Replies

1. 
   forestgirl | Mar 01, 2007 08:50pm | #1

   I wandered in here and saw your post.  Am no expert at all, but have been doing a lot of reading recently while doing my first plane rehabs.  A couple of thoughts:  First of all, it seems the area near the tip of the blade is the most important to have flat and shiney.  Further up the blade may not matter that much.  Second:  Lee Valley has the best customer service in the world!  If you drop them an email with your question, they will get back to you.  If the chisels are outside their standard, they will replace them happily.

   Hopefully, you'll get an expert here soon. ;-)

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-) 
   

   
   

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   Edited 3/1/2007 1:02 pm by forestgirl

2. 
   JohnWW | Mar 07, 2007 03:26am | #2

   Jeff,

   I'm sorry for not responding sooner, but I have been traveling a lot and Forest Girl's answer was as good as anything I could tell you, she is an expert even if she is shy to admit it.  I would second her recommendation that you talk to Lee Valley, they do have excellent customer service.

   But I would offer a point to ponder: this same question came up awhile ago and I went back into our shop then and checked a number of chisels including a few of my personal ones.  A number of them were out by as much or more than the set you have and I just never knew or noticed.  Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

   John White

   John White

1. 
   JGaskell | Mar 07, 2007 06:24pm | #3

   Thanks, John

   did a lot of looking at what i could read, and i did my best to flaten out the faces, i started with very coarse-emery paper (never thought i would use domething like that on a tool), and did get the forward 3/4 of an inch flat but still had a big hollow right behind that and on one side.  All of them were the same.  I happened across the Lie Nielsen distributor at the Toronto wood show, and was far more impressed with the chisels they sell.  So at a ridiculous cost, i bought a set of five, and returned the Lee Valley Chisels with no difficulty.  they do have good customer service, but I am not impressed with the quality of some of the products.  I have had one other complaint with some product from there.  I also have a Veritas block plane that i think is great.

   End result is i had pretty good luck with the Lie Nielsen chisels, the smallest two took a bit more lapping, but were pretty good overall, and i have them sharp and ready for use.   Would not hesitate to buy more from Lie Nielsen.

   Thanks for the help.

   Jeff