Narex Richter Bevel Edge Chisel Set of 5

Product Information

That leather ring on the Richters (and on no other Narex chisel) seems to be part of the pretty-look marketing. However, there is blurb that claims the steel is significantly better as well; and is comparable to Veritas PM-V11 for both resilience and ease of sharpening. Please note; the1/8" (3mm) chisel sits within the ''Narex Richter Bevel Edge Chisel'' range, but to call it ''bevel edge'' is a bit of a stretch. The sides are close to parallel, and more resemble a mortice chisel. This is not all that uncommon in a 1/8" chisel, as often they are taller to give it strength, but this is not all that helpful when removing waste from dovetails. I have the set of Richter's and they seem like a high quality chisel to me, but I have never had another high end chisel to compare to. I went from yard sale / antique chisels to these. The fine grinding is so good it's almost a polish - on all surfaces, but crucially it is still a ground surface so there is no undesirable rounding off of the underside of the edges, they are optically flat so I would recommend doing as little as possible to them in preparation and maintainance. The edges are as fine as hand ground chisels, barely there at all, making them suitable for the finest precision joinery. The Narex Richter chisels have a nice balance between maintaining an edge, but not being too hard. These chisels are forged from high quality Cr-V steel and cryogenically treated and tempered to at least 62 HRc. I like the thin sides that makes it easier to get into tight spaces. The handles are ash, which is nice, but they don’t offer much grip, like an octagonal handle would. Not a big deal. I’ve found the edges to hold pretty well, but I still want to give these a few more months of use with my woodworking students before I can give a big thumb’s up. Lie-Nielsen Bevel Edge Bench Chisels. Worth the price?

The blade is impressive. There are no visible machine marks and no sharp edges apart from the cutting edge. It’s polished to a flawless satin sheen too. The chisel’s factory-ground 24° bevel is honed with a slight microbevel and suitable for use right out of the box. I still honed mine further to suit my personal preferences, allowing them to perform even better. The chrome-vanadium blades are tempered to achieve a minimum hardness of 62HRc. The quality of the steel and the way it is hardened and tempered makes the chisels very high quality. I could feel their hardness during the sharpening process. Although it was possible to sharpen with my traditional Japanese waterstones, it took a little extra time. Once sharp, though, the chisels stayed sharp for an extended period of time. Put this baby into the corner. The side bevels on these chisels taper to a thin edge. As a result, they fit excellently into tight and angled corners, so you won’t dent or bruise dovetails as you pare away waste.

Handles

Chop a little way down, clear the waste, then return to chopping. I give this advice even for mortise chisels. Bench chisels usually shouldn’t be used to chop mortises, and when being used to chop dovetails, I stop hitting the chisel when too much resistance is met. The supplied edge guard should always be used when chisels are not in use to prevent dam- age to the sharp cutting edge and for user protection. Our RICHTER chisel box is perfect for safe storage; however, tool rolls are also available. As with any kind of tool steel, the blades can rust when unprotected. Always protect the blades from rust with oil, wax or other corrosion inhibitors. Lifetime guarantee I have the 1/4, 1/2, and 3/4 sizes to compliment my other size Lie Nielsen and Veritas PM-V11 chisels. Do not pay attention to other posters who don't own these chisels/they don't know what they are talking about...the finish/quality control is on par with my Veritas and Lie Nielsen's. The other Narex chisels are not even close to the finish and quality/workmanship Narex put into these.

Paring chisels are used for fine paring (or hand trimming) of joints. You can pare with normal bevel edge chisels, but paring chisels can help with creating smoother joints. They are typically longer, thinner, and are sharpened at a lower angle than other chisels (around 20 degrees), which enables you to trim end grain with greater ease. However, with a 20 degree angle and thin steel, they should never be used with a mallet. They can have a bevel or no bevel. Cryogenically Treated — Following initial hardening, cryogenic treatment is performed which cools the steel down to −190° C (-310° F) using liquid nitrogen. This alters the mechanical properties of the steel at the molecular level greatly increasing its strength, toughness and wear resistance. The hardness spec provided with the richters is what I'd refer to as medium-hard temper. It's specified as chrome vanadium steel (there are tons of specs for chrome vanadium steel, at least as wide as 0.5% carbon to 1.5% carbon, so that doesn't tell us that much other than that it's probably fairly plain steel, which is good for chisels). Personally I find FWW still the benchmark for detailed, meaningful and usually well-supported WW information. It does have a touch of the PR-advert blurbs here and there but generally this can be easily spotted and winnowed from the extensive good crop of high quality guidance and advice.Pretty much anything on 60-63 hardness would cause indifference from most experienced woodworkers who use a lot of hand tools, and the feel of the chisel and other aspects would be more important than anything else. If you work with a set of chisels long enough, you should be able to learn to accommodate them so that they don't take damage while you're working. The issue with mediocre chisels is that sometimes the accommodation makes a chisel undesirable to use.

The process used to make the original narex chisels is different from typical, and they have a hardness ceiling and are usable chisels but are mediocre. Premium Steel — Made from Highest quality Chrome Manganese (Cr-V) steel using traditional drop-forging methods. Blades are tempered to achieve a minimal hardness of 62 HRc. If you are looking for a premium quality chisel set at a value-based price, the Narex Richter offers real appeal. It rivals other premium chisels on the market and costs a lot less. The sides (lands?) Seem very narrow to me, but once again my old chisels were vintage / antique chisels which were not a set. Basically just whatever I found.

1. What is a Woodworking Chisel?

But that’s not enough to help you decide if this Richter chisel is worth it. Keep reading; we’ll tell you everything you should know about this chisel and the Narex brand. Features of Narex Richter Chisels Has any one here get there hands on the new Narex richter chisels with cryogenic treated Cr-V steel? In case you’re wondering, the Chrome Manganese steel is responsible for the versatility of this chisel. It is also why it has excellent machinability and strength. The chisels are fitted with traditional pattern handles from Mr Richter's time, made from ash for lightness and strength, extremely smoothly finished and secured with a splitproof ground steel ferrule bearing the Richter logo and smartly trimmed with a thin leather bolster. The chisels are supplied coated with a light corrosion inhibiting oil with VCI protection for each individual chisel to ensure that they reach you in perfect condition." Some don't like the fatter-handled version of Narex chisels but they do have other configurations of many bench chisels, with slimmer and more traditionally-shaped handles. Myself, I like the fatter handles because they fill my chiselling grip.

I can’t recommend a catalog anymore, and nor do I recommend a magazine either. I can’t. I make a point not to copy anyone anywhere and when you write and ask me whether I watch this or that youtuber, blogger or vlogger I should tell you this and then ask you not to ask me: If I have watched 30 minutes of woodworking guru output since YT came into being 15 years ago I would likely be exaggerating 10 times". I haven't used the chisels, but I have forged chisels from water hardening files and made a lot of tools. I've also had some of the narex chisels in the past (the basic line). Named after the founder of Narex Bystrice, Vaclav Richter, and launched to celebrate the centenery of his company, these superb bevel edged chisels bring Narex's signature blend of high quality and low price through clever engineering to the super premium end of the chisel market. Meanwhile I have a 1" cranked Narex chisel and two 1/4" skew-bladed paring chisels on the way. I expect them to be as good as the other 8 Narex I have now. Although the blade’s edges are ultra-thin, there won’t be an incident where you sustain an injury from using it. It is sharp enough to perform its functions.Czech tool maker Narex recently released a new chisel set to the hand tool woodworking world called the Narex Richter chisels. Many woodworkers are hailing the Narex Richter chisels as the best wood chisels on the market. Many are even saying that this Narex chisel set surpasses the Lie-Nielsen chisels (see below) and the price is lower too. I have a set of 7 Narex Richter chisels and they are really nice. The prices have risen substantially since the COVID-19 pandemic, so you can compare prices at these retailers: The handle is made of European ash, an excellent choice for this purpose because of its hardness, toughness and beautiful grain. The handle has an ergonomic shape and is ground to a fine finish. A stainless steel ferrule prevents the handle from splitting and there is a leather disk to dampen hammer blows. The largest diameter of the handle for all chisel sizes is 31 to 32 mm. Bladewidth I still prefer O1 high-carbon steel, the steel found in vintage chisels. And as mentioned above, I’m still testing out Cr-V steel. Here are the buying options for these Lie-Nielsen woodworking chisels: