Mortise "How to"

[Ron Hedrick]

Forgive my ignorance, but, I am relatively new to woodworking and especially, the wonderful world of Neanderthal. In this area I am a total greenhorn. But I really want to learn. I have been using my bench chisels to make mortises. Wrong!! Well I have now been set straight to purchase and use Mortise Chisels. Which leads me to my question, “I have been using my chisels both with and against the grain to make my mortise? Can someone please tell me or point to me to a good source to learn how to make mortises the correct way using a mortise chisel. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance to all that respond.

[Greg Cole]

Hi Ron,
Here is a link to some good info. As with anything I've read from Bob Smalser, it's pretty darn good. I find his posts highly informative even if they are on a subject I have no intent on doing (ie sharpening handsaws etc).
http://www.woodcentral.com/cgi-bin/readarticle.pl?dir=smalser&file=articles_608.shtml

I tried using a couple different techniques (Jeff Gorman's, Bob's....) and after a few practice sessions I wound up using a few tips from them all to fit my work habits & style.
Get a couple good chisels & mallet and start chopping. ;)
Happy chips!

Cheers,
Greg

[Jon Toebbe]

Chris Schwarz wrote an article for Woodworking Magazine about chopping mortises. He compared something like 10 different techniques, and had some interesting comments on them. Personally, I've found Bob Smalser's advice to be excellent.

Speaking of green horns: if you're chopping mortises near the tops of table legs (to attach an apron, for instance), make sure you leave the legs a bit long or your levering out the chips might turn your mortise and tenon into a messy bridle joint. DAMHIKT. :o

[Anchor Sarslow]

The only viable tip I can give as a beginner myself is..

Cut across the grain.. even paring or mild chisel work with the grain can result in serious chips and splits of your project.

Yes there are times when you have to but do heavy work or plan your heavy work across the grain.. well I am anyhow.

[Ron Hedrick]

Thanks to all that responded, I ordered my mortise chisels from Hartville tool. "MHG" chisels, 1/4, 3/8 and 1/2. Can't wait to get them in hand and sharpened.

[Chuck Hamman]

Rod,
I read Bob's article on M/Ts and built a screendoor for the back of the house. I chopped eight mortises - 4 haunched - with a 3/4" Stanley Fat Max. Bob's instructions work regarless of the chisel:D

Seriously, the right chisels do make the job easier.

If you look on the Fine Woodworking forum under Skills & Techniques you will finds a video of Frank Klaus chopping haunched mortises. You may have to subscribe to view it - not sure.

-Chuck

[Eric Sabo]

Once you get a sturdy chisel, don't be afraid to just try. Thats what I did, and my very first mortise ever (cut by hand or not) came out respectably well. Yes, that is a Lie-Nielsen Chisel. After searching flea markets and antique stores I just happened to find myself passing by the LN retail store (believe it or not, unexpectedly) and my wife gave me the OK to buy this as an Anniversary present to myself. Just got the one, not a whole set or anything...

This was cut in a pine 4x4. The second one I did was a lot tighter and had a lot less tear out around the mortise. All of that tear out is hidden by the 2x4 tenoned piece.

http://non.skyphix.com/2007/Joints/IMG_8074.jpg

http://non.skyphix.com/2007/Joints/IMG_8081.jpg

[David Weaver]

Eric - I too have just one of those. The steel is fantastic compared to my older mortise chisels and cheaper newer ones. It's almost unbelievable how durable it is.

They're a little small for big work, but for mortises in 4/4 stock, they're great.

I also agree with the tip earlier of leaving some extra stock on the end while cutting the mortise. I blew out a couple of the first few that I tried because the wood split beyond the mortise. It'd be a shame to do that on properly dimensioned stock.

I can't recall the method that Charlesworth uses in his chisel joinery dvd, but it makes the cleanest hand done mortises that i've seen, and he does it quite quickly without abusing the tool.

[Mike K Wenzloff]

If you do happen to ever end up with a short distance to the end of say a leg, stile or what have you, simply bore a hole at the end for the waste to go into.

I usually do that on small work anway.

http://wenzloffandsons.com/temp/ot/trivet_0005.jpg

http://wenzloffandsons.com/temp/ot/trivet_0006.jpg

Take care, Mike

[harry strasil]

One trick is to leave just a little at the end and pare out by hand pushing with a regular bench chisel with a lot of taper and extremely sharp. Another trick is to start the mortise from both ends by chopping down just a little with the taper on the morise chisel toward the center, then move it in a bit and chop it again, the taper on the chisel will automatically pop out the piece inbetween, keep doing this little at a time till you get to the required depth, then turn the chisel around and start chopping out the tapered part that is left in the center, its quick and easy and no prying out of material is needed, thus no undo pressure on the ends of the mortise. I was taught that method by an old timer who was my mentor and actually started his career in WWing with all hand tools.

Another trick it to use an old chisel put a double ground taper on it so that the cutting edge of the chisel is in a V shape, it fools grain the same way as skew chisel or plane does.

I plan on visiting Don Peterson sometime in the future and showing him how I sharpen saws and also how I chop mortises, so he can give you a review of the methods I use.

FWIW

[Ron Hedrick]

Thanks to everyone for all of the great responses. The Brown Truck will be bringing my MHG Mortise chisels today. Can anyone tell me the correct angle for these chisels?

[Ron Hedrick]

Wow, those things are big and beefy!

[David Weaver]

I have those chisels, and I was originally going to send them back because of their edge holding ability. I only had the edge at low 30s at the microbevel, and that's where I went wrong. You can get away with that with the LN chisels because they're A-2, but the MHG chisels won't tolerate it.

My experience with them is that they will hold up decently at 35 degrees or a little more for the microbevel. If you go less than that, you may find out that they don't hold up like you want them to.

You're right - they're huge.

I know it pees a lot of people off on here when the "dvd makers" are quoted, but as a rank amateur, it's nice to know that what you see is what you should expect. That said, David Charlesworth says he wouldn't think of using a mortise chisel with a final bevel less than 35 degrees, and if he's working on tough wood, 40 is acceptable if it needed.

That matches up exactly with what I saw on the MHG chisels.

The benefit of them that I did see about the steel not being as tough as the A-2 is that they are much easier to sharpen.

I made the mistake of thinking that because they came from Germany and are advertised as 61 hardness that they were the same steel as Two Cherries/Hirsch. They are not, and in my experience not quite as tough as the two cherries/hirsch.

Anyway, bottom line is that the final bevel should be somewhere from 35 to 40 depending on what you're doing and how hard you're using the chisels.