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As Admiral has it: The LVT Narex classic. Get the set of 4 for under $50 AND FREE shipping!
The handles are not the best but I can live with them, without wasting time to reshape or rehandle them. I'd rather spend time building. Over time, you'll get used to them, as I have. Hold them with a loose grip if you chop.
Simon
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02-07-2017, 07:14 PM
(This post was last modified: 02-07-2017, 07:15 PM by MattP.)
I just found
this video on youtube, and I think it is worth watching, despite some sloppiness. It's a comparison of a bunch of chisels ranging from the most expensive Veritas to the $1.25 Aldi and Harbor Freight chisels.
Unsurprisingly, he ranks the three best chisels as the most expensive ones, right according to their price tags: Veritas PVM11, LN, Stanley Sweetheart. What I found interesting, though, was that he didn't much care for the Narex, and he didn't much care for the Irwin/Marples that you can get at Lowes (not the ones I linked to yesterday). He basically seemed to think that the expensive ones were the best, but that budget stuff was better value than the mid range stuff, inasmuch as it was nearly as good as the mid range stuff at a fraction of the price of the mid range.
That said, he also contradicts himself on the hardness of the Irwin Marples steel (it is soft when he is flattening the back, and hard when he is adjusting the bevel angle), so take it with a grain of salt.
If you're gonna be one, be a Big Red One.