[yinser]

You are directionally correct but the top of the line chisels are in fact hand made in Japan and I suspect the same for knives. Lee Valley and some other higher end manufacturers make some damn fine chisels but chisels are hand tools and I would guess 9/10 woodworkers who use chisels will choose hand made Japanese chisels over any factory manufactured tools.

[ryao]

Isn’t the main thing that makes a chisel better or worse the material quality, such that regardless of whether it is hand made or factory made, the chisel made of superior material is better?

[yinser]

Selection of metal, lamination, presence of a ura (裏), handle material, the ability to make a new handle and attach it to the original metal. A metal chosen for an extreme sharpness may be terribly difficult to sharpen, a metal easy to sharpen may not hold an edge for long.