Benchtop Mortiser Recommendations

[Brandon Shew]

I'm thinking about a benchtop mortiser. In the mid price category, the Steel City looks like a winner, but The Jet is on sale for $199 (with rebate)this month. I also looked at the General 75-050T w/ the tilting head and included vise. I would like to start making some chairs and I thought that the General would be a good choice since I can cut on an angle when needed.

Thoughts or recommendations?

[michael flay]

I have the GI model and am very satisfied as I recall it has one top tool in more then one magazines tests.

[Jesse Cloud]

Don't mean to be a grouch here, but I'm not a fan of hollow chisel mortisers. Never seen one make a really clean cut. I always wind up cleaning up after it so not much of a time savings. I had the Powermatic, it was good for what it was, but I sold it. I would go with a router jig.

[Don Abele]

I have the Delta and what I like on it over the others is the size/weight of the base. It's big and heavy.

Jesse, I had some pretty unsatisfactory results as well until I bought the sharpening system for the chisels from Rockler. Now I keep the chisels razor sharp and get very clean cuts. Setting the bit to chisel distance correctly also helped to get the bottoms of the cuts clean as well.

Be well,

Doc

[Gary Lange]

Have you considered the Grizzly Model G0645 which can be seen at the link below.

http://www.grizzly.com/products/1-2-HP-Bench-Top-Mortising-Machine/G0645

This looks like a very nice unit for the price. They also have the Shop Fox unit below.

http://www.grizzly.com/products/Mortising-Machine/G9976

This is a little more but a nice unit also.

[bob cohen]

I switched over to the leigh FMT system about 5 years and have never looked back. If you want perfect fitting mortises every time, this is the way to go.

[Gary Lange]

That is a very nice system but I can't see the $725.00 price tag.

[David DeCristoforo]

"...I can't see the $725.00 price tag..."

Look again...it's right there on the side....

In truth, none of the bench-top machines in the 2-3 hundred dollar price range are going to be "all that". The General model you mentioned is more like in the range of 4-5 hundred. That price range is going to get you into a much more robust class of machines....

YM

[Alan Tolchinsky]

Don't mean to be a grouch here, but I'm not a fan of hollow chisel mortisers. Never seen one make a really clean cut. I always wind up cleaning up after it so not much of a time savings. I had the Powermatic, it was good for what it was, but I sold it. I would go with a router jig.

Jesse, I agree with you. I'd recommend trying the router/jig rout also before buying.

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

General is , I think, the best of the medium priced units out there. To get better you will have to spend a hell of a lot more and you'll b e looking at a slot mortiser.

[Terry Browne]

I have the Shop Fox G9976 Mortising Machine - $249.00 at Amazon. It's a quality unit and rates highly with similarly priced machines. I've had it for a couple of years and I like it a lot.

[Brandon Shew]

The Festool is way overpriced for my budget and would be my 3rd choice. I'm not a huge fan of the floating tenon unless necessary.


I considered a router jig, but I haven't seen one yet than cut a 4" through tenon. Unless you go the floating tenon route (mentioned above), you have to either square up the mortise w/ a chisel or round over the tenon (more work either way).

[David DeCristoforo]

"...I haven't seen one yet than cut a 4" through tenon..."

Well, you are not going to be cutting any 4" through tenons with one of those lightweight "benchtop" mortisers either....

YM

[Doug Shepard]

Don't mean to be a grouch here, but I'm not a fan of hollow chisel mortisers. Never seen one make a really clean cut. I always wind up cleaning up after it so not much of a time savings. I had the Powermatic, it was good for what it was, but I sold it. I would go with a router jig.


Jesse, I agree with you. I'd recommend trying the router/jig rout also before buying.

One more vote for the router jig with either a jig or good edge guide.

[Denny Rice]

I have owned the steel city version for about a year now and I must say I love it. Nice solid machine and like all steel city products it came with a "standard" 5 yr warranty. Delta has one yr parts and labor. The steel city is a heavy machine.

[Brandon Shew]

"...I haven't seen one yet than cut a 4" through tenon..."

Well, you are not going to be cutting any 4" through tenons with one of those lightweight "benchtop" mortisers either....

YM

So you have a benchtop mortiser and can't cut a 4" through mortise? Which model do you have so I can make sure that I stay away from that one.

[David DeCristoforo]

"Which model do you have so I can make sure that I stay away from that one."

Good "gotcha". I have the small Delta one. I got it because I needed to make a million little M&T joints for some screens and I was too lazy to chop them all out by hand or have to square them up after routing. The machine actually works fine for small stuff.

YM (DD)

[George Bregar]

"...I haven't seen one yet than cut a 4" through tenon..."

Well, you are not going to be cutting any 4" through tenons with one of those lightweight "benchtop" mortisers either....

YM My Jet will do 4-3/4"...haven't looked up the specs for the others but my guess is that they will too. Biggest issue is the room under the chisel...but there are work-arounds for that by rotating the column for off the table set-ups. Another is lack of tilting table...I just build a ramp. With sharp chisels they make a very nice mortise...clean up only on the bottom. Faster than a router set-up. I will ultimately upgrade my Jet benchtop unit to either the Grizz or Powermatic floor model