I am hand cutting dovetails for the Small Tote on page 38 of FWW this month using a small thin kerf saw and old Buck Brothers chisels that are razor sharp. (Veritas MKII) I am picking up a couple of used Lie-Nielson hand saws and now looking at different chisels.
I have looked at: sets of (4), Blue Spruce, $450, Veritas $450, Lie-Nielson $400, Narex Richter $145 and ChatGPT also recommended Stanley Sweethart 750, $90.
I have a hard time letting go of $500 for chisels I may not use again. Nor do I want chisels only marginally better than what I have now. I am intrigued by hand cutting these dovetails, I am on my third practice set out of pine. Do I need a special chisel to cut dovetails? Are there any good chisels I haven’t identified? Does the better steel in the better chisel hold an edge longer, get sharper? What are you getting in these more expensive chisels? Thanks in advance.
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The old Buck Bros chisels you already own ought to be fine.
If you are having trouble with dovetails, it is not the fault of the chisels you own. In very rare circumstances it could be the saw, but as said, that would be exceedingly rare.
Practice on the woods you intend to use in the project. You can't count on pine's crush-to-fit quality when using hardwoods.
Charlie, I have cut dovetails on 3 corner frames for practice in my entire life, I likely have to cut 15 more before I even want to show them to anybody. I picked up some popular, pine is difficult to learn on. BTW, my $14 Nora fine kerf saw does close to as good as the Lie-Nielsen. I was hoping the more expensive chisels held an edge longer. I will keep cutting and as usual learned a lot from all the posts. Thanks.
Quit worrying about edge longevity. That leads to nowhere, fast.
Learn how to hone and to do quick touch ups. Keep your sharpening kit lean. Keep it simple. The Bucks you have are fine. Being able to produce one more corner before a touch up doesn't mean diddly in the grand scheme of things unless you plan on jumping into a time machine and becoming a late 18th century pieceworker. And besides that, you might just be surprised that some new chisel's edge doesn't last any longer than the Bucks you already have, or only by a very immaterial amount. Buyers bent on avoiding buyer's remorse might claim otherwise. Take all the claims you hear with a huge grain of salt. Every now and then a soul will pop up on a forum with a post that his or her premium chisels' edge really didn't last that much longer than the ones they replaced. Pay attention to those posts.
There are more books, articles, forum posts, and videos on the practice of dovetailing than there are Carter's Little Liver Pills. Read articles and watch videos by Chris Becksvoort, Garrett Hack, Ian Kirby, et al. These guys have cut more dovetails, on paying work, by orders of magnitude, than any of us who regularly participate on woodworking forums. Practice the way of craftsmen who don't have a bottomless budget for tools and material, even if perhaps you do. The end result that you see in some forum post might be the culmination of a scandalous amount of wasted material. Building something using twice the amount of time and material it should have taken is not even close to fine craftsmanship. "Look what I built" is rarely accompanied by a screenshot of the invoice for 200 bd ft of lumber for a project that should have required only 75. We never see photos of the world's most expensive pile of kindling.
When researching specific technique, not the generalities being discussed here, I suggest that you focus on the articles and other media in FW from people who regularly sell (or sold) their work, and have a commercial following. Some of the best stuff you'll read will be from craftsmen long deceased or now retired. Stick with the older stuff. It's generally better. Old American Woodworker and Woodworker's Journal weren't half bad either. These are accessible and downloadable with a Scribd subscription.
Ultimately, your pin and tail faces should fit off the saw with little or no paring. This is not new news, or controversial. That leaves the only job for a chisel to be chopping waste and a little baseline/socket/lap wall paring. And removing bulk waste with a coping saw vastly reduces the amount of chopping to very little or none at all, depending on how bold you are with the coping saw. And to anticipate the question: no, you don't need a $150 coping saw. You just need one with a flat-steel frame. Pass on the ones with a tubular frame. Eclipse still make a perfectly serviceable coping saw, but there are certainly other brands out there in the $20 to $30 range that will work well.
Remarkably pedestrian chisels (and the ones you have ARE NOT in this category), are easily up to the task.
Kurt, what you're looking for in terms of holding up is hardness.
A good vintage english chisel that's in the 62 ish range will match anything LN makes, pretty easily, and shouldn't be expensive. if you have to get two because the first one doesn't do that, then that may be the case but two should be half the price of one LN chisel.
Vintage means typically with an octagonal bolster on the chisel. Cost cutting was going on once the bolsters were turned, and socket chisels are often short of the tang chisels in hardness.
Charlie is on the mark that most chisels will do almost anything in woodworking, though I don't see much in cabinetmaker's chisels in the crucible steel days that isn't at least an even match for the current boutique chisels. most are actually better, even if they aren't given a gentleman's finish, which isn't a compliment by the way. Cabinetmakers at the time didn't seem to care for soft chisels in England, though when you switch over to longer socket gouges and millwright type stuff or whatever they'd call the bigger house makers' stuff - both here and in England, hardness dropped off quite a bit. to figures more like 57-60. Cabinetmaker's tools and probably carving tools at the time were 60-63 from what I've tested so far.
My best chisels are an old set of Eric Anton Berg chisels. Shopped them off the internet one at a time. Good clean sets are expensive but individually they can be quite reasonably priced- though it took a little while to complete the set. All my chisels are old, the newest are a couple of Sorbys and I ve had them for years now as well. I have some Buck Brothers chisels and I think highly of them. One paring chisel in particular is a favorite of mine. The steel, the ability to hold an edge and the feel and balance are top notch. I can't think of a reason why you would NEED to buy other chisels that are not going to be that much better or possibly not as good. There are lots of ways to spend money on woodworking tools and equipment, and lots of people trying to convince you that you should. Spend some money on a way to keep the ones you have sharp. My first chisels are a set of old Stanley Everlasts and I could do dovetails with them. A bit of a bear to sharpen but you could also probably derail a train with one and it would come away unscathed ! I probably have a hundred chisels and besides some junk chisels that I might use to scrape rust off something or possibly open a paint can with my worst chisels (they are not bad ,I just dont like them, ) are a set of blue Marples and I can do dovetails with those. The special chisels you need for dovetails are sharp chisels. Practice on hardwood. I find that working with softwoods often require extra sharp tools. A dull tool on hardwood makes it difficult or impossible. A dull tool on softwood will crush it.
Lots of the things I've made over a period of 30 years have involved the extensive use of bench chisels. Some required mortise chisels and nearly everything got pared at some point, latterly with dedicated paring chisels (20 degree bevel rather than 25 - 30 degree bevel). Lately I've been using gouge chisels extensively in green woodworking but also with a few dried hardwood spoons.
I did have Blue Spruce dovetailing chisels some 10 or more years ago but sold them as they were just a bit too small for my mit and were really too delicate for anything other than paring small things ..... such as dovetails.
The chisels I've had the longest (30 years) and which I use the most are Marples blue plastic handle items. They do well, although they need honing and sharpening more often than other chisels I have, which are mostly of the less expensive Narex kind (bench, paring and dovetail varieties). I have a few Two Cherries and a couple of other "Austrian steel" chisels. (I wouldn't buy more of those).
My green wood working chisels are mostly Ashley Iles gouges of the very large variety; and some smaller paring gouges of the Hans Karlsson brand.
None of these chisels, except perhaps the Hans Karlsson, are anywhere near the price bracket for those Blue Spruce, Veritas or Lie-Nielsen chisels. However, all my chisels work very well indeed - a feature of their very good basic quality (of both steel and design of the whole chisel) + my ability to sharpen and hone them aright.
I wouldn't buy those up-market chisels even if I was Very Rich Indeed, especially after my own Blue Spruce experience. No doubt that they're all very good and functional chisels, those up-market items, but ..... why pay 4X what you need to just for a label - because that's what such a purchase is basically doing.
Save money! If I was buying a limited number of all purpose chisels today, I'd buy Ashley Iles. If I was that Very Rich Indeed person, I'd buy Ashley Iles (and maybe some less expensive Narex) for those dedicated purposes best served with chisels of different configurations (bench, stub, paring, mortise, dovetail, etc.).
If I was Somewhat Poor, I'd buy good quality second hand a la Pant and a sheaf of 3M sharpening/honing papers with a large flat glass plate. And probably a cheap honing guide.
Amen to the Blue Chips.
Nothing wrong with your chisels. I've tried pretty much every method for dovetails and it comes down to sharp. As Pantalones said, pine is not a good material to learn on. If you want to practice working on something 'soft' step up to poplar or soft maple. If you get frustrated at the transfer stage look up the website in my profile.
If you have extra 1/4 or 3/8" chisels lying around grind one 45° left and the other 45° right. Cleanup inside is very important and they will not be wasted going forward on other work.
I own a set of Blue Chips I got for a song and a set of LN Bevel Edge purchased a number of years ago when they were just expensive but not yet insanely priced. Both sets are perfectly serviceable chisels. They both hold an edge well. The Blue Chips are actually more comfortable in my hand. Where the LN shine is in the minimal "land" area on the sides. Where the side bevels meet the back it comes to a moderately sharp edge. This allows getting in the corners of the tail boards without bruising the wood. The sides of the Blue Chips are larger and not as accommodating for dovetailing. In practice I use the Blue Chips more often for general chisel work. While I have the 6 piece set of the LN (1/8, 1/4, 3/8, 1/2, 3/4, 1”) I would have been fine with a just 1/2" and a 1/4" for dovetails. The other sizes are seldom used. I did also pick up a 3/8" Fishtail that's pretty handy for half blind dovetails.
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rjlii, solid advice, I think I will learn for a while on the Bucks and pick up a couple of LN's. Thanks!
You definitely don’t need new chisels. I will say I rather like my newer stanley chisels, but there are just too many of them. I kinda like mix matching sizes instead of sets. You may find that you like a certain little 1/4”er for this and a big 1”er for that.
Learn to size your joints to your chisel. I like to make sure my pin sockets are measured off the chisel I will be paring with. Note: you will need a slightly smaller chisel to do the first chops to protect your baseline. Becksvoort has a really enjoyable video on this website of him chopping a set for a drawer.
Chuck, I'll watch Becksvoort, Thanks!
Paul Sellers has been making furniture on the internet for quite a while using inexpensive chisels that have good steel. Yes, the lack some of the refinements of the more premium ones and there are lots of vintage ones that would work just as well (good steel) and have refined handles. As such, after a certain point, brand and cost is a personal preference. If you are happy with the results then no need to upgrade. Wood By Wright had a YouTube video a few years ago where he tested a large number of chisels to try and develop measurements. It was very well done. The bottom line was that most of them did very well.
Unless you really want to spend money, I’d stick with what you own for chisels and spend money on wood to practice. By the way, I’ve bought lots of tools and some way sooner than I need them so don’t feel bad if you do that either. My favorite resource on the internet for buying used tools is HyperKitten.com. Josh is a stand up guy and if you aren’t happy with what you bought you can return it. His descriptions of the tools are very accurate with what you get. I’ve been using him for most of my vintage tools for nearly a decade and if I had only one place to purchase online tools used, it would be him.
In terms of chisels for dovetails in specific, if I had to get only one chisel, it would be a 3/8” one. It reaches nicely into the based line for the pins given likely spacing; much better than a 1/2” does for me. If I had to get a second one, it would be a 3/4”. I point this out as you don’t need to get a full set if the focus is on just dovetails. The one advantage to premium tools is that you can often sell them used near to what you paid for them in case you find you don’t like them that much.
Side note, pine can be a challenging wood to work in given how soft it is. If your goal is to eventually transition to working in hardwoods, you might want to try a few different hard woods (a few boards aren’t that expensive) and see how your chisels you own feel in those woods.
You're right that premium tools can generally be sold for as much as or more than one paid for them ..... after a few years and assuming they're still in very good condition. I did this with some Blue Spruce dovetail chisels and even after the e-bay fees, sold them for more than I paid after having them for around 5 years.
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In one way, practicing with pine or some other softwood with almost punky texture, yet having various hard parts (knots or late-growth rings) can be a real chisel test. If the chisel isn't truly sharp or has some other imperfection of it's working end, that softwood will show it toot-sweet!
With any chisel (or other edged tool) the quality of that tool is often as much to do with how well it's shaped, sharpened and honed (and kept sharp/honed) as it is to do with the steel. Rather than worry about the steel (at least in chisels that are of a good brand and not $1.99-a-g0 Amazon cheapies) it's probably better to consider aspects such as the handle shape/size/feel, blade shape and other form-follows-function attributes.
Hi Lat Axe,
Several of my Lie Nielsen tools have been discontinued for a while and I could likely sell them for double or triple what I paid for them. It’s crazy.
I do agree that pine is a good test of a chisel for the reasons you pointed out. I do also agree that likely how a chisel feels in your hand is in many respects likely more important that most other things. I’ve tried quite a few brands (new and vintage). A few years ago, I rotated in other ones and used them for 6 months to a year. When all was said and done, I went back to the ones I first started with. I’ve wondered if it because they fit me better or if it was what I first used. No easy way to tell. Same thing with dovetail saws and trying others and I’ve gone back to the ones I’ve started with. For hand planes, little by little I’ve gone from Lie Nielsen hand planes to vintage ones. Mostly I think it is because I prefer the lighter weight of the vintage ones. Certainly, the LN ones are more refined. Having said that, the end result looks the same on the wood. All good problems to have.
Joe, thanks for all the great advice, I am ditching the pine, I picked up some Popular to practice on. I also resharpened my chisels.
You are most welcome. On many of my projects I have used poplar as the sides and back of a drawer. It’s a nice wood but unfortunately it doesn’t look pretty. All woods have subtle differences to them and work a bit differently. over time, try different woods just to see how they behave. It’s part of the fun of woodworking.
A2 steel seems to be the standard for high end steel with the best combination of hardness and sharpen-ability. A chisel with bevel-edged sides is important.
Rob Cosman said many times that the Lie Nielsen handles will occasionally come off when least expected. I’ve seen this happen on his Utube videos. He also has a Utube video where he takes a 5/8 chisel and grinds it into a fishtail chisel.
I've not had issues with my LN Socket style handles coming off, but I know others have. The temp and humidity in my basement shop is pretty stable year round and I expect that makes a difference. If it becomes an issue, I've heard of folks using hair spray or a small shot of spray adhesive used for matting work. Both are sticky and flexible and the handle is easily removed with an application of a little heat.
Mine have never fallen off either but as above individual mentioned, there is little humidity change where I live. Lost Art Press has blogged about using a bit of hair spray inside the metal socket to help prevent the handle from coming undone. A woodworker that I know who had his fall off (and his shop does have humidity changes) did the hair spray thing and was impressed at how well it solved the issue.
A2 steel is chosen because it's easy to find a heat treater and doesn't move. There's not really a good modern match to something like a ward or IH sorby chisel. Same hardness, possibly a point more, edge stability that's much better, and 2/3rds the abrasion resistance (easier to sharpen - chisels don't gain from getting more abrasion resistance).
O1 is decent if it's 61 ish hardness or more (as in, not Veritas). But it's not said enough - A2 is chosen for modern tools because it's easy to heat treat and requires little follow-up grinding. it's been around in some form or fashion for 100 years and branded as it is now since around WWIIs beginning. Heat treating steels that require a faster quench has become unfashionable because there's no economic reward for it.
the knife forums suggest that even O1 is starting to get kind of iffy even when you can get it heat treated. that has nothing to do with what we buy (well, hock lost his O1 heat treater) as the contract heat treatment won't be guesswork, and Iles looks like they do their own, so they're safe from it - it's just an indication that what's going on in the wider market is the money is being spent on automated heat treatment and A2 fits in that. But it's just straight up nasty if you get used to late 1800s English chisels. Not nasty hard to sharpen, just crude seeming.
If your goal is to have beautiful nicely fitting dovetails, you don't have to spend another penny on tools. Your current chisels,"razor sharp", are up to the task; it's not the tool at this point, it is the skill and experience of the user.
Get right into practicing your marking, cutting and fitting dovetails in hardwoods. If I were in your shoes, I'd spend my dollars on small quantities of poplar, white oak, maple, walnut, cherry and get to work practicing. They are all different in how they work.
You've already paid for a subscription which includes a huge collection of outstanding articles, videos and projects on cutting dovetails, other basic joints, and using chisels, handsaws, etc.
I predict you'll be surprised and satisfied at how quickly your skills will advance with education and practice.
If despite this, you just HAVE to buy something (been there), the Narex Richter chisels are very good and a super value.
tbonetim, thanks for the great advice, I have also purchased FWW Dovetail Bootcamp video training. I have watched that and others many times. Practice and a lot of it is what I need, I also have most of the wood you mentioned and will ditch the pine, I thought it would be easy to learn on, not so, it is frustrating. I like to ask questions here because of all the good advice, I have a good baseline. Thanks again!
Kurt, you have had a bunch of good recommendations, but I have one for you that will not cost a cent, and give you all you want or need.
First off, dovetailing is technique as much as tool choice. Working with soft and crumbly pine is very different from working with a hard wood with firm wood fibres. To work softer woods you need sharp edges, but also a technique to avoid the edges crumbling.
Let's get the chisels out of the way. Assuming that the steel can take a very sharp edge (even if you have to resharpen a few times), you can keep you Buck Brothers set but you do need to modify them. I assume that they have high-ish lands, and this is the problem since they will bruise the socket wallsof the tail board. There is relatively simple fix.
I own a few sets of high end chisels, but wanted to use my favourite Japanese oire nomi, which have high lands. These are designed for chopping and solidly built. It occured to me that the high lands were not the problem but rather the angle of the lands was too vertical to get inside the sockets. So I came up with a simple method to re-shape the land angles. Most of the dovetails I build are either in the ratio 6:1 or 7:1. I reshaped the lands to 6:1 - this is fully documented in my website article:
http://www.inthewoodshop.com/ShopMadeTools/BenchChiselsintoDovetailChisels.html
It was also published by FineWoodworking magazine a while back.
In a nutshell, use a stationary beltsander (or rig up something similar) to sand/grind the steel. It takes a few seconds to do and the fixture makes accuracy assured.
Technique focusses on preserving the baseline, both in avoiding it moving back, and also from crumbling internally. To prevent the baseline moving back, always create a chisel line (undercut the baseline). The prevent crumbling, your chisel must be very sharp, and you need to remove slithers of waste at a time. Pine is sure to crumble if you take more than 1mm at a time. It also helps to remove as much waste with a fretsaw.
This is documented in an article in my website:
http://www.inthewoodshop.com/Furniture/ThroughDovetails3.html
Hope all this helps.
Regards from Perth
Derek
Derek, tons of great information, thanks for taking the time. I am watching it now. I learn so much here when I ask questions. My takeaway is I need tons of practice on hardwood, my tools are fine for now. Take care.
I am not able to say if really good chisels are worth it, as I have always had good results with cheap ones. I have an eclectic set of stuff I have inherited, accumulated, found in flea markets and, rarely, purchased. I have a couple of hamlet mortise chisels, which do a fine job, but I could not say that they were noticeably better than my Marples Blue or my many no-name items.
The cheap nasty set a friend brought round were the easiest to being to a razor edge. The softer steel has its advantages too though it's not so easy to get the burr off.
That said, there is always an advantage in getting your hands on premium tools as you never know until you try them. In the power tool lineup, I can absolutely say that the more expensive tools are a LOT better than the cheaper ones, but that the improvement is a shallow slope, whereas the increase in price relatively is parabolic!
There seems to be two varities of very inexpensive WW chisels about: those that are made of cheese-metal and those that are made of compressed sand. The former go blunt very quickly and will roll their edge unless the bevel angle is at least 30 - 35 degrees. The latter are hard as crystal but will chip into a raggedy edge if you show them anything harder than lime/basswood; and sometimes if you just put them down on to the bench too hard!
These things often come in sets for £/$24.99, perhaps in a nice wee box. In practice, they're CSOs (chisel-shaped-objects). Many a WW friend or neighbour has presented me with these things over they years: "Can you sharpen this?" One can sharpen them; but they just won't stay that way when asked to do chiselling. :-)
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The Marples blue-handled chisels used to be a fail-safe inexpensive (more than £/$24.99, mind) option but are they now? I have read a review or two when wandering about on-line WW emporiums in which buyers complain that these too (are they Irwin brand now?) seem to have gone a bit cheese-metal.
Narex seem to remain the best inexpensive choice for the moment (their least expensive line, not the Richies) although they usually need a bit of fettling (perhaps a back-flatten and always a honing or even sharpening). But the best bang for buck seems these days to be Ashley Iles - very well made, with a lifetime guarantee (also a swap-it if its less than perfect policy). They offer a service to rehandle and even to reshape/grind-sharpen & hone it for a very small fee, if you wish.
https://ashleyiles.co.uk/the-ashley-iles-guarantee
Lie-Nielsen and Veritas went right up-market a few years ago, into Blue Spruce price territory. Their stuff is very good in all respects ....except for those prices. Still, if one has the dosh it seems a good thing to give some to such makers to encourage them to continue their top quality standards and makings. They do set a quality benchmark, after all. One is paying for a label .... but perhaps also for the opportunity to fondle and gloat at their gleam.
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There are some WW tasks that require chisels to have certain features, the teeny lands of dovetailing chisels being the example appropriate in this thread perhaps. True mortising (not just paring a line of drilled hole sides) needs a mortising chisel. Delicate and small-scale tasks benefit from low bevel angle paring chisels and from skew chisels.
Some bench chisels are configured to work well as dovetailers (having teeny lands) and some have steel resilient enough to work for even light mallet jobs as well as paring jobs at less than 25 degrees bevel angle. All-purpose chisels would be nice but in practice, task-specific chisels can make it easier to accomplish some kinds of tasks better than with just a bog-standard bench chisel like the Blue-handled Marples.
On the other hand, I use my blue Marples not just as chisels but also as small scrapers. They lose their super-sharp edge rapidly, of course - but it can be put back in a minute.
There are inexpensive chisels on amazon that are made of 1% carbon steel that i almost can't better as a maker, but for the most part, what's sold is what people will buy.
Just my opinion, but I tested a few chisels three or four years ago and there's isn't anything in the LN, LV or blue spruce group of tools I'd buy. The iles chisels are decent, but the format won't satisfy people who want to pinch blades instead of hold handles - they'll be too long, nor the gazers who think that all chisels should be made by CNC.
the V11 chisels were not a match to the first chisel I mentioned (a set on amazon that's 1% carbon steel and salt bath heat treated), but again - same for anything in A2 - would the woodworking hobby notice? I doubt it.
The richters are OK, I guess, but there's what appears to be a small amount of grain growth in one I bought just to examine, and it needs a steeper bevel angle than it should (again, another one that came out less stout in use than a $12 chinese made chisel).
Two things stand out to me - one, people want something in a chisel but they also haven't figured out how to get the most out of a chisel or more importantly, actually using it in some cycle of work and sharpening. Two, most of the market is really in a romance with online influencers and certain aesthetics that may be "undude" to chisels. For example, the blue spruce chisels have a high level polish. Noboby would've cared about that 150 years ago when they were using their tools all day, but it will draw in the youtube video watchers and white collar folks (I'm white collar) like flies - and does it hurt anything? if it did, we'd have something more like older English chisels sold to us. Just as hard as modern chisels, no abrasion resistance, more stable edge, much less easy to make industrially.
All my marples are old ones.
At the risk of sounding like an Ashley Iles salesman, may I recommend a read of the making process at the beginning of their catalogue, which can be found here:
https://www.ashleyilestoolstore.co.uk/ProductCatalogue/Catalogue.pdf
This describes both the process and the content of the steel used.
NB My security software is happy with the web page version of the pdf catalogue but won't allow a download of the pdf for reasons it doesn't fully explain, other than to suggest that "this file can't be downloaded securely". It can be a sensitive wee soul though, the security stuff on my desktop.
Pages 25 & 26 of the Ashley Iles catalogue show the details of the cabinet making chisels (a small section compared to their vast range of carving and turning tools). These include standard bench chisels with narrow lands but also "American pattern or butt" short chisels as well as a set dedicated to dovetailing, including a couple of skews.
I wasn't very aware of their stuff until the beginning of 2024, when I bought various carving chisels to serve my latest WW obsession with making spoons, kuksas, bowls, shrink pots and similar. I've been very impressed with the standard of their wares .... although green woods are quite kind and easy with edge tools of course.
The Never Sponsored substack has a great review on chisels from August 2024. Written by the former editors of a competitor magazine. They have solid advice. My two cents, handle shape and what feels right to you matters as much as steel. As such, I gave my Blue Marples/Irwin to my son to abuse. I think LN are the bees-knees (you likely only need like two chisels...), but would get Stanley sweetheart in a second too, although longer to setup. My Stanley plastic handled chisels, on the other hand, are crud metal, and bad in my hand. Last, your old bucks brothers are a good, if they work for you.
I have a set of the Stanley sweethearts - they fit hand nicely and hold edge a little better I think than Narex low end do, both can work just fine, but my experience is that neither are close to as good as more “expensive” chisels in holding edge. Both brands can take some work to flatten backs, strip the gunk, and soften edges with a file and if you care, sand the mill marks down. Narex has rather large handles -better for mallet work. I am a relative beginner on dovetails compared to many on this forum, but have done a few box type pieces and several drawers now including half blinds, with enough various chisels to know what I like. And, I know how much time and work is involved to set up the inexpensive chisels. For dovetails, I like the Stanley sweethearts just fine but got my hands on some vintage Stanley 750s and like those even better- good steel and I guess there’s a reason LN modeled his after the 750. That said, sweethearts take a lot of work to “finish/set-up”. If you don’t mind spending as much time fettling as it takes to build a decent project, and you have good gear to flatten, then I think you’ll be happy with them. If it fits the budget consider “buy once, cry once”, doubt there are very many customers who seriously regret buying LN or Veritas PM-V11 chisels. I’ve gotten a few one at a time and although I’ve learned a lot about fettling and I’m no longer a bit scared to put a file and sandpaper to a brand new tool, kind of wish I would have started at the top and spent time building.
OP, I don't know what old buck brothers means. Your chisels could be 58 hardness or they could be 62. the difference between those two numbers is dollar each harbor freight to Ward and Payne.
I just tested an old Buck Bros Cast Steel chisel at 59. A whole lot of their stuff was 58-60 and will not hold up like something marked I. Sorby or Ward or earlier Marples (talking like 1890 earlier), and then some of their (Buck Bros) parers and patternmaker's tools are 62 hardness - a completely different class of tool.
I've hardness tested a whole bunch of different makers' tools and what Buck Bros did, they did intentionally. I don't know why.
For cleaning out the very inside corners of the spaces between dovetails (i.e., where the pin fits), which doesn't require much force on the chisel since you are only shaving a small bit of material, long ago I simply bought an inexpensive Marples chisel and reground and sharpened both sides to eliminate the lands entirely. You don't have to get the angle just right, it just has to be lower than that needed to get into the corner of the dovetails you plan to cut having the most splay. It does not need to match the dovetail ratio - no sense making a bigger deal out of this than is functionally necessary.
I first read about this modification perhaps 30 years ago in one of the older woodworking books that I have. As is typical in woodworking, nothing much is really new - authors tend to revisit the same topics over and over again (how many articles have been written about hand cutting dovetails, and how much do they add to what was written many decades ago?) so that the magazines have something to publish for those who are new to the hobby and don't try to gain access to older books.
This isn't cutting edge technology (pun intended).
https://www.jimbodetools.com/collections/whats-new/products/dead-mint-new-single-stanley-no-750-chisel-sweetheart-pick-your-size-76276a-singles-copy
In case you have cash burning a hole in your pocket.