Best Wood Chisel Tool Sets - Zen-Wu Y-1

$89.99
Size

DESCRIPTION :

East meets West with Zen-Wu’s immaculately designed chisels. They are lapped and honed by hand at Zen-Wu’s factory—possibly the only western-style chisel that is truly ready to use out of the box. 

Made from a unique steel called ZWC1, it is high on both the hardness and toughness scales, outperforming popular steels like A2 and PM-V11. It holds an edge for longer than most chisels, but sharpens quickly. 

The back of the chisel has a 20 micron hollow, which helps prevent slippage when paring, and reduces resistance when chiseling. Each chisel has gone through a bluing process that gives the iron a beautiful black finish that helps prevent corrosion. 

The handle is made of hard maple, and the blade is secured with a tang and ferrule. 

SPECIFICATIONS :

  • Blade widths: 1”, ⅝”, ⅜”, ¼”, ⅛”

  • Blade length: 4.5”

  • Handle length: 10.5”

Best Wood Chisel Tool Sets Hot Take:

I can’t help but get excited when I talk about these chisels. They are the best on the market, and more affordable than Lee Valley or Lie-Nielson. Zen-Wu has developed a steel that’s unlike anything you’ll find in a chisel. It’s high on both the hardness and toughness scales, which is RARE. In practice, that means it can take a beating without chipping or losing its edge. 

That doesn’t mean you’ll never have to sharpen, but you’ll sharpen less. And because they hone these chisels at the factory, you can literally open the box and start using them. The back of the blade has a slight intentional hollow, which helps with paring and chiseling. Of course you can always flatten it on your stones in just a couple passes. 

Ergonomically, they’re a dream. The edges are ground and tapered, and the top of the chisel is slightly concave, serving as a great thumb register. This makes it easy to choke up on the chisel when paring. These chisels are beautiful out of the box, and after a few uses, they’ll each develop a unique, great-looking patina.

Best Wood Chisel Tool Set for WoodworkingBest Wood Chisel Tool Set for WoodworkingBest Wood Chisel Tool Set for WoodworkingBest Wood Chisel Tool Set for Woodworking

Customer Reviews

Based on 5 reviews
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M
Mike K.

We recently purchased three Y-1 chisels from Zen Wu to try in our small furniture studio. Here’s how we feel about them: -The Y-1 chisels are high quality & of a good logical, comfortable & strong design. - They come more finely machines than any other of our sets thus far. Edges are smooth & take a honing quickly. The backs are flat, though we do choose to flatten the entire backs of our bench chisels as we have a specific way of honing them. -The chisels in our studio work every day, all day long & this steel holds up very well in comparison to our other A2, Carbon-Chrome and hand forged sets which we have used for years. - We would say that they perform noticeably better & than our other sets. Edges can be honed quickly & to a precision sharpness, the steel does not fold or chip as easily as our other sets. Overall I do believe that this chisel design is well contemplated, of high quality & the steel is a dependable investment for life. -A highbred western style chisel with white st

R
Roger L.

They look beautiful and are razor sharp. The tool's steel seems quite good... Easy to sharpen and holds an edge as long as any of the other high end steels. I did some heavy chopping on some hard and soft wood. I was surprised the soft wood didn't fracture so much near the end grain as is typical with chopping dovetail waste. I thought the hollow back was a gimmick but perhaps it really has some value.

J
Jeff B.

They look beautiful and are razor sharp.
The tool's steel seems quite good... Easy to sharpen and holds an edge as long as any of the other high end steels. I did some heavy chopping on some hard and soft wood. I was surprised the soft wood didn't fracture so much near the end grain as is typical with chopping dovetail waste. I thought the hollow back was a gimmick but perhaps it really has some value.

J
John B.

They are sharp out of the box, well balanced and the handles feel good in my hand. These may become primary chisels in my shop.

C
Charles M.
I recommend this product

These are well made and well balanced. As stated they can be used straight out of the box and are sharp. I have only used a couple of them so far and have found them very easy to use for me. I have been using them on both hard wood and soft pine, and they cut very well.

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Customer Reviews

Based on 5 reviews
100%
(5)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
0%
(0)
M
Mike K.

We recently purchased three Y-1 chisels from Zen Wu to try in our small furniture studio. Here’s how we feel about them: -The Y-1 chisels are high quality & of a good logical, comfortable & strong design. - They come more finely machines than any other of our sets thus far. Edges are smooth & take a honing quickly. The backs are flat, though we do choose to flatten the entire backs of our bench chisels as we have a specific way of honing them. -The chisels in our studio work every day, all day long & this steel holds up very well in comparison to our other A2, Carbon-Chrome and hand forged sets which we have used for years. - We would say that they perform noticeably better & than our other sets. Edges can be honed quickly & to a precision sharpness, the steel does not fold or chip as easily as our other sets. Overall I do believe that this chisel design is well contemplated, of high quality & the steel is a dependable investment for life. -A highbred western style chisel with white st

R
Roger L.

They look beautiful and are razor sharp. The tool's steel seems quite good... Easy to sharpen and holds an edge as long as any of the other high end steels. I did some heavy chopping on some hard and soft wood. I was surprised the soft wood didn't fracture so much near the end grain as is typical with chopping dovetail waste. I thought the hollow back was a gimmick but perhaps it really has some value.

J
Jeff B.

They look beautiful and are razor sharp.
The tool's steel seems quite good... Easy to sharpen and holds an edge as long as any of the other high end steels. I did some heavy chopping on some hard and soft wood. I was surprised the soft wood didn't fracture so much near the end grain as is typical with chopping dovetail waste. I thought the hollow back was a gimmick but perhaps it really has some value.

J
John B.

They are sharp out of the box, well balanced and the handles feel good in my hand. These may become primary chisels in my shop.

C
Charles M.
I recommend this product

These are well made and well balanced. As stated they can be used straight out of the box and are sharp. I have only used a couple of them so far and have found them very easy to use for me. I have been using them on both hard wood and soft pine, and they cut very well.