"Trevanion? Talking about hand tools? Has the world gone mad?!I know, I know... As much as I have a disdain for using manpower instead of horsepower you really can't go without having to use chisels once in a while. I had been eyeing up these Narex Richter chisels for a while as they looked rather nice and had everything going for them on paper, I'm not usually one for extravagant spending without real reason but I had a little helpful push from someone to buy something nice for myself from Workshop Heaven for Christmas so I went for it and bought them. Before you even say it MikeG, I know that I've
already have enough chisels!
Since there seemingly is very little that's been written about these I thought I'd give my fair opinion out of the box.
I bought the five chisel set, which comes in a nice little Birch (I think) box.
£136.50 from Workshop Heaven.I've never seen fittings like these on a box before, they seemed to be hammered into the timber rather than a conventional screwed hinge and catch. I can't see them lasting very long if you're using the box the transport them about daily, but then boxes that usually come with chisels never last particularly long anyway. You could always drill and put small fasteners through the hardware if you want it to last.
Opening the box you're greeted with this...
Sublime. I cannot begin to describe how nice these chisels feel in the hand, the wood finish is silky smooth and the ground surfaces of the steel are near-perfect and feel completely smooth. Everything just flows wonderfully, you can run your finger from the hammering end all the way to the cutting end and it just feels almost all one piece, with no nasty sharp edges or discernable hard steps. I have no idea what they've finished the Ash with, it doesn't seem like a varnish but it is very smooth and quite glossy but according to Narex they are "hand polished". One point to mention is that the handles aren't graduated in size so it's the same sized handle for the 1/4" and the 1" chisels, I know that does bother some people. I'm not 100% sure the reason for the washer, but it was very common on older chisels as shown in catalogues, just seems strange to have a shock dampener to lessen the impact translated to the workpiece through the chisel by the mallet.
My only very minor complaint at this point is that during their trip from the Czech Republic they've obviously jostled around in the box and the wooden divider on the ferrules has dented into the Ash near the ferrules as pictured below. This really is only a minor issue as they're only going to get beaten up with me anyway. There was a rectangular piece of foam in the box to help prevent them from banging around in the box which isn't pictured here.
The Ash handles is actually one of the main things that drew me to these chisels, other companies that produce chisels always seem to be using rare and endangered hardwoods of questionable ethical origin for handles, and to be honest whilst I have used a fair amount of rare, exotic and very endangered species in the past I don't want to continue supporting the wanton destruction of our fragile eco-systems for something as vain and disposable as a chisel handle. Why use Bubinga or Rosewood when domestically grown and sourced Ash or Beech will work just as well?
The stainless steel ferrules are a nice, modern touch and seem to be of good quality. I've had (rather expensive) chisels with very brittle brass ferrules (not all brass is brittle) which cracked with humidity changes, I don't see that happening here.
The steel is
VERY nicely ground (as a bit of a metal geek, I can confirm this), it's practically a mirror polish. There are very fine grinding marks visibly present but you cannot feel them whatsoever with a fingernail, in this picture you can make out the clock above my window in the back of the chisel.
Here's the blurb from WSH's website about the steel itself:
"Made from a new type of steel alloyed with chromium for hardenability and vanadium for grain reduction and enhanced toughness, the steel is heat treated using a cryogenic process to maximise the formation of the desirable martensite crystalline microstructure in the finished steel. In laymans terms, it's proven technology mastered to the extent that it can compete with the latest powder metallurgy steels for performance, but at a much keener price point. ""Chrome Vanadium? You mean the stuff they make Spanners out of?"
I'm not very clued up on high carbon steel structures and fancy treatments so I'll take him at his word about that. Although I do somewhat disagree with this statement from his listing:
"The fine grinding is so good it's almost a mirror finish - on all surfaces, there is no undesirable rounding off of the underside of the edges."There is ever so slight rounding of the edges down the length of the chisel on the back, it's not enough to be a serious nuisance in my opinion, but it is there. I hope you can see what I mean from this picture:
For the back of the chisel itself, rubbing it shortly on a stone provided a very pleasant result, they are indeed very flat on the back, or at least a lot flatter than chisels I've tried in the past including some rather expensive ones. You can see the clouding in the picture where the stone has abraded after a few seconds, realistically as the blurb from the site says you could leave the backs alone if you so wished.
They weren't particularly sharp out of the box (they really do not need to be) but they all sharpened up very nicely in short order. I've never personally noticed any difference between certain steels being harder to sharpen than others but these seemed just about the same as any other I've tried, supposedly these are hardened to 62HRc minimum which is a fair bit harder than most conventional chisels which are usually about 58HRc.
Another thing that attracted me to these was the very fine and consistent beveled edges on them, compared to an Ashley Iles Mk2 and a Stanley 5002 these come to a much finer point and stay that fine along their whole length. Ashley Iles on the left, Stanley in the middle and Narex on the right:
In all these have lived up to the expectations I had out of the box, now they just need to start earning their place and get a bit of work done! I'll report back when I've done enough with them that I can comment.
Feel free to ask any questions.