Ezarc Chisel Review
Big disclaimer, no affiliates, no kickbacks and bought with my own money. I keep and eye on entry level tools to see if they’re worth considering. Woodworking can get expensive, fast, so it’s good to have options.
Ezarc Chisels are an economy chisel and it’s important to remember this. They are doing the rounds on Amazon and eBay for prices between £40 to £70. Here’s the first issue. At £40 these chisels okay and will enable most woodworkers to do perfectly good work. At £70 they are overpriced hype and marketing with much better options for the money.
The best place to purchase these seems to be Amazon. I find the returns system on Amazon much easier and the Ezarc’s seem much cheaper there too. The first thing you should do is inspect each chisel for obvious defects. I didn’t. When I got to the 1/4” some 6 weeks after purchase I found the section of the chisel was trapezoidal. This makes it great for sneaking into tight spaces on one side but utterly useless on the other. While I will happily correct simple defects on cheap tools, this was a major flaw that required a return and replacement. Too bad my return period had expired.
If you’re a tool nerd you might recognise these chisels. I look at these chisels as effectively white label tools. They earned praise as a cheap set of four when a version was sold by Lidl and Aldi during the tens for less than £10. There is a chance the Ezarc chisels are just a copy of those discount supermarket chisels, who knows? There’s also currently a set of four under the name Libraton for £25.00 that also look identical. I’m pretty sure these are very much volume Chinese made and tailored to suit whichever marketing strategy is relevant to selling as many units as possible. I have no issue with this, it’s just good to know.
The handles are a light stained Beech but are commonly listed as Walnut or Ash. This isn’t an problem, Beech is perfect for a chisel handle and I’m certainly pleased they’re not Walnut! The handle has a cheap ferrule at the top but thankfully it set well below the top of the handle and leaves a broad area of wood exposed and is plenty comfortable. Much more comfortable than the Narex 8105 and many other chisels that seem to have a weird nipple on the handle. The general finish on the handle is pretty poor though. There are ripple marks on the handles where’s they’ve been run passed tooling super fast. Again, I’m happy to correct things on budget tools and at about £6 a chisel, I can let this slide.
The steel is fine. Quite frankly I’ve found very few chisels that aren’t able to hold a serviceable edge. People, fanned by the flames of journos and the like, get exited about the latest steel and although I applaud research and progress, sharp is sharp and these chisels hold a decent edge. The flat face, commonly referred to as the back, is plenty flat enough. It took no more than 60 seconds to “prepare” and have the chisels ready to work.
The section of blades are thick sided and although they are described as “bevel edged” these aren’t bevelled in a way we would want. The tops are bevelled and they have thick sides. This can be worked around and I have no need for any beveled edges on wider chisels anyway. But smaller and delicate chisels do benefit from finer sides. Yes, they can be modified, but there are other options that don't require further work only a little more money.
Conclusion. These Ezarc chisels are overpriced for what you actually get. The finish is poor and quality control is suspect. While the steel and comfort are okay, the smaller sizes lack proper refinement. Instead, I recommend looking to buy 4 Narex 8116 for about the same cost. I would recommend a 1/4”, 3/8”, 1/2” and 1” Narex 8116 and leave the Ezarc alone.