lie nielsen chisels?

[Marty Barron]

I am thinking about getting a set of Lie Nielsen socket chisels for doing dovetails. Are they worth the price? Are there any sales that happen prior to Christmas? Is there a need to go to the long handle chisels if you have large hands or is the regular length adequate? I am not able to test drive the chisels.

Thanks in advance for any assistance...

Marty

[Prashun Patel]

You won't go wrong with those.

I would, however, counsel you to research a couple other brands b4 pulling any triggers:

Blue Spruce Toolwks gets excellent reviews.

If you are budget minded, the Narex chisels are an excellent value. You might consider getting a 'set' of these and then buy premium chisels in only your most used widths.

Just a thought.

[Charlie Stone]

Marty, if you are looking for a dovetail chisel, check out toolsforworkingwood.com they have some really nice round back chisels from Ashley Iles.
I may sound like a commercial for this companys website, however, I think their warranty blows away almost any other I have seen (1 year unconditional, you don't like it, you get your money back). I picked up a full set of the Ray Iles mortise chisels and absolutely love them.

[Dave Beauchesne]

FWIW, I love mine ( in Rosewood of course ) - they just work well.

I don't have experience with Blue Spruce or other premium makers - do your homework and try to get some hands on before you shell out the $$

Dave B

[glenn bradley]

Agreed that the LN chisels are very nice. Once you get to that price point, there are a lot of nice chisels so read the reviews (with a grain of salt) and check out owners thoughts on different brands (thinning out those who love anything they spent a lot of money on) and if at all possible, get to a LN event and lay your hands on some.

[Rick Markham]

I have zero complaints about mine! If I had to do it over again, I might have gotten them in 01, but I haven't had any issues with the A2 ones, so it is really a moot point. Now I want a set of their mortise chisels

[John Coloccia]

I have a set and they're very nice, but it's not the night and day difference that you experience when you go from a cheaper plane to a LN or Veritas plane. Japanese chisels are also very nice, as are Two Cherries, Pfeil etc. I mostly use LN and Veritas planes, but I have a lot of different chisels and I really don't have any complaints about any of them. Seems like when you get away from Home Depot chisels, there's lots of really excellent choices.

My recommendation is to not buy a set. Buy one or two that you need, and see what you like. Personally, I'm really starting to dig the Japanese chisels. They get very sharp and hold an edge for quite a while.

[Prashun Patel]

Now that I think about it, FWW did a review of bench chisels in 2008.


http://www.finewoodworking.com/FWNPDF/011200038.pdf

The LN came out top.

The other one they really liked was the Matsumura Blue (if you prefer Japanese style)

[David Weaver]

Now that I think about it, FWW did a review of bench chisels in 2008.


http://www.finewoodworking.com/FWNPDF/011200038.pdf

The LN came out top.

The other one they really liked was the Matsumura Blue (if you prefer Japanese style)

There's a funny thing about that. They didn't test the chisels at 25 degrees, which is where they should've been tested. The results would've been different.

The other funny thing is, and I have chisels from both (japanese and lie nielsen), Lie nielsen chisels, especially a2 if you will use them at 30+ degrees, are extremely tough, but of the japanese chisels I've used (and I have some matsumuras, too), koyama-ichi last longer than LN chisels, and so do some miyanaga blue steel mortise chisels I got (and I have an LN mortise chisel to compare). At the time they did that test, I think miyanaga chisels were in the same ball park, and you couldn't get koyama-ichi bench chisels.

Thanks to the exchange rate, japanese chisels become more and more expensive, and immediately so if you have to order them direct (though that is still usually cheaper, even though the currency fluctuation is immediate).

Anyway, those chisel tests should have, at a minimum, been done at 25 and 30 degrees in their entirety, because you will use a chisel as shallow as it lets you use it without sharpening getting onerous, maybe with mortising chisels being the exception.

[Jonathan Spool]

I have two sets of chisels. My Blue handle Marples, which get used and abused for anything I don't want to subject my Ashley Isles MK IIs to.
For the amount of hand work I do, which is primarilly making fine adjustments to my power tool work, or the occasional full hand tool project, I am extremely happy with the edge quality, durability, and comfort of the MK IIs.

[Jared McMahon]

Marty, if you are looking for a dovetail chisel, check out toolsforworkingwood.com they have some really nice round back chisels from Ashley Iles.

I just noticed these a day or two ago, does anyone have first-hand experience with them? They're intriguing critters.

As far as chisels generally, I have been contemplating the LN's for a while but saw some first-hand at my local Woodcraft store and they look surprisingly small. The only chisels I have currently are rehabbed Swan firmers but I really appreciate their length and heft. This really brought home people's advice to lay hands on whatever you aim to buy. I'm definitely going to go back and ask to handle the chisels for a while before pulling the trigger on anything.

[David Weaver]

I have two sets of chisels. My Blue handle Marples, which get used and abused for anything I don't want to subject my Ashley Isles MK IIs to.
For the amount of hand work I do, which is primarilly making fine adjustments to my power tool work, or the occasional full hand tool project, I am extremely happy with the edge quality, durability, and comfort of the MK IIs.

Even if you used them all the time and had no power tools, they'd be fine.

[Charlie Stone]

I haven't tried these, but the mortise chisels are AWESOME! and again, the people at this company will give you your money back if you don't like them for ANY reason (other then broken by abuse). Even if you thought the handles didn't look good in your tool cabinet.

[Ken Masco]

Marty,
I bought a set of them last year and they are great! All I have to compare them to though are the Marples which I used (and abused) for almost 18 years. The handels on the LN are easily removeable with a slight tap on the side. I bought one extra handel ( a long one) and find I'm using the standard handel most of the time although the longer handel has come in handy a few times.

[Andrae Covington]

As far as chisels generally, I have been contemplating the LN's for a while but saw some first-hand at my local Woodcraft store and they look surprisingly small. The only chisels I have currently are rehabbed Swan firmers but I really appreciate their length and heft. This really brought home people's advice to lay hands on whatever you aim to buy. I'm definitely going to go back and ask to handle the chisels for a while before pulling the trigger on anything.

If possible, it would be great to handle the chisels before buying. Though I believe Lie Nielsen has a generous return policy. The first set of chisels I bought were Narex, and having never seen them in person I must say I was surprised how big the handles were. I recently bought an Ashley Iles Mk2 and the smaller handle is more comfortable for me. The opposite problem from Jared but same basic issue.

I agree with the advice to buy a size or two to try out first. You might try a couple or three different brands, especially if you can send one back if you don't like the size and shape.

I just noticed these [round-back Ashley Iles] a day or two ago, does anyone have first-hand experience with them? They're intriguing critters.

No personal experience, I debated buying one instead of the Mk2, especially since I bought it to do dovetails. I think Joel Moskowitz posted somewhere (may have been another forum) that he likes the roundbacks even more than the Mk2's. Maybe when I go to order another size I will try one of those.