Wiley Horne--So. Calif.
Kees,

I'm glad this topic came up. I learned something, actually a couple or three things. Note to self: don't ever think Lee Valley just carries 'house brand' stuff. The name 'Narex' had me imagining that this was just a cheap no-name line they carried.

I was wrong about that. LV doesn't do that, in the first place. I found this page in the Narex story, giving its history as a small but high quality tool maker:

http://www.narexchisels.com/Narex_Chisels/Narex_Bystrice.html

Narex use isothermal tempering, or austempering, as discussed in the previous link, was also an interesting piece of knowledge.

Thanks to Bill for his review, and for you to bringing up the composition.

Wiley