Never had much luck with scrapers until I got decent ones. Yea, a Lie Neilson plane is a pleasure to use, but a well tuned Stanley cuts just as well. Hint: You don't need to buy full sets of everything when you start. Good can be trustworthy that what happens is you, not the tool. Wait until you can afford and appreciate the feel of great before spending big bucks. But the Narlex with hand or just a gentle persuasion cuts like glass. I do have a pile of cheaper chisels if I have to smack one on hardwood cross-grain. Maybe the Marples are lifetime as I will never grind them away, but I can't say enough about the Narlex. Recently I bought a Narlex-R 1/2 inch as that is my go-to size. ( That took about 10 years of learning and the wrong tools) No complaints as I only had big box tools to compare them to. I bought a set of Marples yellow handles back in the 70's thinking they were the end all. Most of all enjoy this great thing called woodworking!ĥ0 years of buying the wrong tools, I have some conclusions. My advise is if you can borrow or use the tool before you buy it all the better and until you can get some experience in wood working (other than big tools like table saws)buy a less expensive tool to start and trade up later. It's hard on new folks because they get so many opinions about what way to go as far as tools go. For the most part new chisels are not sharp out of the box so you need to learn how to sharpen them and that process is even open for debate whether you should buy a $750 sharpening system or use something as simple as the scary sharp method that cost very little and works great. Chisels have very simple task to do ,just cut wood and it doesn't take a $400+ tool to do that. For about $10 each in sets of 4 or 6 they will last a long time. This type of plastic is much more durable than wood this is important because you have to strike the end of the handles to make them cut in some cases. Many of the less expensive brands brands have wood handles I suspect that the nice looking wood helps them sell to wood workers,but the plastic handles on Marple chisels are tough as nails and shaped to help prevent them from rolling off an uneven surfaces. Some folks that can afford them spend $450 or more per chisel ,to me this makes no sense ,I can only guess the folks that spend that much are trying to impress some one or they are of the mind set that if it's the most expensive it must be the best ,possible but not always true. There always seems to be a big thing about chisels most of them work fine if sharpened properly. I have used Marpels chisels for 25 years and my students have bought them and the work fine and hold there edge. The best part of doing it that way is once you get a set of good, sharp pre-WWII chisels you probably will not feel the need to spend $500 USD on a set of LN or whatever. Then add "good" (read expensive) chisels once you know how to keep 'em sharp. You will be ahead of the game, you will learn to flatten backs, grind bevels, and hone and when mistakes are made, and mistakes will be made, all you have lost is a $5 USD hunk of steel. a extra-extra course diamond plate, a soft Arkansas, a hard Arkansas, and either a surgical black or a translucent Arkansas and learn to sharpen on your cheap chisels. Spend your money on a low speed grinder and a good set of stones i.e. If you buy socket chisels without handles and do not have a lathe you can find handles on eBay, so do not let the lack of a handle stop you if the chisel is the correct size. I agree with Bill White….find used chisels (there are many good brands so it makes no never mind as to brand) at junk shops, yard sales, eBay, pay no more than $5 USD each, as long as they are pre-WWII the steel will usually be good.
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