Fujikawa Okyo Japanese Chisel Set, 10-Piece

This looks like a great set of bench chisels. These are said to be laminated white steel according to Woodcraft. I included some photos ~so we would have more than the stock photo to go by. I have not used them yet as they will need to be prepared for use like most any Japanese nomi. I am happy with this purchase.

First, I pay too much for them. One month later Grizzly has them for $80 less. But, is not the worst part of this purchase. They are very rough finish and will take you days of work to made them so you can use in a pro shop. The worst is that the back is not flat in all of them. The tip of the back chisels are a bit round. Flattening takes a lot of stone work because it is the hard metal part of the two layers is steel. When you get them flat, the concave feature of the classic Japanese chisels almost disappears. This is totally not a Japanese craftsmanship but a lesser imitation made possible in China or India. After you spend hour finishing their mistakes, you have a useful chisels that work Ok. Not worth the time buying this.

They were razor Sharp straight from the box

I wanted to try my hand at hand cut joinery for therapeutic reasons. Also to create custom pieces, so I was looking for a set of chisels that wouldn't break the bank. I bought this set for over $250. I used them for the first time on cedar and the tip chipped off, see picture. Although I know these aren't the highest quality, I truly felt for over $250, that I would receive some level of quality. Very disappointed in this purchase. I will keep them, since I'm a beginner but am not happy about this purchase.

Outstanding value for the price. Just to provide a basis for comparison, a set of 10 Japanese bench chisels can easily run above $500, and even well into the thousands for chisels from high-end blacksmiths, so these are relatively inexpensive.As is usually the case with Japanese chisels, the hoops need to be set before using. Also typical of Japanese chisels, the back of each chisel has a hollow, or concavity, called the "ura", which aids in flattening, as only the perimeter ("ashi") around the ura is flattened.The edges on my set arrived decently sharp, but needed a polish to get them to hair-shaving sharp. The lengths of the chisels were not uniform, and some of the handles were not set fully into the tang/socket, but for this price point, these are minor quibbles. The handles have a lacquer finish, but it's easy enough to remove with lacquer thinner. From what I've read on some forums, I believe the steel on the bottom lamination is white steel #2, with an Rockwell hardness of around 62. Note that Japanese chisels are not meant to be used for prying and levering as in Western woodworking and can chip if used in this way. You can cut mortises with these, but the technique is slightly different. Also, these are meant to be used with a hammer ("gennou"). They can be used as a paring chisel, but the hoops make it a bit uncomfortable. If you will be doing a lot of paring, I'd recommend looking for a Japanese paring chisel ("usu nomi"), which has a longer handle without a hoop.My only complaint is that the wooden box, as packed and shipped by Woodcraft, was damaged in transit. The chisels were packed in the wooden box with minimal padding and caused the insets to chip and break off. To the credit of their customer service, they offered to replace the entire set, but I opted to keep the original since the chisels themselves were in good shape.I haven't used these long enough to comment on edge-retention or ease of sharpening, which are arguably the most important properties of a chisel, but maybe I'll revisit this review in the future.