Butt chisels, paring chisels - good choices?

[Kevin in California]

I have 3 Traditional Woodworker firmer chisels. I like them. They are similar, and may be made in the same factory as the Two Cherries chisels.
I have a set of HF chisels, and they cut when sharp, and they don't cut when they aren't sharp. I want to get some more better chisels. I love holding them. :>)

Kevin

[Ken Hundley]

Tends to keep the riff raff away when you have one, eh?

[Dave Bagwill]

Get this - my student/friend Eric pointed out that only the $7K chisel gets 'the very best of the rosewood' - and asks "You mean, the $5K chisel does NOT get the best rosewood?"

Good question :-)

[Kevin in California]

Good grief I just looked at that "best things in life" plane page. Who would want to spend that much for a hand plane?
I hear Howard Hughes had a dozen of them just for paper weights.

Kevin

[Dave Bagwill]

Anyhow - I ended up emailing Lee at the Best Things site and asking if he had other items, not shown on the site, that might be classified as 'user' tools - old, good stuff - that was less expensive than the showcase items. Of course, he does have lots of other stuff, and he set me up with 5 very nice users at a good price, and even honed them for me.
He is great to talk to, helpful and knowledgeable.
One of his emails was a little humorous - 2 of the 5 chisels are Marples - 1/4" and 1/2" - and I told him that I had those chisels already, as I had purchased them a few years ago, new. He replied:

" Something that you bought 3 years ago has no more bearing on these
chisels than does a Thomas Kinkaid image to a Renoir painting. In
their day, William Marples and Sons were in the top echelons of
quality. Great chisels stopped coming out of Sheffield before I was born."

Funny.

[Dave Bagwill]

I did receive 5 very nice paring chisels (I don't need beveled since I don't do dovetail joints or anything like that) and a killer Preston spokeshave from Lee at best Things. There IS a difference between the old, very old chisels and the new ones I bought a few years ago. If you find any of the venerable oldies at garage sales, pick 'em, sharpen, and you will not be sorry.
The spokeshave is one of the funnest things I own now - I was thinning the profile on a couple of necks and it was just a joy.

And the cost of the chisels plus the old Preston shave was less than one fancy japanese new chisel. Hey I'd take one of those also, but for my needs I just don't need one.

[peter havriluk]

How do you tell the difference between a woodworking treasure of a chisel at a garage sale and a dime-store POS chisel at a garage sale when all the tools are grungy and brown and rusty? My luck, knowing no better, is to spend a dollar for a dime's worth of tool....