It's funny how we seem to view "foreiegn" tools as being better than local tools. In the USA chisels from Buck, Sears and the like are readily available and relatively cheap. Japanese, German, Austrian and Swiss however go for a more premium price and we seem to be willing to pay that premium price because "they must be better, they'r made in (fill in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Japan).
While in Munich I made a run up to Dick's Fine Tools, in Metten, about 100 Km from Munich. Went specifically to get some of them "foreign" chisels" - specifically Two Cherries. Alas, he'd gotten heavy into Japanese gardening and he was only carrying Japanese woodworking tools. Bummer.
Using my son, who spent a year in Germany ans speaks German, I asked if there was any place within a hundred kilometers that carried Two Cherries chisels. Was sent down the road to the local hardware/garden center store - a scaled back German version of our Borg. With my son asking, I soon found myself standing in front of a peg board full of Two Cherries chisels, each with a plastic end cap that had a loop for hanging from a peg board peg. They went from 2 mm up to maybe 36 mm, in 2 mm increments. Got the 18, 16, 14, 12, 10 and 8 mm for about $95 US. No locked glass case with special lighting, no hermetically controlled environment - they were just chisels hung on per board. No fancy box, no hand stitched leather roll - just chisels - with plastic end caps and a loop to hang them from.
I looked for the locked glass case with the Buck Bros. and Sears chisels but there wasn't one.
I made a finger jointed rack to hold the TCs and they're sitting in one of the doors of one of my wall hanging tool cabinets. They're well finished and very shiny. But it's been about three years since they went in their rack and I still haven't gotten around to actually using them. I use the Marples Blue Chips and the Bucks regularly and the butt chisels which I think are by Sorby sometimes. But the Zweis Kirchen (I think that's Two Cherries in German) chisels are being reserved for "house furniture" - if and when I ever get to building any of that stuff.
On a related note, found a little cutlery shop in Austria, well off the beaten tourist trails, that carried Stubai carving chisels. The founder's great grand daughter helped me, brining out card board boxes of Stubai carving chisels and a separate box of octagonal handles. She knew her carving chisels, and, with her help over an hour or so, put together a selection for carving small stuff. Dropped close to $200 US but left with another fond memory of doing business with a place that had been there for over a hundred years and still a family run business.
Now try and remember a store you've been to that has been in the same place for over 50 years. Then try and remember a business you've dealt with that was third generation, let alone fourth generation. Cheapest seldom means "best", or even "adequate". And "cheapest" is seldom sold by interesting people with a lot of knowledge about what they sell.
I prefer 12 year old scotch - and "mom and pop stores". Unfortunately, while 12 year old scotch is easy to find, "mom and pop stores" are getting harder and harder to find. Sad.
Current Buck Bros. and Sears chisels flat out suck for fine woodworking. I own some of them.
My Marples Blue Chips are OK, but I prefer chiseling to resharpening.
I've _actually used_ Two Cherries, Sorby, various Japanese, and some American made "Warranted steel" antique chisels that are far better tools than Buck or Sears, which is the real reason why they cost more. I've never even bothered to check where they were made.
Check those glass cases for LN planes next time. When the USA makes a superior product, the rest of the world will pay the same premiums that we pay for imported goods.
FWW #139 pp. 52-57 (December 1999) has a lab test on some bench chisels, and they tested the Hirsch chisels with an octagonal handle. The octagonal-handled Hirshs rated better than the Two Cherries for toughness (a before/after edge retension measurement), and ranked right after the Japanese laminated-style chisels. The Marples blue chip were second-last.
The article also states that the Hirsch and Two Cherries are manufactured in the same factory.
I'd love to get a set of the Hirsh chisels from LV, but SWMBO would kill me...
- Daniel (who hasn't built a single significant piece of furniture yet)
On Thu, 01 Apr 2004 12:45:37 -0800, charlie b brought forth from the murky depths:
If someone offered me one or a truckload of new Buck or Searz tools, I'd run away. I'd take a single Pfeil gouge over a complete set of Searz.
Them Germans is smart, them is. ;)
That sounds wonderful and I'm jealous. I ordered the LV palm chisel set so I don't feel too bad about it. They're US-made, y'know. (I just found that out today.)
I have only one Henry Taylor chisel and it is too brittle for my tastes. The old, old Bucks are great, and Pfeil (which I do own) and Stubai (which I don't yet own) feel great, too. I've seen the Ashley Isles gouges in the Rockler store in Sandy Eggo and they looked nice but I haven't tried them. I'm happy with most of my Marples gouges and Blue Chip chisels. And the urethane mallet is stories above the wooden mallets. My wrists like it much better, as they do the little bronze mallet.
Got mine last week. Great chisels. The only bad part is last week end I was reminded of my dislike for round handles. Why did LN put round handles on an otherwise superb tool?
Yes, I like them a great deal. They are my most valued hand tools and I use them constantly. I also have an 8mm Hirsch mortising chisel that seems to be of similar good quality.
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