How a Chisel Set Changed My Weekend Projects

Two years ago my chisel drawer was a coffee can of regret. I had a 1 inch chisel from one set, a 1/2 inch from another, and a 1/4 inch with a handle held together by electrical tape. Every hinge mortise turned into a fight. I bought the HURRICANE 4 Piece Wood Chisel Set to stop the bleeding. Four sizes, 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and 1 inch, one case, safety caps on the blades. I figured it was worth a try. Two years of weekends later, I am glad I did.

The blades are drop forged CR-V steel with a 25 degree bevel. The handles are PVC. There is no mystery to the design, and that suits me. I am not a cabinetmaker. I build step stools, picture frames, a blanket chest for my daughter, and a bookshelf for a grandchild. I need a chisel that starts sharp, holds an edge long enough to finish a row of dovetails, and does not make me treat it like a museum piece.

The first real job was cleaning out hinge mortises on a blanket chest. I used the 1/2 inch for most of it and the 3/4 inch to widen the shallow spots. The bevel gave me a clean wall and a flat floor without tearout in poplar. That sounds small. It is not small when the lid has to sit flush and the hinge has to carry the weight. I got the lid to close with an even gap on the first try, which is not a thing I say often.

Then I put them to work on dovetails in pine and oak. The 1/4 inch is the one I reach for most. It gets into the pin sockets and paring the waste down to the line. The 1 inch is a bruiser for that kind of work, so it stays in the case unless I am paring a wide hinge or cleaning up a long shoulder. The set covers the range a weekend project actually asks for. That is the main reason it has stayed in the top drawer instead of getting pushed to the back.

Two years is enough time to learn a tool's habits. Here is what I have found, including the parts I do not love.

The 1/2 inch chisel has cleaned out every hinge mortise on three blanket chests and a set of cabinet doors, and it still pares end grain clean.

The edge is the whole job with a chisel. I keep a diamond stone on a rolling cart beside the bench. The coarse side flattens the back and fixes a nick. The fine side brings the bevel back. I touch up the 1/2 inch and 1/4 inch most weekends, three or four passes, then back to work. The HURRICANE blades have taken that routine without getting soft or chipping at the edge. I have dropped the 3/4 inch once on the concrete floor. It got a small nick, I honed it out, and it went back to work. That is the test I care about.

The factory edge is a starting point, not a finish. Mine needed a few minutes on the stone before they behaved the way I wanted. If you expect a razor edge straight out of the case, plan to spend a little time. That is true of most sets in this class, and it is not a knock I hold against them. A chisel is a piece of steel with a handle. You are the one who makes it sharp.

The handles are PVC. They are light, they do not swell, and they do not care if my hands are sweaty. They also do not feel like the rosewood handles on the old chisels I see at tool shows. If you want a set to pass down, this is not that set. If you want a set to use, it is fine. The safety caps are a small thing that turns out to matter. I keep the case in the top drawer under the bench, and the caps keep the edges from finding each other in the dark.

The case is plain plastic. It holds the four chisels and keeps them together. It is not a display box. I do not need a display box. I need to know where the 1/4 inch is when I am halfway through a pin socket and the light is going.

Last winter I built a white oak step stool for my youngest grandchild. Every joint on that stool got pared by hand. The 1/2 inch cleaned the shoulders. The 1/4 inch got into the corners. I did not have to stop and resharpen halfway through, which is the kind of thing that makes a weekend project feel like a chore. The stool sits in my daughter's kitchen now. Nobody looks at the joints but me. I know what they looked like before the chisels.

What I'd Tell You If We Were Sitting at My Kitchen Table

Here is what I would tell you if we were sitting at my kitchen table. If your chisels are a coffee can of mismatched handles and you are tired of fighting them, the HURRICANE set will do what you need. It covers the four sizes that handle almost every job on a weekend bench. It takes an edge and holds it well enough to finish the work. It has 4.7 stars from more than 7,000 ratings. That is not why I bought it, but it tracks with what I found. It will not impress anyone who collects tools. It will help you cut cleaner hinges, pare cleaner dovetails, and stop blaming yourself for a joint that went sideways because the tool was dull. Buy it, sharpen it, and use it. That is the whole review.