Based on some of the threads I found here I decided to buy a couple of these babys over at ToolsForWoodworking.com and thought that I would share my experience.

By way of background, I started out with the seemingly obligatory set of Marples blue chips and quickly learned that they were not going to be my primary choice for any kind of real work... Over the following year or so I purchased several Japanese chisels which were a huge improvement. However, I learned the hard way that you should not use them to pry out the bottom of mortises

So began my quest to find a couple of good mortise chisels, I was tempted to go with some Japanese style mortise chisels, but realized that while the body might be heavier than their beveled cousins, the edge certainly isn't (not if it's sharp at any rate) and that wonderfully hard steel that holds an edge so well would probably be just as likely to chip on a mortise chisel as on my existing ones.

So I eagerly unpacked my two new Ray Iles mortise chisels and admired their heft and good looks. My initial impression was that these chisels are much bigger than I expected. Joel at ToolsForWoodworking recommends just using them out of the box, but that runs counter to everything I've learned, and I noticed that the secondary bevel was quite large, so I immediately start to flatten the backs.

I quickly realized that the backs weren't perfectly flat but think to myself that this isn't a big deal. None of my Japanese chisels were "flat" and neither were any of my LN plane irons, and the Ray Iles chisels are closer than most. I quickly learned, however, that D2 steel is TOUGH! It proved much more difficult to flatten than anything I've ever experienced. Initially I thought my fine DMT plate would get the job done quickly, it wasn't long before I flipped it over to the coarse side and proceeded to work up a sweat...

Finally I prevailed and got the chisels tuned up to my satisfaction. As for those who say that D2 (and A2 for that matter) can't be honed as finely as other types of steel, I can't see it. I consider my planes and chisels sharp when I can easily shave with them. I have no reliable means of measuring sharpness beyond that, and while I did have a bit more work getting these chisels to that point, my expectation is that like the A2 steel in my LN planes, it will stay that way longer.

Now how do they work? Let me just say WOW! Now granted, I was moving from using bevel sided Japanese chisels to these, but the difference is night and day. The control that you have with those big oval handles is wonderful, and knowing how tough the steel is I felt no hesitation in whacking these things and prying out the waste.

I can't say that the edge didn't suffer some degradation from my testing, but it was still serviceable after several runs through 2" thick Red Oak. Now, when I say "degradation" don't think edge failure here; a few quick passes on my 8000 water stone and a strop were all that was required to put it right. At this point I became a believer.

To sum up, these chisels are awesome. If you need a real mortise chisel you can't go wrong with these. Just be prepared to spend a bit of time and elbow grease to get through the initial tuning.