Larry, THANK YOU for this info! I started my subscription to FWW about
a year ago so that one isn't in my library. Nice to see that their test
ing bears out my very LIMITED experience with the Pro touch vs the one
Sears venerable chisel that has survived from the 70's.

Did they give a rating for "Best Buy"?

dave

Larry C in Auburn, WA wrote:

I was just looking through some old FWW mags and ran across an article on
chisels in the Dec/1999, issue 139. They looked at 17 different chisels and
tested their hardness and toughness. It might be worth looking at if you
have a copy although it's 4 years old now.

FWIW, they ranked the Marples Blue Chip as coming in 16th out of the 17
chisels tested, IOW almost dead last. Craftsman came in 9th. The chisels
that tested best for toughness were White Steel ($32 for a 1/2" chisel)
first, then Blue Steel ($38 for a 1/2" chisel), and in third was Iyori ($156
for a set of 4 chisels).

Double FWIW, the Craftsman rated better for toughness than Japan Woodworker
(10th), Garrett Wade (11th), Robert Sorby Gilt-Edge (12th), Lee Valley
(13th), Robert Sorby Octagonal (14th), Stanley 5002 (15th), Marples Blue
Chip (16th), and Pfeil (17th).

Again, this test is now 4 years old and they were only testing current
models of chisels and they didn't test all models (e.g. Marples Protech),
but maybe this helps explain why your Sears holds up better than your
Marples.