How to choose a first chisel set: what the tests actually compared

A first chisel is a promise that someone will make it sharp. I have not. The tests below are about bevel-edge bench chisels, not mortise chisels. A mortise chisel is the thick one for levering waste. It is a later tool.

What the experts say

Medium. Three write-ups like Narex for the money. They do not tell the same story about the tips.

Fine Woodworking’s 2008 test called Narex the value pick: a flat back and an edge that held up.¹

Wood and Shop prefers the Richter line and says it holds an edge better than Irwin Marples.² G.S. Haydon says the lands were sharp enough to cut him and the tips chipped at the start.³ Lie-Nielsen won “best overall” in that 2008 test and was also middle of the pack on edge life. One test, two sentences.

What owners report

A comment on the Fine Woodworking page says newer Marples look cheap. A comment on the 2011 Sweetheart review says handles come loose in an unconditioned shop. I am treating comments as comments, not as a second lab.

Where they disagree

Narex: “held up quite well” versus chipped tips. I cannot resolve it without using them, and I have not. Stanley Sweetheart 750 is one positive review plus a handle complaint on the same page. A search snippet attributed a tip warning to Paul Sellers. I did not open that page, so it is not a source here.

My take

If the budget is a first set you will hone, the value notes point at Narex, with Haydon’s tip story left in the open. Marples is the “good enough” line in more than one guide, with the cheap-looking comment attached. Lie-Nielsen is what one test called almost ready, at a price that test also treated as the point. A new chisel still wants the back lapped. That is setup, repeated across these reviews, not a defect I discovered.

The photo is a fair box, not a shopping list. The plane note is here.

What to sharpen them on is its own question, in diamond plate or water stone.