B a r r y wrote:

Folks,
I DAGS and noticed a lot of you have purchased Two Cherries
chisels.

Do you still like them?

I'm wanting to replace my Blue Chips with something that holds and
edge longer, and $50 each for Sorby's is a bit tough for me to bite.

Any other recommendations?

Barry

It's funny how we seem to view "foreiegn" tools as being better than
local tools. In the USA chisels from Buck, Sears and the like are
readily
available and relatively cheap. Japanese, German, Austrian and Swiss
however go for a more premium price and we seem to be willing to
pay that premium price because "they must be better, they'r made in
(fill in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Japan).

While in Munich I made a run up to Dick's Fine Tools, in Metten, about
100 Km from Munich. Went specifically to get some of them "foreign"
chisels" - specifically Two Cherries. Alas, he'd gotten heavy into
Japanese
gardening and he was only carrying Japanese woodworking tools. Bummer.

Using my son, who spent a year in Germany ans speaks German, I asked
if there was any place within a hundred kilometers that carried Two
Cherries chisels. Was sent down the road to the local hardware/garden
center store - a scaled back German version of our Borg. With my son
asking, I soon found myself standing in front of a peg board full of
Two
Cherries chisels, each with a plastic end cap that had a loop for
hanging
from a peg board peg. They went from 2 mm up to maybe 36 mm, in 2 mm
increments. Got the 18, 16, 14, 12, 10 and 8 mm for about $95 US.
No locked glass case with special lighting, no hermetically controlled
environment - they were just chisels hung on per board. No fancy box,
no hand stitched leather roll - just chisels - with plastic end caps
and
a loop to hang them from.

I looked for the locked glass case with the Buck Bros. and Sears
chisels
but there wasn't one.

I made a finger jointed rack to hold the TCs and they're sitting in
one of
the doors of one of my wall hanging tool cabinets. They're well
finished
and very shiny. But it's been about three years since they went in
their
rack and I still haven't gotten around to actually using them. I use
the
Marples Blue Chips and the Bucks regularly and the butt chisels which
I think are by Sorby sometimes. But the Zweis Kirchen (I think that's
Two Cherries in German) chisels are being reserved for "house
furniture" - if and when I ever get to building any of that stuff.

On a related note, found a little cutlery shop in Austria, well off
the
beaten tourist trails, that carried Stubai carving chisels. The
founder's
great grand daughter helped me, brining out card board boxes of Stubai
carving chisels and a separate box of octagonal handles. She knew her
carving chisels, and, with her help over an hour or so, put together
a selection for carving small stuff. Dropped close to $200 US but
left with another fond memory of doing business with a place that
had been there for over a hundred years and still a family run
business.

Now try and remember a store you've been to that has been in the
same place for over 50 years. Then try and remember a business
you've dealt with that was third generation, let alone fourth
generation. Cheapest seldom means "best", or even "adequate". And
"cheapest" is seldom sold by interesting people with a lot of
knowledge about what they sell.

I prefer 12 year old scotch - and "mom and pop stores".
Unfortunately,
while 12 year old scotch is easy to find, "mom and pop stores" are
getting harder and harder to find. Sad.

charlie b