Narex Richter Chisels - LONGER TERM Review

Remember I don't make money from affiliate marketing rubbish. In my opinion you can't believe sources that ask you to buy from them for kickback money.

After watching quite a few videos of people being broadly excited with their new purchase I thought it would be a good idea to share a longer view on the Narex Richter Chisels that goes a little deeper than the "oh look, shiny".

I'm not going to BS you, these a great chisels at price point that is incredible.

The only issues I've found are the 1/4" (6mm) is a bit to heavy for my liking, especially for precise work. I would prefer to see some graduated handles for the smaller sizes.

The highly polished finish is nice but on the 1/4" I found it made it slippery reducing my control. There have been concerns raised that the polished edges created a rounded over section than would need to be remove. My experience is don't be so stupid. Hone the tool, remove the burr and get to work. If you're "flattening" these chisels you've lost your mind.

The only other issue is although the box you get is nice you must keep the packing piece that clamps the chisels in place. Without it the chisels just rattle about.

In my opinion Narex have made an excellent value chisel that's easily as good as a set that would cost well over £500. Are they my favourites and do I reach for them over others? No, but that's a different discussion!

[makenchips]

Very nice review! Your opening statements are a 100% spot on! I have bought from the flea market two $1 chisle.
And rusted up chaina chisle and an old school stanley 750 leather top. Brought them both back to usefullness. The china is fully polished with 17° Bevel. The Stanley standard primary, handle re sand.the china is my goto fot paring, and stanely, first, I pick up to do bench work. Balance, feel, cost, and performance are all factors.
I think for home shops we get carried away with need vs want. My wants are always bigger than my need, and for a small shop, non business, I could put up with a slightly lesser cost tool for the work i do! I you see the work other nations do with a fraction of the tool and quality you'll know what I mean! Columbus Michigan

[twcmaker]

Great video thank you. A mention of prices might have helped, as a lot of people have a budget when purchasing a set of chisels. But the small chisel weight.. I get what you mean. Thank you.
Jamie

[davidstewart]

Narex offer a kit of the blade, leather washer and ferrule, not always in stock. I think that's the way to go for the smaller sizes. I left the ferrule off the 1/8". My handles don't match but I like that.

[pcfred]

There's things about the Richters that I don't love how they look but they're supposed to be excellent chisels. So I'm sure they do the job. There are subtle things we pick up working with tool though that are difficult to quantify. The balance and feel stuff.

[thetadashow]

Thanks for your insights. I have a set of Sheffield made Marples Blue Chips. And I have been considering adding lighter chisels in the smaller sizes. Your observations seem to align with my thoughts. Need to keep my eyes open for a light 1/4” to validate.

[MacAustinMusic]

Thanks for the additional thoughts on these. Not in the market for new chisels but still find it interesting. Question for you. Do you mortise with bench chisels like these or dedicated mortise chisel? Wondering about the Ashley Isles and whether they are too delicate for chopping. That 1/4in looks quite fine. I use Two Cherries and like that they are beefy enough to use for mortising, but the lands are very thick on the 6mm.

[qigong]

I love the idea of not having to flatten the back of the chisel (At least near the edge). In fact I’ve never flattened the back, out of sheer laziness😂. But I’m thinking that’s why I have to sharpen so much, other than I’m not that great at freehand sharpening. What is your reasoning for not addressing an entire side of the cutting surface?

[RiffmuirKennels]

I started back in "76" with a half set of Stanley Black handle, they were replaced with Marples Blue Chip set in Bevel edged and Firmer. Still have the Marples in use today for my site work, the Stanley set has a one broken handle and they lie in my spare box of tools I keep at home. Having wanted a finer set for Bench work to add to my Sorby & Taylor Paring, Mortice and Gouges. I purchased a full set of Richter they came with a canvas role which I was not impressed with, prefer my role in Leather I keep my Marples rolled up in, need to replace canvas roll soon it annoys me that much holding the chisels and does not suit such good blades.

Grinding the backs I was surprised how long it required to flatten but the edge I acquired was well up to my needs without being overboard on Water stone grit. I still keep to the degree my journeyman showed me and they have kept me fully able to carryout my daily work be it 1st or 2nd fix or working on the Bench. I have now used a variety of honing systems and grits but settled on the Veritas Mark II with additional guides for chisels. The Richter were easy given a edge but only remark I expected a better grind on the backs, I took over three hours on my full set from start to finish, moving from 350 & 1000 Diamond to 3000 Water stone, I do have a 7000 Water stone but have never felt the need to improve my edge after trying it on one of my old chisel. Side note I still have my Norton Combination sitting in its coffin box made at College as a first year from a piece of Beech. Still usable and I find I still do use it on my Marples on site not carrying my better stone out of the tool box back in the workshop. Never thought weighing the chisels I go with hand feel and the Richter suit my change from Marples but i can easily slip between the both sets with ease. The wooden handles are a delight and suit my hands and was major reason for purchase this set but I did like though the Sorby, Ashley or Pfeil were worthy options. Lie Neilson were a bit OT on price and I was never a fan of socket handles. Keep up the videos I liked your take and I find varied opinions attractive in Tool reviews with more slant on Trade experience than just purchase and review, some reviews cannot even hide their bias and not comparing like for like or price variance and quality of edge, adding ownership and use is a must not just open a new tool.

[petrsidlo]

The other narex you showed is only sold to countries that use imperial measuraments. Elsewhere they will stain the handle, and the chisels are metric. Richters are only made in imperial. Slight warning for anyone thinking about purchasing these. Last one I bought (about three months ago) was 50mm (2inch) Narex chisel. back has a ginormous belly right in the middle. se when you try to flatten it you cannot get to the very edge by at least an inch. Only solution was to tip the back of the chisel on the stone and sharpen the very. So it will do fine for some task but I can forget about pairing. Never had this problem with regular Narex I bought 2+ years ago, the backs were either pretty flat or a bit hollow in the middle. The richters also worked quite well.

[ex]

You ever try to sharpen a snap-on screwdriver and compare it to these chisel? I'm curious how snap-on's metal will fare against them.

[andrew]

I have owned a set of the Richter chisels for several years and agree that the weight of the chisels can make them slightly cumbersome. I also have a complete set of vintage Buck Bros tang chisels and they weigh in at ½ to ⅔ that of the Richter. They were softer steel but I re hardened them and they are solid users.
The main difference is in the cross section of the blade and the size/ material of the handles. The Buck Bros and thinner and the handles are not as large. Much more friendly on small work. The Narex feel top heavy when working on detail work like dovetails and fine pairing.
I have considered cutting ½ to ¾ inch off the end of the Richters to see if that helps the balance for finer work.
I use Sorby mortise chisels when chopping mortices and Ashley Isles small chisels for dovetailing.
I am not sure that there is an all around chisel out there….

[alphaomega]

Why not just cut off an inch or so of the handle and round it over? I did that with my two Narex Richter so they match the others ( some LN) in length. And btw, in quality too.

[troyjustinguitar]

I use Stanley cheap chisels and 2 cherries for mortise my fave is Japanese chisels

[viktorcieslar]

Jsi řemeslník a neumíš si povrch dle svých osobních preferencí upravit ?

[BinManSays]

Your old chisels are lighter because they've got less blade left

[CliveRuss]

Cheap and shiny? Mmmm. The Richters look great at a great price, ~$200. I was filled with desire, but your review challenged my need for a chisel. After the initial buy impulse had passed, I only wanted two Richters to add to my yellow-handled Stanley beater, a few pitted vintage chisels, and small carbon steel carving knives. I bought a new ⅜" and ⅝" Ashley Iles a day later. They are more elegant, easier to sharpen, and comfortable in my hand. Your sensitivity to the use of a tool is more valuable than a sales pitch. Thank you.

I have used modern complex steel blades. They are durable, but once dull, they are not easily sharpened. Most people throw kitchen knives into a bucket of used knives because they can't sharpen them! It is an expensive way to cut. By contrast, an 01 or 1080/1095 steel is easy to sharpen to a superb edge, whether a razor, kitchen knife or chisel. They take simple, routine maintenance. A strop will keep the edge usable for months. Okay, I have used diamonds and CBN to sharpen many super steel blades, but after the novelty of new exotic steel passes, the "good stuff" is still the old stuff that acquires a patina. My new Ashley Iles are the good old stuff.