Benchtop Mortising Machines

[Donn Morris]

I am considering a bench top mortising machine. I am a small hobby shop so a small machine should work fine for me. In terms of good-better-best, I am probably looking for a better machine.

I was looking at the Shop Fox mortising machine as it has a feature that I really like - the ability to rotate the head so that I can drill mortises into the ends of rails. This works really well for me when I am building an entry door. I started looking at the reviews and there are a lot of really bad reviews spanning at least 8 years. The reviews are remarkably consistent regarding problems with the Shop Fox quality. Naturally, the leaves me very concerned so I decided more research is in order.

So I am looking for a little input from those of you that have bench top mortising machines. What unit do you have? What pros and cons have you noticed about your machine?

Thank you.

[Kevin Jenness]

I have never tried mortising into endgrain with a hollow chisel mortiser. It may be a challenge to clamp the rails. Let us know how it works.

I use a stationary slot mortiser for doors. The large Domino is a good choice though pricey for spline tenons.

I would prefer a dovetailed column with adjustable gibs to the round columns on the Shop Fox, but if there is a good sliding fit and you keep them waxed or whatever they should work ok.

I would avoid a machine with a lot of bad reviews unless I could get my hands on one and prove otherwise.

I have a Delta benchtop machine which is ok for sash and furniture work but for doors you really want a heavier mortiser with a tall, stout fence, clamp and hold-down and a traveling table.

[derek labian]

Hi Donn,

I assume you are talking about the W1671. I have the Powermatic PM701. I have done a few projects with it, but not as many as I thought I would. I also added the height extension to get larger materials under it. I'm mainly working in white oak and doing furniture.

My experience was that the chisels make a huge difference. I started with a set of Amazon chisels with "OK" results. You get some drift. Part of that is technique which gets better. Part of it is better chisels. There are a few threads on SMC regarding chisel selection, I purchased the Powermatic chisels, but I never got around to using them.

Like anything it depends on what type of work you are doing. There were a number of things I couldn't do with the PM701 even with the extension, so it just kinda left my workflow because I purchased a Festool Domino XL. More recently a mortiser attached to a jointer/planer combo. I haven't sold the PM701 but I probably will. The Domino is much faster to work with, and the mortiser attachment for the planer handles larger items and I think will be easier to work with.

If I really wanted to go the direction of a dedicated mortiser, I'd look at a floor standing model, or Erik Loza mentioned Felder has a great standalone model.

Hope that helps.

[Edward Weber]

"Most" benchtop mortising machines are too light weight to be as good as their price would suggest. The clamps, hold downs, X-Y travel are all limited or light weight. If you want a mortising machine for connections that won't be seen, a Domino may be a better option. Otherwise a full size machine is the way to go. And I know it's already been mentioned but quality bits essential, especially on benchtop machines that may be under built.
JMO

[Tom M King]

I have two benchtop mortisers, and a floor one. I need all three for a reproduction sash run. I looked for a link, but the two benchtops are no longer available. It is possible to do good work with them.

Look at how easy they are to change the setup on. My smallest one requires an Allen wrench to change any setting on. For general use, I'd avoid that type.

I like the Japanese Star brand chisel, and bit sets. It's the same one that LV sells as their Premium (or something like that) set.

[Mark Carlson]

I have the Jet JBM-5 because I originally loved craftsman style furniture. I blame Norm. Its been used a couple of times in 15 years. It works well but I mostly use a domino or a router to create mortices.

[Edward Weber]

I like the Japanese Star brand chisel, and bit sets. It's the same one that LV sells as their Premium (or something like that) set.

Nakahashi is the brand name, Grizzly also sells them as their premium brand.
They are among the best

[Ed Aumiller]

I have the Delta... not fancy, but it gets the job done nicely... made some very decent furniture with it...

[ChrisA Edwards]

I'm a hobbyist woodworker. Over the years, I'm come to realize that if you want a tool to do a good, consistent job, one that you'll always feel comfortable in trusting that it will perform the operation, without compromise, you had to stretch the budget a little.

With that said, I own a Domino 500, a Powermatic PM719T (floor Standing) mortiser and a PantoRouter.

I use the Domino when making cabinets or joining solid wood to make a table top or the like.

I bought the PM719T to build Plantation shutters for the window in my house. These were large shutters (80" x 36") so I mortised and tenon'd the shutter frames. The PM719T performed flawlessly, but it could do a mortise in the end of a piece.

I then came across the Pantorouter and it's a great little compact tool. If I wanted to M&T the end of a 2"x4"s, to join them end to end, no problem.

I doubt I will ever use the PM719T again, I really ought to sell it, it's a great tool, but the Pantorouter can pretty much do everything the PM719T can and maybe a bit more.

[John TenEyck]

Unless you want to make square ended through mortises there are far easier ways to cut mortises. Chisel mortisers were state of the art 100 years ago but times have changed. The Domino, Pantorouter, Multirouter, slot mortiser, and my horizontal router mortiser are all faster, easier, and more accurate than a chisel mortiser. And one of them costs less than $100 to make. A handheld router works OK too with a guide template.

https://sites.google.com/view/jteneyck-woodworker/current-projects/horizontal-router-mortiser?authuser=1

John

[Donn Morris]

Thank you. There is a lot of good information here. I am starting to think I might look around for a new mortising attachment for My drill press. I had a Delta mortising set that went with my old drill press when I sold it. It did not fit on the new drill press. Based on how much mortising I expect to do, the drill press attachment may be the best option for me. Besides, it frees up additional funding for other needed shop necessities.

[jack duren]

I would not replace my mortoser with a Domino under any circumstances...

[Jim Becker]

Thank you. There is a lot of good information here. I am starting to think I might look around for a new mortising attachment for My drill press. I had a Delta mortising set that went with my old drill press when I sold it. It did not fit on the new drill press. Based on how much mortising I expect to do, the drill press attachment may be the best option for me. Besides, it frees up additional funding for other needed shop necessities.

As long as you're happy with the installation/deinstallation each time you want to use it and the very real fact that it's a very light duty solution that can work. Honestly, for occasional work, a router base solution might be more flexible. There's no rule that says the mortise has to have square ends. :)

[Brian Holcombe]

No real replacement for stiffness on these machines as provided by old, heavy as heck, cast iron mortisers.

[Andy D Jones]

Given the force required to advance even a very sharp hollow mortice chisel deep into hardwood, few drill presses have adequate leverage for the job.

Additionally, the DP table/column/head geometry and construction generally lack the rigidity to maintain accurate chisel/mortise alignment when the requisite force is applied. Furthermore, the resulting misalignment increases the force required, compounding the misalignment.

That said, heavy-duty DPs, with additional table support, and quality, sharp chisels, can punch small mortises in soft wood reasonably well. DPs have more swing (column-to-bit) than most dedicated mortisers, which can be useful, but also contributes to the rigidity issues.

But if you like traditional through-tenon joinery, the only* alternative to a HC mortiser is hand-cut dovetails.

*There are also industrial, swinging chisel mortisers that cut rectangular mortises.

-- Andy - Arlington TX

[Dwayne Watt]

I have a Jet benchtop mortiser and have used it infrequently in the 10-15 years I have owned. With very sharp chisel bits, it is a good tool but can be a bit fussy to setup. I have found my router is generally easier to setup and use for most (not all) mortise work that I do. I would not recommend a drill press set up for the same reasons cited by Mr Jones.

[Jim Dwight]

I recently sold my benchtop hollow chisel mortiser, a Jet. It worked OK but it was difficult to clamp the workpiece down well enough to remove the chisel on the first mortise. Even with a lever around 2 feet long, leverage to plunge the chisel was also not great. I have never used the drillpress attachment but I would think these issues would be worse with it. I used a new dining room table as an excuse to get a Domino XL and once I got it I never used the Jet again. So I sold it. I almost exclusively make my own tenons which are usually wider than the Festool pre-made one. It will plunge to 2 3/4 inches so it will do doors. The largest bit is 14mm (about 5/8 inch) but you can overlap holes to make a wider mortise - or a longer one as I often do. It is certainly not cheap but it works great.

I will never own and will probably never use a hollow chisel mortiser again.

If my domino broke and could not be fixed, I would probably just go back to using a plunge router to make mortises. It is a slower more difficult way to do it but the mortises look exactly the same and work just as well. I got the little hollow chisel to speed things up but I was never completely happy with it. The mortises were rough, the setup was not super simple, and wasn't very fast to use.

[jack duren]

Ive used both. I have the Jet mortiser bench model. Its a pretty common problem with the hold down. I'm actually looking to put in the miter bench now with another system.

Would I trade one for the other ? A mortiser for a Domino? No way...There IS no substitute for a M&T when needed..

[Edward Weber]

It seems many are opting for a Domino for their M&T joints instead of a more traditional hollow chisel mortiser. As I mentioned before, while they can perform many of the same tasks, they are vastly different.
If Your M&T joints are only for strength or carcass building and not to be seen, a Domino or other router based mortise may be the way to go for some. Any and all router based mortises have the issue of a curved ends. This must be dealt with by either chiseling it square in some way or using a curved tenon like a domino. A hollow chisel mortiser can produce virtually any sized square or rectangular hole, where as a Domino is limited in it's size for a "single" joint. I find it can also be useful when making square shoulders on other joints like Bridal joints and others. A traditional or square cornered M&T joint also has many aesthetic possibilities.
It all boils down to what you want to use them for.

[jack duren]

We found they dont work well for chairs. Many buy for speed, that's all its good for. A reliable joint like a chair, no...

[Kevin Jenness]

We found they dont work well for chairs. Many buy for speed, that's all its good for. A reliable joint like a chair, no...

That's a broad statement. Can you give some details about the size of Domino joints used in your chairs and the m&t joints you are comparing them too that worked better? Perhaps a thread you can link to?

I have used spline tenons for large doors for many years without problems, though not for chairs. It seems to me that a well made spline tenon in the right situation is quite functional. Restricting oneself to the stock Domino sizes may result in an undersize joint, but it's possible to make larger mortises with overlapping cuts and also to use an integral tenon with a Domino-made mortise.

Hollow chisel (and swing chisel) mortisers are the way to go for square ends and traditional looking exposed through joints, but there are other ways of going about things. A shop near me does a lot of chair work with an oscillating slot mortiser and a round end tenoner, producing an exactly fitted tenon in one operation. I have seen wedged through tenons made with that system and although the round ends are not to everyone's taste (because it doesn't look "hand-made"?) it is as strong and elegant a joint as it would be if made with square ends by other means.

[Joe Hendershott]

I had the Jet 1/2 HP model and used a couple of times before selling it. IMHO not a well made machine. Just light and poorly machined. I would never go back to a small mortising machine after getting the domino XL.

[Jim Dwight]

In addition to the table I mentioned as my excuse for buying my Domino XL, I used it to make 11 chairs after finishing the table (10 for me, 1 for my daughter and son-in-law). I made the mortises for the top rails of all the chairs with a traditional tenon and a plunge router made mortise. All the other mortise and tenon joints, including the mortises for the six curved back spindles in each chair, were make with my domino. The joints are the size called for by the Woodsmith plans I used. That meant I had to make the tenons but that is what I normally do. This chair design is somewhat unusual in having right angle joints, however. That is why I like it. If you have a more traditional wide in front, narrower in back chair to build, using a domino might require more setup time and/or some jigs.

Normally negative strength comments about Domino Joints are caused by the incorrect thought process of assuming your only choice for tenons is the pre-made ones Festool offers - or the 25mm plunge depth limit of the Domino 500. If you are using the Domino 700 like I have and are willing to make your own tenons, there is no reason for your joints to be undersized and weaker.

[jack duren]

Those chars were made in around 2010-2012. 700 hundred bar stools ordered by Chilli's restaurant. Dominos are great for a lot of things, but there no M &T...

When we rebuilt the chairs we introduced finger joint corner blocks to the upper and lower section of the chair. This took the pressure off the Dominos...

Sometimes you can put too much faith in a tool..

[Frederick Skelly]

"Most" benchtop mortising machines are too light weight to be as good as their price would suggest. The clamps, hold downs, X-Y travel are all limited or light weight. If you want a mortising machine for connections that won't be seen, a Domino may be a better option. Otherwise a full size machine is the way to go. And I know it's already been mentioned but quality bits essential, especially on benchtop machines that may be under built.
JMO

I agree that some benchtop machines are lightweight and somewhat frail. That was a big reason I selected the PM701 when I bought a mortiser about 5 years ago. I use it for making children's chairs. It's a sturdy machine and the clamps and hold downs work well for me. It makes "connections that won't be seen" too. The only bummer is that the cost has doubled since I bought mine.

I strongly agree about using quality bits - buy the best you can afford and prep them properly.

[jack duren]

I think it's funny that one sells a $250 dollar bench tool and buys a $1000 tool and comares it...

I may just be a bit of old school. I've watch how woodworkers climbed the biscuit jointer and pocket hole band wagon only to jump ship when they started seeing flaws. I was trained using dowels and still use them today...

[Kevin Jenness]

Those chars were made in around 2010-2012. 700 hundred bar stools ordered by Chilli's restaurant. Dominos are great for a lot of things, but there no M &T...

When we rebuilt the chairs we introduced finger joint corner blocks to the upper and lower section of the chair. This took the pressure off the Dominos...

Sometimes you can put too much faith in a tool..

Jack, I was looking for some detail on the size of the Domino joints you used and the rail and leg sizes. Do you have a photo of the stools?

I'm curious about the rebuilding process, as it touches on a point Derek Cohen made about using reversible hide glue for joints that may have to be reglued someday. I am assuming you took apart the original stools and reassembled them with corner blocks added. What glue was originally used and what was used the second time? Did you completely dismantle both sides of the Domino joints? Were there failures in the rail joints or only in the legs? How did you clean off the original glue and did you have to compensate for any resulting looseness in the fits?

That must have been a big disappointment to say the least, and I can understand your resulting skepticism about Dominos, but I wonder if the problems could have been avoided by designing larger joints using custom sized splines. I would say one limitation of spline tenons is using them in thin or narrow stock where an integral tenon can safely be made larger.

Corner blocks are never a bad idea for chairs.

[jack duren]

We gave away the original stools if they didn't go in the trash. Shipping back and forth wasn't worth it. I belive 8's were used.. the stools were ash..

I don't pay to post pictures...467298

[John TenEyck]

It seems many are opting for a Domino for their M&T joints instead of a more traditional hollow chisel mortiser. As I mentioned before, while they can perform many of the same tasks, they are vastly different.
If Your M&T joints are only for strength or carcass building and not to be seen, a Domino or other router based mortise may be the way to go for some. Any and all router based mortises have the issue of a curved ends. This must be dealt with by either chiseling it square in some way or using a curved tenon like a domino. A hollow chisel mortiser can produce virtually any sized square or rectangular hole, where as a Domino is limited in it's size for a "single" joint. I find it can also be useful when making square shoulders on other joints like Bridal joints and others. A traditional or square cornered M&T joint also has many aesthetic possibilities.
It all boils down to what you want to use them for.

What's the issue with a curved end mortise? You put a rounded end integral tenon or loose tenon in it and all is fine.

John

[John TenEyck]

We found they dont work well for chairs. Many buy for speed, that's all its good for. A reliable joint like a chair, no...

I don't own a Domino but I use and favor loose tenons over tradtional M&T joints for most things I build. I use a horizontal router mortiser for applications up to and including 1/2", but I also have a slot mortiser for applications that require a larger mortise. I've built chairs with loose tenons that are now almost 30 years old and they all are doing fine. The cross section and glue area determine the strength of a joint, however you get there.

John

[Edward Weber]

I don't have an issue with it, just pointing the differences.
I only mentioned it because you don't see curved mortise joints used in the same way (for aesthetics) as you do square cornered ones. "Most" of the time, the mortises made by a router based machine are for unseen joinery only, there are always exceptions. If you do want to "modify" a routed mortise to square off the corners for what ever reason, there is addition material to remove. That's all I was saying.