How Good? Two Cherries Dovetail Chisel Set

[@neuro518]

I bought a couple of dozen Two Cherries brand carving chisels and gouges in the mid 1970’s. The steel was rough, black, and unpolished , and the handles were junk. However, the grinding of the bevels was true, and the edges, after I honed them, wicked sharp. I rarely touch a stone to them, occasionally hone them, and they keep an edge better and are made of better steel than any other tools I own. After 50 years they are still the best tools I ever bought. BTW if you continue to use a metal mallet on them, I wouldn't remove the steel band.

[@DRwoodworking]

Thanks for sharing your experience. I heard some people don’t like the recent made ones as much, the polished ones are said to have slight round over of the edges and the steel being soft. Do you happen to have used a newer TwoCherries chisel or gouge for comparison?

[@xptical]

What will you replace the blue caps with?

[@DRwoodworking]

Oh I will either have a storage box or some place to hang them, but the caps are not really practical for regular use imo, only for transport and long term storage.

[@Carpenters_Canvas]

Not so sure those are dovetail chisels, they look like bench chisels, on a count of the missing bevel on top to clear waste on the tails, but still nice, I just bought a set of the dovetail ones, yet to use them but like them so far, they have a thicker blade which I like ... not a fan of the Narex ones I have, they are long as hell

[@DRwoodworking]

They call them dovetail chisels, the sides run pretty thin. Some call fishtail or skew chisels dovetail chisels. Aren’t the long Narex ones paring chisels?

[@Carpenters_Canvas]

@@DRwoodworking I’m not sure, probably. They do have the very thin sides which gives great clearance for cleaning up the dovetails. But the length. Just a little hard to control. For the price though they are exceptional. I just can’t wrap my head around paying $800+ for IBC or Lea Neason. Over $100 a chisel. Insanity

[@DRwoodworking]

@@Carpenters_Canvas it's often a matter of cost per time of use; if you're using a chisel day in day out and it gives superior performance or enjoyment of use, $130 for a chisel is not unreasonable; in the vast majority of cases, a full set is not needed anyway, a 1/4" and a wider 3/4" or 1" chisel go a long way. There's a middle ground above the really cheap ones and below premium with Ashley Iles, Narex Richter and some other brands at $30-40 for a chisel. Regular Narex seem to be subpar, but still preferable over the cheapest sets.

[@drp2007]

I have some chisels that I believe are the same, but were under the Bracht brand. Good chisels, although I life the handles on the Two Cherries better.

[@DRwoodworking]

Interesting. Are those vintage or recently made? Bracht apparently were integrated in the Kirschen company some years back. I would assume the stated flatness is a more recent thing, but who knows they might have made it after some older Bracht model.

[@drp2007]

@@DRwoodworking I bought them used on Ebay about 10 years, and thought they came from f-West Germany when I did a little research, so don't have any experience with the marketing approach at the time. I might make new handles, just did that with some Narex blanks from Taylor Toolworks and had fun doing so.

[@iamwhoiam4410]

No way would I pay that kind of money for a set of Two Cherry chisels, nor would I even buy a set of their chisels.

[@DRwoodworking]

Yeah, fair enough. Richter are about the same price and might be a better purchase. Two Cherries isn’t all bad though. Did you have negative experiences with their tools in the past?

[@kennethspeed2019]

HMMM...Interesting. Just for comparison's sake, I have the wood chisels made by Lie Nielsen. They're socket chisels and are based on early Stanley chisels. I'm sure you've seen them. The only bad thing about them is really my fault. Since they're socket chisels, the hornbeam handles are just a friction fit in the socket. When they were new and new to me, I sometimes had the blade fall off the handle. I think regular use solved the problem because I haven't had blades fall off in a long time. As happy as I am with the LN chisels, there are chisels made by a Canadian company called IBC which are impressive and interestingly made. You might want to look at them just out of curiosity if nothing else.

[@DRwoodworking]

I have not had the chance to use LN chisels and have heard about IBC. I think WoodByWright had them included in his big chisel test. Interesting to hear that socket chisels need to be broken in apparently.

[@flubby18]

The dovetail chisel is not flat on the sides. In order to fit into the angled slot, the chisel has to be fully beveled to the tip at least, preferable all the way back. Mine is a triangle shape that ends with a point along the top center.

[@DRwoodworking]

These can be too sharp and cut into your fingers ime. I just tilt the chisel so only the edge gets into the tail recess. I think skews might be the way to go for „power“-dovetailers or regrind or buy a tail shaped one like you have.

[@flubby18]

@@DRwoodworking Since you weren't really doing a video on the differences, it is hard to see that these chisels are actually beveled. I wanted to be sure beginners would understand why a standard unbeveled chisel is not good for clearing out dovetails. I bought my 1/4" triangular since my other chisels are flat sided. These look awesome. I wish I could afford a whole set.

[@josephrogers9701]

Those chisels have what I call a firmer pattern. No bevels on the sides will bruise the tails when chopping the waste.

[@DRwoodworking]

Did you take a closer look? There is a substantial side bevel going down to maybe a 64th. It may look narrow because the chisel is pretty thin itself.

[@d.m...]

HALLO! Ich bin der Daniel.🤦😂

[@balconyShop]

Good Shot. thanks

[@गिरधारीगिरधारी-द4घ]

कॉल कर रहे

[@alastairmead9188]

Now you’ve had time to use them more, how are they holding up?

[@DRwoodworking]

I didn’t do a lot of dovetail work recently and have a different set of everyday chisels I use. I’d actually recommend the Narex Richter over these, as those are not a limited run, so you can expect to get replacements for a long time and probably will do all these here could. There may be a 0.5% chance someone will run into a situation where the Two Cherries will be able to do something the Narex can’t. :)