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YAY new toys! New Toys! New Toys![/caption]
My first impressions of the chisels were actually pretty good. Each one was what I'd call flat; not spectacularly flat, but flat enough if you're going to use these as your go to rough work chisels. BUT, for me they were going to be my go to finial fit/finish tool, so they had to be FLAT! But in all seriousness they were in decent condition. They did show more milling marks than I would have liked, but hey...for under $200 bucks I wasn't complaining.
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Fresh out of the box[/caption]
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Top mill marking[/caption]
Amazingly they were ground to an exact 30* bevel right out of the box and decently sharp...and by decent I mean they wouldn't shave the hair off your arm, but they still produced a nice shaving when paring. However that's as far as it got, they were incapable of producing a clean chop even in the softest pine I had in the shop...so it was good that I had plans to give them all a once over at the sharpening station before putting them into the rotation.
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Leeeeet's get REEEEEEADY TO SHAAAAAARPEN![/caption]
I've detailed my sharpening processes in the past when I tuned up the bargain basement GROZ planes, so I won't bore you with the details (but it is a handy dandy video on YouTube...you might like it) other than to say that in this case I took the regular routine a bit further and actually broke out my water stones to finish it all up...well that and adding some Axle Foley into the mix to keep things entertaining. At the end of all of this I had blades that were razor sharp, flat and had a nice mirror shine to them....they're purdy!
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Nearly flat back[/caption]
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Sharp!!![/caption]
On this round I opted to not add a micro bevel to each one as I wanted a bench mark for how long each edge survived.
I always hesitate putting a freshly sharpened tool to work in the shop. For some reason I have this weird hiccup in my thinking; why would I put this gloriously new/sharp blade into use...that means I'll just have to turn around and resharpen it...and lord knows I don't want to go down that road again! Yeah...weird! So it did take me a day or so to get the 750's onto the bench, but when I did, they were a nice step up from my old Crown bench chisels.
Let's get to the nitty gritty...how do they perform? Well, they chop fabulously in hard and soft woods as long as long as they are sharp and pare nicely thanks to a bit of a longer blade. The edges are nicely beveled giving decent clearance when chopping tight dovetails but you do still need to exercise some caution as it's possible to bruise the shoulder of a tail if you're careless.
The handles have taken a beating online and honestly I don't see those beat downs as necessary. I found that the handles fit well right out of the package and after a few quick passes with some 220 grit sand paper they sat in the sockets very nicely. The handles aren't lookers by any means, but for an everyday tool, they get the job done and done well. The only caveat I have about the handle is that even the tapers were lacquered, which for me personally is just another surface between the handle and the socket seating tightly together. After some 220 grit sand paper I had the lacquer on the run and each handle firmly seated.
So what's the verdict? As with every tool in the shop it all comes down to a personal take/impression. I personally would rate these as a 7 out of 10. What does that mean to you? Well I would say that a 10 is a tool that comes out of the box and is absolutely ready to roll. There's no touch up needed, no sharpening/honing required, little set up needed etc. The 10 tool is also going to maintain its settings, sharpness etc, over many uses and require limited upkeep. So there you go...7 out of 10 aint bad.
I found the 750's to hold a bevel well through a variety of materials, but aren't much more durable than the steel of my Crown set. I've resharpened the set after 3 weeks or so of work and have added a micro bevel this round and will relay the follow up impressions at a later date. Overall I wish the bevel retention was a bit longer but I did get a fair amount of dovetails (lots of chopping) out of the initial sharpening before having to go for a touch up and full resharpen. The handles have yet to have loosen up after quite a bit of use and the leather case that comes with the full set is decent in quality and serves as a great way to protect the tools when in transport.
For the price they are going to be hard to beat and I would recommend them to any beginner to advanced woodworker looking for a decent tool and isn't afraid to freshen an edge every once in a while. So if you're in need a decent set of chisels and are on a tight budget, the Stanley Sweetheart 750's might be a great option for you.