# PSA: 9/9/18 - Paul Sellers Chisels @ Aldi's



## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

https://www.aldi.us/en/weekly-specials/our-weekly-ads/

Punch in your zip code. Go to page 2 of the sale flyer. WorkZone 4-pc chisel set - $6.99 (or 6-pc file set).

The infamous Paul Sellers chisels are about to hit the shelves of Aldi this Sunday. For people in the US, this is the only time of year we can get them.

Personally, I'll be stocking up and buying every single set I can find. There's 4 Aldi locations near me, and I'm hitting them all. If I manage to snag multiple sets, I'll start a for sale thread here on the forums.

Happy hunting!


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## gmercer_48083 (Apr 9, 2016)

Thanks for the heads up.


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## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

The wife told me to go fetch a gallon of milk. Went to Aldi on the off chance they had the chisels out in advance of the sale tomorrow.

SCORE!

These were $14.99 for both. My local store had 8 sets - 2 displays with 4 each in them. Probably a good indicator of what's going to be available to everyone.


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## Mikhail2400 (Jun 20, 2018)

Damn nearest Aldi to me is 100 miles away. If you do manage to grab a few extra sets id be happy to buy one from you


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

The store manager at my Aldi told me yesterday (Sunday) morning that they won't be available until this Wednesday, 12 September 2018. I did not bother to look to see if they were on the shelves Sunday morning when I visited. I assumed that she knew that they were not yet on the shelves. That might have been a mistake. I'll check back on Wednesday (day after tomorrow).

I also want to try a set of the files. My files are a cheap bargain set from the early 1980s in a thin plastic sleeve. I can't tell if they are any good now, assuming that they were any good when I got them.

If I don't get the chisels and files, I don't care that much. I was hoping to buy a set for myself to try them out for fun, and thought about buying a couple more to donate to our club for their annual auction next month.


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## GuitarPhotographer (Jun 26, 2015)

Well, I won't be taking advantage of this. Aldi has no stores in the Pacific North West.. Oh well.


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## gmercer_48083 (Apr 9, 2016)

Got mine yesterday


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## JohnTC (Mar 1, 2018)

Would love to have a set to compare to the Harbor Freight wooden handled chisels, but the closest store is over 100 miles. ugh. lol


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## gj13us (Apr 19, 2016)

Awesome! There's an Aldi about a mile and a half from my house. I've never been there before, but I'm going to stop on the way home from work today. Executive decision.


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## smitty10101 (Apr 1, 2017)

*Infamous?*



AmishElectricCo said:


> The infamous Paul Sellers chisels...y or deed.
> Ok so what is so bad about Paul??


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## JohnTC (Mar 1, 2018)

smitty10101 said:


> in·fa·mous
> adjective
> well known for some bad quality or deed.
> 
> Ok so what is so bad about Paul??


The infamous could be about the chisels, not Paul Sellers, but have the same question about the chisels in that case.


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## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

It was a play on words, fellas. These are seven dollar chisels recommended by one of the best woodworkers on the planet, so there's a bit of irony.

As for the chisels themselves, I'm a believer. My basis of comparison is slim, having only worked with Stanley Bailey chisels before. I have a Veritas jig and diamond plates as my sharpening system, so there's very little room for variance. I can say with certainty that both have been equally sharpened, then 30 swipes across the strop.

The Aldi chisels are sharper. Hard to put some kind of number on it, but 30% sharper? Maybe? I can easily chisel through a pine board without using a mallet with the Aldi chisels, which I can't do with the Bailey's.


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## gmercer_48083 (Apr 9, 2016)

I've used Aldi chisels now for about 3 years now. They are metric sizes (4 in a set). They are bench chisels (not the stubby kind), that hold an edge very well. Ideal for joinery work. Made in Germany. Only sold at Aldi a couple times a year, so get them if you can.


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

This is just a report of my experience buying chisels at Aldi. You can easily skip this post - it contains nothing of great importance.

I visited my local Aldi store last night just after 8:00 PM. They close at 9:00 PM. I went there just in case they decided to stock the shelves the night before the sale. No luck. The manager told me that they stock the new sale items at 5:00 AM the day of the sale. They open at 9:00 AM.

My spouse and I went to the local Aldi at 8:45 this morning. We were first in line. There were about six or eight other people lined up by 9:00 AM, but nobody looked like they were lined up for chisels. They weren't.

There were six chisel sets on display. I wonder if that's all they had. I wondered whether employees set aside two chisel sets for themselves or their friends, but there is no way to know. There were more file sets than chisel sets; I didn't count them. There were a variety of other tools - a box cutter, a pocket knife, a shop vac, etc. Everything was on the end cap at the far end of the non-grocery aisle, near the back wall. 

My spouse and I bought four sets of chisels and two sets of files. I plan to keep a chisel set and a file set for myself. I will donate a chisel set and a file set to my local woodworking club for their fund raiser next month. I set one aside for a friend who didn't have time to get one, and will save the other chisel set for a rainy day or to cheer up someone when the need appears.

I would say that these chisels are non-standard sizes, even when considering typical metric chisel sets. The chisels are etched with 0.31 inches / 8 mm, 0.51 inches / 13 mm, 0.71 inches / 18 mm, and 0.94 inches / 24 mm. The back of the package lists only the inch measurements.

I own two chisel sets made in the UK. I measured the older set at a true 1/4, 1/2, 3/4 and 1 inch. There is no etching on those older chisels. I also have a new "identical" set of chisels from the same manufacturer with the same part number. They are etched with: 6, 12, 20, and 25 (I am sure they mean "mm"). I measured them, and they match their etchings, in mm, of course. (Obviously the manufacturer retooled to metric at some point.)

For the record, I am NOT a chisel collector. I plan to pare down the number of chisels that I own, once I have given them all a fair try and determine which ones I will really use. I will open the new Aldi chisels another day when I have time to sharpen them. 

Good luck to those who are still searching for them.


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## gj13us (Apr 19, 2016)

No dice. 

No chisels, either. 



There were only a few packages of the files on the shelf.


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

Here is the first follow-up on those Aldi chisels. I gave a set to a friend who is a woodworking blade expert. He couldn't make it to Aldi on Wednesday, so I picked up a chisel set for him. (Terminology note: He called them 1/4, 1/2, 3/4, and 1 inch chisels, something we both understand, even though we know they are actually metric, and oddball metric at that.) Here is his assessment, transcribed from my written notes. He is still flattening the backs, and has not yet gotten to the bevel:

1/4 inch: The metal was soft. Too soft for a chisel.

1/2 inch: There was a turned edge on one side of the chisel, and the machining was "off". (Sorry, but my notes don't describe what "machining was off" actually meant. We had only a minute for me to listen and take notes, before he had to leave.)

3/4 and 1 inch (both the same assessment): The side bevels were unequal. One side bevel was visibly wider than the other on both chisels. In addition, there was a curved "trench / groove" on the back of both chisels. There are additional scratches parallel the curved trench. He assumed that it came from some kind of rotary grinding machine that was used to grind or flatten the backs.

(I won't have time to look at my own Aldi chisels for a while. When I do, I will post in this thread if I learn anything new. If I hear anything more from my friend about his set, I will post it here.)


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## AmishElectricCo (Jan 3, 2018)

Went to Aldi's today and cleaned them out. I have 4 extra sets for anyone that wants some and didn't get any. Need to visit the Post Office, but I'm thinking they will all fit in one of those $5 Flat Rate boxes.


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## Tree Hugger (Sep 1, 2011)

I'd have to agree with Tool Agnostic friends assessment. 
The rotary grinding is rough and could have been much better ( and I've ran those type of machines before).
They are made in China (big surprise huh) and tested and certified in Germany.
I may take them to work and test the Rockwell hardness for giggles.
Couldn't even buy the steel in this country for the price .
It'l take some work to dial them in ..that Selllers fellow must be a cheapskate like me.


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## P89DC (Sep 25, 2017)

Looks like a fun project that wood distract me from productive endeavors. Thankfully the nearest Aldi is 400miles away. 



Reading this thread makes me even more happy with my Sheffield made Blue handle Marples set I bought in the early 90's. I'm not accumulating anymore and I'd have to find someone to give these to after I spent time making them right.


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## hawkeye10 (Feb 18, 2015)

I couldn't find them in my ad. They may have different ads for different parts of the country.


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

hawkeye10 said:


> I couldn't find them in my ad. They may have different ads for different parts of the country.


The sale is probably over. It was a one-week sale. For us, the sale was dated 12 September 2018 (Wednesday, one week and a day ago) and the chisels were not available until that morning. Some people got chisels early, but our local Aldi did not make them available until the day of the sale, as I posted above.

At this point, they are no longer part of the weekly sale, and any chisels that remain could have been pulled from the shelves to make room for this week's specials.


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## Mikhail2400 (Jun 20, 2018)

Amish was good enough to allow me to get one of the extra sets of the Work Force chisels and it is an exact match for the 1 1/4" Shop Fox I purchased on the Grizzly website a couple of months ago for about $6-7.
Now after a bit of use and I wear the names off the handles ill have a matched set, LOL.

How come when i load a pic it gets rotated 90 degrees on here?


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## Tom-G (Nov 11, 2012)

I was able to pick up a set of chisels a few weeks ago from Aldi’s. Just looked at them. The cutting edge on the 8mm chisel is 1/32” longer on one side than the other. Yep, it’s milled on an angle. 

While it is an inexpensive set, I don’t want to ruin it. What is the best way to square up the cutting edge?


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## JohnTC (Mar 1, 2018)

Tom-G said:


> I was able to pick up a set of chisels a few weeks ago from Aldi’s. Just looked at them. The cutting edge on the 8mm chisel is 1/32” longer on one side than the other. Yep, it’s milled on an angle.
> 
> While it is an inexpensive set, I don’t want to ruin it. What is the best way to square up the cutting edge?


I usually do it on a slow speed grinder with an aluminum oxide wheel. Can be done on a sharpening stone or with a file as well.


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## Tool Agnostic (Aug 13, 2017)

In case anyone cares, I donated an Aldi chisel set and a file set to our woodworking club for their annual fundraising auction. The file set appeared early, and sold for $25. The chisel set was one of the last items, and many people had already left or given up on the auction. It sold for $10. (FYI: I believe that some people deliberately overbid during the auction, because the money went to a good cause.)

I haven't started on my own Aldi chisels yet. I have two other chisel sets that I want to finish before the Aldi chisels. (Bad timing, I guess.) To answer @Tom-G's question: I will use diamond stones to square and sharpen the backs and bevels on my chisels.


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## Tom-G (Nov 11, 2012)

Just wanted to say “thanks” for the replies. I didn’t want to use my grinder as it has a coarse wheel on it. I did use a flat file and squared it up nicely. Still need to sharpen it.


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## fareastern (Sep 19, 2014)

I am disappointed that nobody has written anything about actually cutting wood with the chisels.That surely is their purpose and uneven grinding of bevels won't affect the cutting ,or will it?Can anybody enlighten us in this respect?


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## Mikhail2400 (Jun 20, 2018)

fareastern said:


> I am disappointed that nobody has written anything about actually cutting wood with the chisels.That surely is their purpose and uneven grinding of bevels won't affect the cutting ,or will it?Can anybody enlighten us in this respect?


Ive actually been putting the set I got from Amish to good use and I like them very much. They seem to hold an edge pretty well and, like a good knife, once dulled sharpen back up easily. The long blades come in handy when I need to remove wood from deep inside what ever Im working on and also provide a good place to hold on to and control the tip when doing precise work. I havnt really whacked the heck out of them but I have hit them fairly hard and the handles show no sign of splintering.
Over all Im extremely glad I was able to acquire this set. As someone fairly new to woodworking I thjink this is a great set for a beginner.


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## fareastern (Sep 19, 2014)

Mikhail2400 said:


> Ive actually been putting the set I got from Amish to good use and I like them very much. They seem to hold an edge pretty well and, like a good knife, once dulled sharpen back up easily. The long blades come in handy when I need to remove wood from deep inside what ever Im working on and also provide a good place to hold on to and control the tip when doing precise work. I havnt really whacked the heck out of them but I have hit them fairly hard and the handles show no sign of splintering.
> Over all Im extremely glad I was able to acquire this set. As someone fairly new to woodworking I thjink this is a great set for a beginner.



Thank you,thats exactly the sort of information a potential buyer needs.You make it clear that the steel is of sufficient quality and the handles will withstand moderately hard handling.What more can we reasonably ask of a set of bargain chisels?


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## jonnysteals (Nov 6, 2018)

Mikhail2400 said:


> Ive actually been putting the set I got from Amish to good use and I like them very much. They seem to hold an edge pretty well and, like a good knife, once dulled sharpen back up easily. The long blades come in handy when I need to remove wood from deep inside what ever Im working on and also provide a good place to hold on to and control the tip when doing precise work. I havnt really whacked the heck out of them but I have hit them fairly hard and the handles show no sign of splintering.
> Over all Im extremely glad I was able to acquire this set. As someone fairly new to woodworking I thjink this is a great set for a beginner.


I agree that the blades take a nice edge. For the price I am very happy with them. great bang for the buck.


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