Benchtop Mortiser Recommendation

[Randy Collord]

I'm considering buying a benchtop mortiser and would like to get some opinions. I'm leaning toward the General International 75-050. Anyone have any experience with it, and what do you think? Anything else I should be looking at?

Thanks.

[Derek Voigt]

I'm wondering the same thing myself. I have been eying the G9976 at Grizzly because you can rotate the head so that you can mortise in the end of a board, which could be nice for doing loose tenons. I like that option!

Anyone else have an option on that one? If it is junk, I always keep an eye on craigslist and see little Jet and Delta's show up from time to time.

[David Hostetler]

I have heard great reports from owners of the Shop Fox W1671. It's on my wish list. It only comes with one bit / chisel though, so you would need to add a set, or get VERY used to cutting only one size mortise!

[Matt Winterowd]

I have the General in question. It's a really nice mortiser. I strongly prefer the vise type work holder vs. the roller style that most benchtop models seem to have these days. People go back and forth on the tilt, but I think it's handy to have as opposed to jigging up angles. I like it's feature set better than the Powermatic in that price range.

Almost all benchtop mortisers can reverse the head to do ends, you just have to unscrew a few bolts and reverse the post. I don't think many folks actually do that though for a couple of reasons. First, it's not a particularly common joint unless you're doing loose tenon joinery. You would usually just have the tenon on the end of a board and mortise the mating piece. Also, mortisers really want to be secured down, so you need to either have access to both sides of the machine or else also loosen the base and turn it around too. It's never really crossed my mind to use it that way since I've had a mortiser.

If you haven't had a mortiser before, you need to know that you really have to sharpen and tune the hollow chisels and auger bits. They will almost certainly make you very unhappy out of the box. Lots of heat and smoke and squealing and jamming and bad cut quality. Some woods will still smoke or squeal sometimes after honing, but the difference is remarkable. Once tuned up, you will be very happy with your machine.

[Lee Ludden]

I picked up the Powermatic on sale last fall. I've not really done much with it other than one small project to test it out, but it performed quite well.

[Brent Ring]

I got a great deal on a Jet - UPS messed it up in shipping and paid for all the replacement parts and the actual cost I paid the seller itself. So I added a sliding cross-vise to mine and have not looked back. I have cut probably a hundred or more mortises with mine and while the Jet is a bit sloppy in side to side play, I have have no complaints - including Thru-mortises. Out of the ones you are looking at, If I had to pick , I would get one that tilts as well. I have had to rig up wedges to make mine work. It works - just creates a few more scrap pieces for the fire pit. +1 as well on sharp chisels. Get the Rockler or Lee Valley Honing kit. Also learn how to sharpen the interior bits. I would make one other suggestion. My experience has been that you want to make the morise depth about 1/16" to 1/8" of an inch deeper than required. Makes cleanup a little easier, and leaves some space for glue as well. I like this better than loose tenons or router mortises, personally.

[Neil Brooks]

If you haven't had a mortiser before, you need to know that you really have to sharpen and tune the hollow chisels and auger bits. They will almost certainly make you very unhappy out of the box. Lots of heat and smoke and squealing and jamming and bad cut quality. Some woods will still smoke or squeal sometimes after honing, but the difference is remarkable. Once tuned up, you will be very happy with your machine.

I agree with this SO much ... that I think it's worth separating it out, and having it seen again.

I put a post up, "on another forum," about the subject, with more specifics, some info gleaned from a review of a number of different chisel brands, AND a test about heat generated with various height gaps between chisel and mortiser:

lumberjocks[dot]com[slash]topics[slash]16460

[Rod Sheridan]

I've owned the GI bench top mortiser for about 10 years now.

Whenever I read a magazine test, the GI is at the top of list, one reason is the excellent fence, vise and hold down.

I use mine fairly often for A&C furntiture, sharpen the chisels and you'll have a great machine.

My brother purchased the tilting head model. he's pleased with his.

Regards, Rod.

[Randy Collord]

Thanks all. The tilt capability of the GI really appeals to me, and I too have seen good reviews for it. The information you provided about sharpening is invaluable. Without it I would have just taken the machine out of the box and started using it to what I'm sure would have been great frustration.

Thanks again,
Randy

[Stephen Cherry]

I have a pm 719, and a bridgewood floor mortiser. My impression is the the sliding table is worth a lot more than the tilt. If you want to make some chairs with angled mortises, it's easy enough to make wedges with the angle you want, which you can save for a consistent setup. Plus I haven't seen one that will tilt the right way to make a trapezoidal seat.

[Neil Brooks]

My impression is the the sliding table is worth a lot more than the tilt.

Speaking of which, I finally pulled the trigger on a cross-slide vise (http://www.harborfreight.com/6-inch-cross-slide-vise-32997.html) from -- erp -- Harbor Freight:

http://www.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/370x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_224.jpg

It'll summer on my (Grizzly) mortiser, and winter on my DP.

Heard people that have gone this route ... find it quicker, easier, and more accurate -- all things ... I rather like ;)

Just another thought....

[Matt Winterowd]

I have a pm 719, and a bridgewood floor mortiser. My impression is the the sliding table is worth a lot more than the tilt. If you want to make some chairs with angled mortises, it's easy enough to make wedges with the angle you want, which you can save for a consistent setup. Plus I haven't seen one that will tilt the right way to make a trapezoidal seat.

I totally agree in principle, but I don't believe any benchtop mortisers come with a sliding table. And a floor mortiser is a much bigger investment of space and money.

As Neil mentions, a number of folks do add a cross-vise to the mix which would be an inexpensive way to try for the same effect. I haven't found it to be necessary.

[Brent Ring]

Sliding Table or Tilt? I want both. I love the speed of the sliding table on mine... but would love both.

[Geoff Barry]

I have the Steel City, which has a lot of nice little features (big cast-iron base, for example), but I'd really like to have a front clamp like they have on the General. Mortisers generate a lot of torque on the wood. I've never needed the tilt, but there' a floor model in my future just to get the sliding table.

[Stephen Cherry]

I totally agree in principle, but I don't believe any benchtop mortisers come with a sliding table. And a floor mortiser is a much bigger investment of space and money.

As Neil mentions, a number of folks do add a cross-vise to the mix which would be an inexpensive way to try for the same effect. I haven't found it to be necessary.

My powermatic 719 is an older one without a base. It has a sliding table but no tilt. Benchtop, but not really very portable (too heavy). The floor bridgewood actually cost me less money, came with more tools, and the footprint is about the same. All these machines will come up used, but you need to be patient, and look every day.

The big advantage of the sliding table, in my opinion, is that it allows the clamp to push the outside face of the workpiece against the vertical fence. Plus you can get going pretty fast, once you get the hang of it.

In any case, both of my machines were each less than 500 dollars. Not cheap, but I think that it represents a good value.

The other part of the equation is a tenoning setup where the tooling is set up to match the thickness of the mortising chisel.

[Jerome Hanby]

I bought one of those too. It's a beast. I've been cleaning/arranging the shop, moving that thing back and forth was wearing me out!

Speaking of which, I finally pulled the trigger on a cross-slide vise (http://www.harborfreight.com/6-inch-cross-slide-vise-32997.html) from -- erp -- Harbor Freight:

http://www.harborfreight.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/370x/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/i/m/image_224.jpg

It'll summer on my (Grizzly) mortiser, and winter on my DP.

Heard people that have gone this route ... find it quicker, easier, and more accurate -- all things ... I rather like ;)

Just another thought....