Trying to Decide WHich of these Benchtop Mortisers to Buy - Help

[Brent Ring]

I am trying to decide which of the following Benchtop Mortisers to purchase - narrowed my choices to three - mostly for price. Budget is about $250. I can inch up to $300 inc. shipping. Here is what I have narrowed down to:

1. Shop Fox W1671 - $246 shipped from Amazon
2. Grizzly G0645 - $269 shipped from Grizzly
3. Delta 14-651 - $289 shipped from Amazon


What would you buy and why? Are there are other better values that you are aware of?

I probably make less than 200 mortises a year. Tired of having to round off tenons.

Thanks

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Brent, I have the General International benchtop mortiser (non tilting head).

In my opinion it has the best fence and hold downs, it works very well.

It has been rated the top model by several tests.

I've had mine 7 or 8 years and wouldn't hesitate to purchase it again.

Regards, Rod.

[Jacob Mac]

I have the delta, and it is a fine machine. As long as I keep my chisels sharp, the machine holds up its end, no problem.

[Dave Lehnert]

I own a Grizzly but not the one listed above. It is an older model.

The Shopfox unit is larger in size than the others.

The Shopfox runs at 3,400 rpm. The others at 1,700 rpm. There is a debate at which is best. The slower speed helps in the wood from burning. The faster speed ejects the chips faster.

I have the slower speed. The chips eject fine but I still get burning on softwoods

[glenn bradley]

I'm with Rod. When I was considering one, it came down to the General or the move to a floor standing unit. There's tons of reviews out there and you'll get the gist if you read a half a dozen of them. Many folks here have other bench top models and are happy with them so YMMV. I did the math and went with the Mortise Pal as I already had a router anyway ;-)

[Curtis Gray 1]

I have the Shop Fox, and it works very well. Bought it used 6 or 8 months ago and built a Morris Chair with it out of red oak. Smoking and burning can be minimized if you set up the bit and chisel properly. I'd buy it again. I have no experience with the others.

[Brian Penning]

Another vote for the General.

[Paul Ryan]

I dont own any of those mortisers. But I do own one that runs at 3400 and have had no problem with buring wood. I keep my ultra cheap woodstock chisels very sharp with my sharpening cones and hone the sides so they are slipery. I also set the bit/chisel spacing with a nickle. I have never had a problem with this set up. I cut about 70 mortises with a 3/8 chisel a few months ago and didn't sharpen it until the next time I used it. So I really dont think speed is that big of a factor as some think.

If I had to chose between those machines I would choose the shop for due to size, and price. I think the Grizzly machines table is smaller and only accepts 5/8 chisels. The extra 1/4 horsepower with the shop fox is not that big of a deal. I dont think any of the machines will use all of their availabe horsepower.

[Matt Sollars]

Just bought a Bench Top Drill press with mortising attachment. Didn't have the 2-300 for the standalone mortiser, and since I'm just starting, I wasn't sure how much use it would get. I figure the 60 bucks for the mortising attachment for the press will give me a good idea on whether or not I need to invest in a standalone unit down the road.

Matt