Mortising-- Drill Press Mortising Attachment or Dedicated Mortise Machine

[George Bokros]

Here is my situation.

I have a Delta mortise attachment that though old fits my drill press. It was my father-in-laws and I got when he passed away. I would build a mortising table for my drill press to provide more table room and a better front fence, probably cost me at the outside $75.

I also found a used Powermatic bench top mortising machine that the current owner purchased used. He used it in hobby / professional woodworking shop. He is selling it for $350. I have not seen it yet but it looks to be in very good if not excellent condition.

What are the cons other than the need to set the drill press up every time I need to cut a mortise using the drill press. I know the handle on a dedicated mortiser is longer and provides more leverage and the convenience are pluses.

I have also considered a jig to cut mortises with the router and it is also an option but currently I do not have a woodworking bench with vise to hold the stock.

Should I use the drill press permanently for mortising?
Should I buy the Powermatic?
Should I go the router route and use loose tennons?

Lastly a Festool Domino is out of the question, I have not spent $1200 on any floor standing machine in my shop let alone a hand held tool.

Over the last few days I have searched SMC and the web for reviews / opinions so some research has been done.

Thanks for your thoughts.

George

[Lee Schierer]

It depends on how often you think you will be making mortices. For occasional mortices, a drill press unit is perfectly acceptable. For making mortices everyday, then a morticing machine is probably a good investment. It also depends on whether you have $350 to spend on a machine and a place to put it.

Which ever way you go take some time to polish the outside surfaces of the chisels and you will be amazed at how much easier it will be to cut a mortice.

I have a drill press attachment type that I use when I need mortices. It takes about 5 minutes to set up and does a respectable job. For my hobby purposes the DP unit is perfectly acceptable.

[Jerry Miner]

Well, if you really want to pinch pennies, you CAN cut mortises with a drill press mortising attachment. But if you don't dedicate the drill press to that task, you'll find that switching back and forth between mortising and drilling tasks can be a major PITA, IMHO.

Even a low-end dedicated mortising machine is, IMHO, a huge improvement over the drill press option. There are a lot of ways to cut mortises. I've used hand tools, routers, shapers, drill presses, etc. I've found the bench-top mortiser to be among the best, for both ease of use and quality of results. (But I do use a Domino these days for a lot of stuff, and the mortiser sits idle most of the time).

[George Bokros]

It depends on how often you think you will be making mortices. For occasional mortices, a drill press unit is perfectly acceptable. For making mortices everyday, then a morticing machine is probably a good investment. It also depends on whether you have $350 to spend on a machine and a place to put it.

Which ever way you go take some time to polish the outside surfaces of the chisels and you will be amazed at how much easier it will be to cut a mortice.

Wife says I can spend the money but I do not believe I will have that much use for a dedicated machine. On the wife note she persuaded me to buy a Hitachi digital compound miter saw and a Bosch stand for it this summer. I did put up some awesome crown molding and chair rail with mitered not coped corners this summer. The saw is awesome.

Wife rocks!!

George

[Jerry Miner]

Wife says I can spend the money

She sounds like a keeper!! Every woodworker's dream :)

[Don Stephan]

Haven't used a bench top, but I started with drill press attachment. Frustrating drill press conversion each time mortises were needed, limited chisel capacities. full sized machine is wonderful - greater options and accuracy, going back to make an extra mortise not frustrating.

[Cary Falk]

Definitely a stand alone mortiser over the drill presss. If space is tight you could look at the mortise pal and make loose tendons with a router. I think they are around $250.

[keith micinski]

I bought a Jet bench top mortises for 150 that was in mint condition and the once or twice a year I break it out I have a grin on my face from ear to ear. You won't use it often but when you do it makes it all worth it. I have heard the Powermatic is the best if the bunch of the bench top mortises but I see the Deltas and the Jets pop up for 150 all of the time. That my be a better way to go since it makes it easier to justify it sitting there a lot.

[Troy Turner]

If she said you can buy it, buy it :D

I used to make them with the drill press (drill out holes and clean up with a chisel). I finally broke down and bought a bench top mortiser (Steel City). The first time you use it, it'll be one of those hand to the forehead moments followed by a "why didn't I buy one of these sooner" moments. I am strictly a hobbyist and only build what my wifes wants. I don't use it everyday, but the times I do, I'm like Keith...just a big ol' grin from ear to ear.

[Peter Quinn]

I'm happy making 1/4" mortises with my drill press mortiser, I may have used 5/16 or 3/8" once or twice too. I use it for the little mortises on sash bars or TDL doors, not too deep, not too big, and not too often. For that its great. I've made bigger mortises too, it takes a little pushing. So it really comes down to size of mortise and frequency. I should mention I have a slot mortiser for the heavy lifting, it goes as deep as I need and pretty fast too, but it doesn't make nice little square mortises such as I need for sash bars. So I have no particular need for a big mortiser or even a good bench top model. I can set up the drill press unit in under 10 minutes, with sharp chisels and proper set up (ie drill bit advanced of the chisel) its easy work. If I were inclined to do lots of large through mortises I'd probably go for the powermatic or a floor model.

[Ole Anderson]

I would love a dedicated mortiser but I just don't have the room. I have the Delta mortiser attachment for my Craftsman DP, even using the 5/8" chisel on White Oak when I made a Mission style headboard. Definitely stresses out the spindle, but it gets the job done. Have used it on Hickory too. As I was doing the mortises, I was thinking how nice it would be to have a nice Powermatic mortiser. (Did you notice the dead flat assembly/pool table?)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v152/CJ7ole/IMG_1392.jpg

[Mike Cutler]

George

I personally would go with a dedicated mortiser, but I think that you can pick one up that is a different color than the Powermatic, that will do what you need, and easily leave you enough $$$ leftover to get a center finding router baseplate from Pat Warner to do mortises with a router.
I have the Delta 14-651,and it's a great tool, but it has literally sat for the past couple of years. I know that someday I'll use it again, so I keep it, but I see them on Craigslist quite often. I probably would have been better off buying used. Not the case with everyone though.

[Mark Burnette]

I have honed & polished my hollow chisels til they are mirrors and still on oak it feels like I'm going to break my drill press (floor-standing Delta 18-900L).

[Mel Fulks]

The polishing is good,but those things are sold in two grades .True high speed steel and a lower grade ,also labeled high speed. If you can see them up close the better ones are a darker color and feel slicker to your finger and not scratchy to fingernail. Some places sell only one grade. Try to see both side by side. If you have to order them ,insist on knowing the grade . Good ones will probably have a spec in box or catalogue of "M 2". Sometimes you can get some over baked real hard oak that is more trouble to cut,too. I would work all the way across with shallow cuts rather than cutting complete depth at one time. The good ones are more expensive . Lesser ones are whiter looking.

[Rod Sheridan]

I have the GI benchtop mortiser, I've owned it for 12 years now, great machine.

I had a mortising attachment for my drill press, I gave it to someone I didn't like.

Without a doubt, get the stand alone mortiser..................Regards, Rod.

[Stephen Cherry]

If you have in mind to do anything around 1/2 inch or bigger, than you need a big machine.

[Mike Henderson]

I had a mortising attachment for my drill press, I gave it to someone I didn't like.

Without a doubt, get the stand alone mortiser..................Regards, Rod.
Wow, is that the truth. Those mortising attachments are a pain.

Mike

[Ole Anderson]

I have honed & polished my hollow chisels til they are mirrors and still on oak it feels like I'm going to break my drill press (floor-standing Delta 18-900L).

Do you have your chisel adjusted so the drill is about 1/32" proud of the chisel, in other words, the drill bit is doing most of the work and it isn't bottomed out in the chisel? (Check your instructions). When I did the headboard, I had trouble finding a 5/8" chisel set that was 1/2" shank. Finally found one from Lee Valley and I was surprised to see that it was made in JAPAN. Don't see that much anymore. While not polished, it was much smoother than the chisels that came with the Delta attachment.

[Harry Niemann]

For occasional use even a low cost harbor freight morticer is far better than a drill press type. I have had both. The dp type requires much more pull on the handle, and could result in damage to the drill press. Then too there is the changeover time.

[Gordon Eyre]

If you have the money, go for the dedicated machine. I had the drill press attachment for many years and hated it. Love my bench top dedicated mortiser and just keep it under my bench and move it up as needed. It is pretty heavy but so far I have been able to handle it and I am 78. It is a joy to use. I just finished a project with 56 mortises and it went smoothly.

[Stephen Cherry]

One thing to remember is that a drill press is not intended to drill with lots of down force, but a mortiser is more or less an arbor press grafted onto a drill press. It's made to push a chisel, and to push into hard wood takes considerable force.

[Jim Neeley]

LOL, Rod..

To the OP, the Powermatic PM701 is one of if not the highest rated desktop mortiser. They work so well that the freestanding ones are becoming ever less popular, even in cabinet shops.

Jim

[Doug Wolf]

George, I used a drill press mortise attachment to build a Morris chair out of white oak and had to rebuild the quill on my Sears drill press when I finished the chair. The teeth on the rack and pinion were in bad shape.

[George Bokros]

I have decided to go loose tenons using slot mortises. I plan on getting the Mortise Pal. I do not need another large tool taking up floor real estate in my small shop.

George