Mortising Help Needed

[truitt sosebee]

I have to cut 16 mortises that are 1/4" wide x 1" long x 3/4" deep for a project I'm working on. Should I purchase the Harbor Freight benchtop mortising machine for $129, a mortising attachment for my drill press, or just a good forstner bit and top quality 1/4" hand mortise chisel? I was leaning toward the drill press attachment, but have read some bad things about using them.

[Paul Ryan]

Truitt,

It really depends. Is this the last project you are going to do with mortises. Only you can answer that. But my guess is no. What kind of budget do you have and what kind of time frame do you have. If you have a plunge router you can make a jig to do mortises with the router. But that will take some time. There are also jigs out there, like a mortise pal, and jessem has a tool for making mortises with a hand drill. But both of those cost more than the drill press attachment and harbor freight tools. I have never used a drill press attachment, but 95% say it was a big waste of money. If you plan on woodworking for years to come, buy a tool that you can also use for years to come. Even if you use a mortise machine you will still need to clean them up with a chisel. However it will be much less time consuming than chopping out with a chisel. In the end if you think you will do mortises again in the future buy a good tool to help you do them faster.

[Lex Boegen]

If you're looking for a cheap, but effective method, try chucking a 1/4" spiral router bit in your drill press. It's easier to set up a fence on a drill press table than it is to create a mortising jig for a plunge router (if this is going to be your only mortising job). Just use it like a drill bit for the ends of your mortise, then slide the work piece back and forth between those two holes to route out the interior of the mortise. Set your drill press to the highest speed (even so, it will be much slower than a router and take a little longer). It literally takes only a couple of minutes to clamp a fence to the drill press table and you're off and running.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Truitt, if you're only going to do a few mortices, the drill bit and chisel will serve you well.

Otherwise I'd suggest buying a good mortiser, such as the small General International machine.

It works very well, and normally rates best in the small machine class.

I've had one for about 8 years and it's great.

Regards, Rod.

[Bill ThompsonNM]

You should also look at the beadlock pro at Rockler.. they've been on sale for a while. Besides making beadlock mortises you can use them to drill out overlapping holes and then chisel out the small amount of wood remaining. They work very well for both beadlock and normal mortises.

:)

[richard poitras]

You could also look into a Mortise Pal Jig….

www.mortisepal.com

[Harry Goodwin]

Years ago I bought a drill press attatchment. Never used. Harry

[Frank Drew]

If you have a plunge router you can make a jig to do mortises with the router.

IMO, if you combine all the factors (i.e. expense, effort, results), this gets my vote as the best choice until you're ready to step up to a dedicated machine. You can make an effective jig with scrap plywood in a few hours, if that, and it will last for years and years and give great results -- much cleaner mortises in much less time than with any version of the hollow chisel mortisers or other drill press options. IMO.

[Paul Murphy]

I have a [Delta] drill press attachment and hollow chisel set I bought in my first year of woodworking, thinking it would be effecient use of the drill press I already owned. The included fence in the mortising attachment was a pine block and cast iron cap, and it was woefully undersized to properly perform it's task. After figuring out what was needed, I laminated a proper fence out of wood scraps, and the attachment then could function properly. I still use it today, although I'm sure a seperate mortiser would be much more convenient. Hollow chisels and drill bits really must be acceptably sharp to function well, so that should be considered.

The primary advantage of the hollow chisel is it can cut a fairly deep mortise, deeper than a router in the smaller sizes such as 1/4". For a shallow mortise, the router is probably quicker and certainly smoother than the hollow chisel [proper setup helps improve hollow chisel results].

I'd love to have a nice slot mortiser, or even just a dedicated hollow chisel mortiser, but can get by with the drill press atachment. If you don't mind having to build a fence, and having to install & remove the attachment each time you use it, it might be acceptable to you. I'm certain you can find the drill press attachment to fit your D.P. used, at quite a savings. Before I built a decent fence, I had contemplated selling mine!

[John Thompson]

If you want to just get it done quick.. Lex's idea with the spiral bit on the DP with fence would be about the cheapest. The router is fine but be sure you can plunge to the 3/4" depth as routers are limited as to how far they will plunge.

As far as Frank's theory of the router will do it cleaner (probably) and much less time than "any version" of a hollow chisel mortisers I don't necessarily agree. There may be versions of the hollow chisel mortiser that can do it as quickly or quicker and do through mortices thouth 5" thick stock. I think I have one as a matter of fact. :)

[Mike Heidrick]

Where do you live, if close to me come on by and I will help you cut them.