Review on 🪵 Stanley 16 791 Sweetheart Socket Chisel: Premium Quality Chisel for Ultimate Woodworking Precision by Joseph Hall

I've spent a lot of time looking for a good quality set of chisels at a reasonable price, and by reasonable I mean less than $30 a chisel. I wasn't expecting to find Lie Nielsen or Veritas quality in this $73 Sweethearts set, but I expected the chisels to be as described by Stanley. Spoilers: It's not as described, at least not the set I received, so I returned it to Revain. I managed to get by with a cheap set of Buck Bros chisels for a few years, but lately I've been using them. so many that I decided to buy a better set. I wanted to buy Ashley Isles MK II chisels but didn't have the sizes I needed in stock. My next choice was the Narex Premium in imperial sizes, but I wasn't sure if I wanted round buttons. So I settled on my third pick, the Stanley 750 Sweethearts. I was hesitant to buy them because Stanley's reputation isn't what it used to be and if I had gone with my flair I would have saved myself the trouble. My problem with these chisels is that they are not as described. The description states that "their side bevels are very narrow to work in tight corners" and that they have "tapered bevels on the sides". If those two statements were true of my set, I would definitely keep them. Unfortunately it isn't. I can barely see the taper and the side bevels are nowhere near very narrow. I measured just over 1/16" at the narrowest point and 1/8" at the tallest point. Since I will be cutting a lot of dovetails, I prefer "very narrow" side bevels. Sure I could grind them up like I did with my Buck Bros, but for $73 I don't feel like I should. Narex Premium bits have side bevels that are closer to Lie Nielsen and Ashley Isles so I'll order them to try. I've posted pictures of the Stanley 1" and 3/4" sides or drafts versus the cheapest Buck Bros of the same size. It's worth noting that Buck Bros has another set in the big shop that costs a bit more and has narrower side decks. I haven't measured them but I think they are at least as tight as Sweethearts. My point is that at $73, which is the retail price, Sweethearts should have what they say are "very narrow" side decks. Now for what I like about the Stanley 750 Sweethearts. The chisels are visually appealing and feel good in the hand, especially the handles. They also come with a very nice leather tool roll. I literally almost talked myself into leaving this set for general chiseling so I can keep the tool set and it feels so comfortable in my hand. Leather rollers for tools are not cheap. I think LN is around $70 depending on size and I don't see how they can be any better than a Stanley reel. In any case, the chisels are nice and feel great in my hands, so I don't want people to take this rating as something bad. If you don't do a lot of hand dovetail trimming or getting into tight alcoves, then this could be for you. If I didn't already have some cheaper chisels I would probably keep them for regular chisel work like slot cleaning. Finally, I think the 3 stars are fair because my set does not match the description. I realize that a good review should cover back smoothing, chamfering and durability testing, but that has been covered in sufficient detail here and elsewhere. My goal is to cover minor lands that seem to be overlooked in most written and video reviews.