Narex Premium 50 mm (2 Inch) Chisel with Hornbeam Handles 811650

I must admit I wasn't expecting much from an inexpensive chisel, and anticipated doing a LOT of work to it to get it up to speed, but this guy was in terrific shape right out of the box. It had a fantastic finish on it, nearly polished, the back was flat and the edge was square, consistently ground, and nearly sharp straight from the factory. It took me about 10 minutes to final sharpen it and dress the bevel. The handle wood is tight, well shaped, and free of defects. It feels comfortable in the hand and performed some test cuts flawlessly. We shall see about edge retention soon, but even if it is a bit soft, I generally am very gentle on my chisels so I think it will be a welcome addition to my chest of tools. In short, this is a fantastic slick and for under $30 it's a real gem.

Took a lot of effort to get the back flat. Otherwise, pretty happy...

Worked really well for me right out of the packaging. Will do some typical chisel tweaking but no complaints about the quality. The steel is great, the balance is good, and the hornbeam handle feels really nice in the hand. I didn’t expect to be so impressed by this chisel but I was. I do suggest smoothing out the sides of the blade as they are a bit too sharp and could cut you while in use.

As others have noted, the back was very disappointing, almost like a Japanese chisel, and required A LOT of work. Started on a machinist block with 150 grit and 220 grit paper and worked down to diamond and eventually japanese wet stones. The chisel's bevel was also disappointing and required extensive work to get a consistent edge front to back. Several hours of flattening and polishing eventually produced a keen edge that functioned very well for its intended task of finishing door hinge mortises in several solid Fir doors. Given how soft the steel is I expect the edge will require more frequent tune ups, especially when it is exposed to hardwoods. All in all, a good value.

Very sturdy, nice steel, obviously needs to be sharpened. Take the coating off it first, then sharpen as normal. Not hard to get razor sharp, and the edge stays pretty well so far. I've used this instead of a shoulder plane (I don't have one) and it works great.

great item well made for the price you can not beat it and then some.Needs some work to fine tune, not much. They all need fine tuning.

I am some what conflicted in my feelings about this chisel. Of course it needs sharpening and back flattened. Here is where the first problem arose, it took a long time to dress bottom of this chisel, a long time, mostly I supposed due to its width. Once chisel was sharp I set about using to deepen cut lines for housing groove. This is where problem two came up, edge of chisel was fracturing, resharpened and tried again , same results. After third attempt raised angle a couple degrees, not as bad now. One more time and it seems okay for now. Overall this will work for its intended purpose I think, I did tests in pine. I like having wide chisel for this purpose, for me it makes staying on line easier ( failing eye sight) and doesn't move wall if done correctly. The handle is big and ugly in my opinion but doesn't effect performance. Sides are well ground with fairly thin edges, if that matters. For the price this is a good deal if it can hold an edge.

I have yet to get my hands on a poor quality product from these guys. I am not a professional and get that these are not professional grade. But I am a ridiculously happy customer that owns a complete set of Narex chisels and will continue to buy them. Very keen edges. Hard steel. Flat. Great angles that make sharpening a breeze. Precise lines. Just a pleasure to work with. If I had one complaint. I would very much like to see a metal cap on the end for mallets. I feel that eventually the wood will get mushy.

It’s a thing of beauty I’d get two if I could afford it