Narex Richter Bevel Edge Chisel Set of 5

Product Information

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. For starters, the handle is carved from European ash, responsible for its beautiful grain, toughness, and strength. The choice of wood shaped this handle into an ergonomic one. 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. Ash hardwood handles have solid stainless steel ferrules and leather washers. Individual chisels are supplied with plastic edge protectors.

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).Designed for cutting with mallet or paring by hand. The bevel edge design allows for work in tight spaces Sometimes a manufacturer will make substantial functional improvements to something and sell it as a premium item. Sometimes the improvements are largely to the image rather than the substance of that sold. I'm not saying this is necessarily true of the Narex Richter range .... but it could be. :-) 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. 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

The bottom line (ha ha) is that the standard Narex items work very well indeed; come near ready for work with only minimal fettling of the working end; and are inexpensive partly because they don't spend enormous efforts on the cosmetics rather than on the functional aspects. Don't get swept into believing there's anything more in the Richter chisels than relatively common steel and a slightly harder temper than some of the other chisels.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 Here is a Blighty advert from one of the on-line purveyors, going on about this better steel. Of course, this is sales blurb so ......

Generally, the fit and finish of the Narex Richter chisel are good. However, when we compared it with some other blades in its class, we noticed that the finishing needed more work. A key feature to these chisels is their side bevels, which taper to a very fine edge, making them ideal for reaching into confined spaces and angled corners, like those common in dovetailing. But the edges aren’t so sharp they slice you; rather, they’re polished and softened.Named after the founder of Narex Bystrice, Vaclav Richter, and launched to celebrate the centenary 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. The older content from Pop Woodworking also seems to have plenty of explanation and justification for what they say and recommend.

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. 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 The manufacturers took their time to design this handle with maximum comfort. When end-users grab it, they won’t need to invest too much physical effort into making it work. It naturally maximizes efficiency.These features aren’t that big of a deal. In fact, we only noticed them when we tried to compare them with other chisels in its class. I can only say this much as a maker of tools (not for sale, an amateur maker) - you can fairly easily make tools and see all of these differences in play as a spec. 62/63 hardness is barely sharpenable on oilstones, but still sharpenable, and on plainer steel, the wire edge falls off more easily. 59 hardness in the more mediocre line will lead to a more persistent wire edge. I think the fact that you use your chisels every day is a large factor in keeping them rust free, specifically the oils from your skin. But, respectfully, for those of us who don’t use our tools every day 🙂 using them once then putting them away for a week or 2 pretty much guarantees rust. I’ve found wiping them after use doesn’t always help and is sometimes impractical. The metal polish is the only way I’ve found to prevent this. Simply my 2 cents. Combining premium materials with skilled workmanship, these are well-made chisels. The blades are made of chrome-vanadium steel, hardened to Rc61-63 and cryogenically treated to toughen the steel without making it brittle. They will take and hold a fine edge.