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Home Cheapo has a deal on Stanley 750 chisels. 4 of them for $85 and all 8 for $165, purchase online only:

http://www.homedepot.com/b/Stanley/N-5y ... ue&Ns=None

In fact, searching for "buy" on these guys and it looks like prices have come down all over

Ed

Thanks for the heads up Ed.

They aren't vintage, but you can't have everything - no wait, you can

Ed

Are these good chisels capable of holding an edge like two cherries brand?

Amazon has the 4 piece Stanley 750 set for a little less. Ed can answer tool questions better than me, but I decided on the Two Cherries, based on recommendations plus an actual stated rockwell hardness rating of 61. Other chisels had either a range, or no stated rating. The others that stated a definitive hardness, cost lot more.

Amazon has the 6 piece Two Cherries set in the wooden box for $125 with free shipping. They're sold through Amazon, from a store in Germany, but it's a really good deal.

That is certainly an excellent price for those chisels. I have three of them and paid about $35 apiece.
I like them and they hold an edge pretty well, but my "go-to" chisel seems to be a Swedish made 1/2" chisel I picked up used at the local flea market for ten bucks.

I currently have about 23 chisels in my current user drawer - from 1/16" to 3-1/2" and from firmer to bevel edge to slick to long to short (not including carving tools). I have reconditioned and used many more then that, I can honestly say that I have only run across 2 bad vintage chisels, and both of those had obvious burn marks near the edge that would have drawn the temper out thus softening the steel.

I completely understand aesthetics as I am sort of favorable to James Swan tools -chisels and drawknives. I have a friend who spent a couple of years collecting long PEXTO bevel edge chisels - talking 12"+ with the handle - then put ipe handles on the whole set. Both he and I copy the Stanley 750/Lie-Nielson handle pattern

Remember that for those of us that don't make out living with hand tools and who use them only occasionally, almost any brand name chisel in reasonable condition will work just fine.

Ed

I actually still have and use some Harbor Freight wood handled chisels that I started out with. They don't hold an edge long, but they do sharpen up and work fine. I use the 1/4 and 1/2" the most along with my nice german made chisels.

I asked my friend for a shot of his PEXTO socket chisels with ipe handles. A set that can't really be improved on for edge holding, ease of sharpening, balance, and general cool. It took him a couple of years to collect them all because he was looking for close-to-full-length chisels, but they never cost more than about $20 apiece. Note the shape of the handles - in my opinion, the best shape for general use:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/ ... ed-public/

Ed