Buying Poor Quality Tools Is A Waste Of Money and Time

The chisel rack at the school I am at was slowly getting low on chisels, due to vandalism, theft etc. Like most schools we are always short of a quid. Went to a cheap shop and found that I could buy 2 3/4" chisels for $4. I bought 8 and removed them from the packing. You could ride all day on the sharp end. I took them to the grinder and ground them down to the reccommended point. I took them to the oilstone, raised the chisel the extra 5 deg and honed it. When I turned it over to get the burr flat on the back I found that it was curved up about 0.5mm over a distance of 8mm. I checked the rest of them and they were the same, some better, some even worse. I have brought them home and intended heating them with the oxy to reforge them flat. I then decided to test the hardness and hit them with a centre punch near the business end. Yep, a centre pop you could drill into and no effect on the centre punch. I may get stuck into them later to fix them up. In the meantime I bought replacements for $8 each that work a lot better. I suppose they will make excellent paint stirrers.

Reminded me of the old story of the fellow who ran a produce store. A sign on the wall proclaimed, "You must pay a good price for quality oats. If however you are satisfied with oats that have been through the horse once, they come a little cheaper."

Cheers

Bruce