be a race to the bottom, based on lowest price. Harbor Freight is obviously successful at what they do and a person who uses a tool infrequently might best advised to shop there. The readers of this forum tend to be the frequent user, perhaps even very skilled. Tools from the lowest tier of quality are not likely to interest to them. I see little point in anyone wasting money on a tool just to do a review. Perhaps it makes the purchase seem justifiable.

I have looked at the Harbor Freight chisels and figured they would be redundant in my situation. However I also purchased a three piece set of Stanley chisels for $3:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...ley-Chisel-Set

My good chisels do not get used on dirty jobs. If there wasn't already a good selection of beaters in my shop the HF set might come home with me.

There may be folks reading the posts on SMC who cannot afford to even pay $10 each for a few chisels, BTDT.

Should these aspiring woodworkers wait until they can afford Narex or Lie-Nielsen?

jtk

[george wilson]

The ancient Egyptians would possibly have seen the HF chisels as a gift from the Sun God. They would have tossed their copper chisels out!

But,we have moved on.

[Frederick Skelly]

The readers of this forum tend to be the frequent user, perhaps even very skilled. Tools from the lowest tier of quality are not likely to interest to them. I see little point in anyone wasting money on a tool just to do a review. Perhaps it makes the purchase seem justifiable.

Mike, I think I see what you're getting at, but I had kind of the opposite reaction. I get a kick out of it when someone posts a low priced gem. For example, there was a thread a couple years ago about the $7 Aldi chisels and I bought a set just to experiment with. You're all gonna laugh at me, but I put a very shallow bevel on them (20* with a 2* secondary) and I use them a lot. Those, plus a set of Marples (blue with white rings) do everything I need. Well enough that, even though l saved enough to buy a starter set of LNs, I just couldn't convince myself I needed to - and I KNOW I'll love the LNs. But I grin every time I get good work outta these cheapo $7 chisels. Just a different view and of course YMMV.

Best regards,
Fred

[Andrew Pitonyak]

Mike, you seem like a good guy and I'm glad to see you contributing to the discussion here. I do have to question the value of this review as well some some other recent discussions of tools from Harbor Freight and other big box retailers. This seems to me to be a race to the bottom, based on lowest price. Harbor Freight is obviously successful at what they do and a person who uses a tool infrequently might best advised to shop there. The readers of this forum tend to be the frequent user, perhaps even very skilled. Tools from the lowest tier of quality are not likely to interest to them. I see little point in anyone wasting money on a tool just to do a review. Perhaps it makes the purchase seem justifiable.

I sometimes purchase tools such as these because:

1. Sometimes people ask if they can borrow a tool. No, you cannot borrow my PM-V11 nice set, you will destroy it. Borrow this, even if you do destroy the edge, and you will, I can put it back in almost no time with no concern that I just ground off 1/8" of the tip.
2. Sometimes I want a beater set for something.
3. Sometimes I have a friend who rarely ever uses them, but they have this one task, so I gift them a very sharp set of beaters that cost me almost nothing.
4. Sometimes I want to train someone or learn to do something. I have a set of beaters that have a nice grove in the back because I messed up trying to figure out how to flatten the back on a powered device, probably my Tormek years ago. That big gash is still there on the back. Luckily it is far enough back it does not affect use, and, luckily, I was testing using a junk set I paid $3 for.

In other words, I appreciate it when someone says "hey, for that little money, I am willing to give it a go". I think it is why the Aldi sets became so popular.

[bridger berdel]

At one point I bought a set to quickly and cheaply fill in a gap in my working set. Then I bought another set for material for making specialty chisels. Rust hunting has long since displaced the ones in the bench chisel lineup, and I think there are still one or two in the customs category.

They served their purpose. I don't regret a thing.