: Thanks Ken,

: I always wanted to try the Japanese chisels, but I think the best
: thing to do there would be to get a single chisel and play
: around with it. What you said is exactly what was keeping me
: from getting them, but I do see how they would be great for
: paring work. As for the sharpening supplies, I have a whole tool
: box dedicated solely to sharpening stuff- Pinnacle honing guide,
: Norton waterstones, flattening stone, Work Sharp powered
: sharpener, strops, diamond paste, lapping plates, yadda yadda
: yadda... I definately have the sharpening stuff. I think I
: played it right by getting quality sharpening tools and getting
: good at that before moving up to the higher end chisels. If
: anyone asked my advice that would be my recommendation. Before
: going up in quality, just learn to tune and sharpen the cheaper
: set and get the most out of it.

: That said, now I have progressed in both my skill and in the
: difficulty of the work I am doing, so it is time to move up to a
: better chisel set. I am really leaning towards the Lie-Nielsen
: both out of brand respect and I like the length and heft. I was
: not really sold on the removable handles, as it seems they are
: going to get loose over time, but now I am actually thinking the
: removable handles give the option to replace them and keep going
: for years. I also like being able to switch to a long paring
: handle for specific jobs where a longer handle is more ideal. I
: am flexible on the $300.

Hi Malcolm,

I don't remember where exactly I saw it, but there was a review of Japanese chisels in one of the magazines in the past several months that would probably pop up on a web search. As I remember the ones from Grizzly tools rated reasonably well though they needed some tuning but were reasonably inexpensive.

Bill H.