Thought I was saving money buying harbor freight chisels - nope

Bought a set of their cheap chisels for 15 bucks thinking they'd be fine for rough work. After sharpening them 3 times in one week they were already chipped and useless. Anyone else just waste money on tools that end up costing more than the good stuff?

2 comments

2 Comments

terry9141mo ago

Buddy of mine bought those same chisels... tried using them to chop dovetails and the edge rolled over before he got halfway through the first tail. He spent more time resharpening than actually cutting wood, finally just chunked them in the trash. Ended up buying a single 20 dollar Narex chisel that's still going strong two years later.

blair_gibson781mo ago

Man, that sounds exactly like what happened to my buddy Dave. He got a set of those cheap chisels off Amazon for like 15 bucks, figured it was a good deal. First time he tried to pare down a mortise, the edge just crumpled like tin foil. He was so mad he threw the whole set in the garbage can in his shop. Now he just keeps a beat up old Stanley that his grandpa gave him, sharpens it once a year, and it works better than all those new ones combined.