I also have had the same experience . It should be noted that the honing a
ngle should vary according to the hardness of the material they are used on
, oak for instance would require a greater angle than say pine . In
particular mortise chisel edges really take beating that is why they are
more robust in design.

One other consideration is the old saying what you loose on the roundablouts
you gain on the swings , personally one has to weigh using a softer material
and consequently sharpening the tool more frequently against using a harder
material and sharpening it less frequently but the proceedure taking half
the day .

My SET of Marples blue chips ran me at the time $25 from Highland hardware
[it used to be somewhat of a specialty with them]. The UK pound is currently
higher against the dollar so I would expect them currently to be 10 to 15%
higher....mjh

--




"Conan the Librarian" wrote in message
om...
Bay Area Dave wrote in message
m...

I just picked up 3 Marples protouch chisels, wasted my time to sharpen
the 3/8" one and then proceeded to put chisel to wood; namely red oak.
Before getting more than 4 sides of a mortise started the chisel's edge
was so nicked that I could see it without my reading glasses! That's
saying something. BTW, I sharpened it on 3 diamond stones and then up
to around 5k+ papers. I used the Lee Valley honing guide...

I've got a Sears chisel, 3/4" that holds an edge for quite a while.
What's up with these Marples?

Why were you using a standard bevel-edge chisel to chop mortises in
the first place?

FWIW, I've been using Blue Chips for several years now without any
real complaints. I also have some nicer chisels, but I've gotten
about what I expected from a $20 set of chisels.


Chuck Vance