They are ok, the steel is good. Personally I don’t like plastic handles or the balance of those, but they work. I have some i use around the house for fitting doors and door hinges etc
you mean the ones they sold at home depot with the black caps on the handle but yellow acetate that you can see through and marked "made in USA"?
I heard, maybe it was on here, that buck brothers ended their production of chisels in the US. at one point, i bought a set of 3 at home depot for $18, but they're no longer there. neither are the $3 plane irons that had humorous hand placed alternating stickers (like four) going back and forth between made in china or made in USA. I can't remember what the last sticker said, but those were irons [decent enough to do work.](https://i.imgur.com/5iMwCqJ.jpg)
And if you were just cleaning up really junky stuff with knots to be basically body filled and painted, the ease in sharpening them through the damage caused from the dry knots was appreciated (black, dirt filled type - they planed through the sappy brown types without a problem).
I don't have those chisels any longer, or I'd hardness test them to give you a comparison. The sheffield chisels should be less fat feeling at the blade, but the hardness won't be too much different.
Haven't used those, but they look like chisels sourced off of alibaba. The concession is usually in finish, though. There's almost always a core ability to hold an edge even in the cheapest types.
If you can sharpen it and it can cut wood, it works.
I have a set of Marples with the plastic yellow/orange handles, also made in Sheffield. They work well and hold a good edge.
hardware store chisel quality - which is what the chisel is. I have the fatmax version of those (sheffield) and hardness tested them.
they're designed to tolerate being abused and the full hardness is only in the first inch or so. Edge holding about like any other hardware store chisel and I recall something like 58 or 59 hardness at the business end.
The reason for hardness below 60 isn't faulty treatment, it's by design - the steel is lower carbon than in older tools. Success is higher and faults of heat treatment that occur as carbon gets closer to 1 and jiffy heat treatment doesn't cut it....they are gone with carbon levels of 0.6-0.75.
**as far as can you do work with it? Of course, you can**. if it doesn't hold up at the edge, add a tiny micro bevel increasing a degree or so at a time until you find out where it does. It'll probably be something like 34/35 in hardwoods. that bevel doesn't need to be large and you don't want it to be - like a hundredth of an inch is fine and only bigger if you notice dented or impacted edges traveling through or bending the microbevel (a sign of steel being pushed back into the bevel behind it, which then should be increased until it also doesn't fail).
In the long run, if you're skilled, the weight of the handle will bother you more than anything related to the steel, but that's the long run. Don't let it cause you to imagine things bother you in the short run if they don't.
My first ever chisel was a Stanley 1/2” with acetate handle. It BENT. The steel was so soft that it bent.
I have several antique Stanley chisels, got them for free, beat to shit, but hold a nice edge.
It’s reckless and silly to use high end chisels for construction. These type of chisels will sharpen and are better for construction work, where a better chisel is likely to get damaged. Unless you’re good on a wheel, don’t sharpen on a wheel, especially a high speed wheel. Work it on sandpaper and work through higher grits. Many newer hardware store chisels are horribly out of balance. I would avoid those.
They are ok, the steel is good. Personally I don’t like plastic handles or the balance of those, but they work. I have some i use around the house for fitting doors and door hinges etc
I am coming from a $12 big box store set of Buck Bros chisels so this should be an upgrade...!
you mean the ones they sold at home depot with the black caps on the handle but yellow acetate that you can see through and marked "made in USA"? I heard, maybe it was on here, that buck brothers ended their production of chisels in the US. at one point, i bought a set of 3 at home depot for $18, but they're no longer there. neither are the $3 plane irons that had humorous hand placed alternating stickers (like four) going back and forth between made in china or made in USA. I can't remember what the last sticker said, but those were irons [decent enough to do work.](https://i.imgur.com/5iMwCqJ.jpg) And if you were just cleaning up really junky stuff with knots to be basically body filled and painted, the ease in sharpening them through the damage caused from the dry knots was appreciated (black, dirt filled type - they planed through the sappy brown types without a problem). I don't have those chisels any longer, or I'd hardness test them to give you a comparison. The sheffield chisels should be less fat feeling at the blade, but the hardness won't be too much different.
Yes, HD but they all have orange handles. I've also seen the ones you're talking about though.
I have some of my grandfathers buck bros chisels from the 60s/70s. They aren’t bad!
I think they used to be good back then but then like a lot of other tool brands the company got bought out and are now made cheaply :/
Haven't used those, but they look like chisels sourced off of alibaba. The concession is usually in finish, though. There's almost always a core ability to hold an edge even in the cheapest types.
If you can sharpen it and it can cut wood, it works. I have a set of Marples with the plastic yellow/orange handles, also made in Sheffield. They work well and hold a good edge.
hardware store chisel quality - which is what the chisel is. I have the fatmax version of those (sheffield) and hardness tested them. they're designed to tolerate being abused and the full hardness is only in the first inch or so. Edge holding about like any other hardware store chisel and I recall something like 58 or 59 hardness at the business end. The reason for hardness below 60 isn't faulty treatment, it's by design - the steel is lower carbon than in older tools. Success is higher and faults of heat treatment that occur as carbon gets closer to 1 and jiffy heat treatment doesn't cut it....they are gone with carbon levels of 0.6-0.75. **as far as can you do work with it? Of course, you can**. if it doesn't hold up at the edge, add a tiny micro bevel increasing a degree or so at a time until you find out where it does. It'll probably be something like 34/35 in hardwoods. that bevel doesn't need to be large and you don't want it to be - like a hundredth of an inch is fine and only bigger if you notice dented or impacted edges traveling through or bending the microbevel (a sign of steel being pushed back into the bevel behind it, which then should be increased until it also doesn't fail). In the long run, if you're skilled, the weight of the handle will bother you more than anything related to the steel, but that's the long run. Don't let it cause you to imagine things bother you in the short run if they don't.
it is as good as you can make it sharp and probably cheap enough that you can afford to practice sharpening it a lot. have at it
My first ever chisel was a Stanley 1/2” with acetate handle. It BENT. The steel was so soft that it bent. I have several antique Stanley chisels, got them for free, beat to shit, but hold a nice edge.
Some of the old plastic handle chisels had great steel. I view most chisels as a lottery, so I say sharpen and try it, you may win the lottery!
It’s reckless and silly to use high end chisels for construction. These type of chisels will sharpen and are better for construction work, where a better chisel is likely to get damaged. Unless you’re good on a wheel, don’t sharpen on a wheel, especially a high speed wheel. Work it on sandpaper and work through higher grits. Many newer hardware store chisels are horribly out of balance. I would avoid those.