Which Mortising Machine

[Rick Gooden]

I was about ready to get the Delta 14-651 when I came upon the Grizzly G0645, Does anyone have any experience with the Grizzly, or is there a better option for under $300. Thank you.

[Steve Clardy]

Jet is real popular. I have one.

[Cary Falk]

I have the Steel City and like it.

[Russ Massery]

I have Delta 14-651 for sale. Search the classifieds.:D

[Denny Rice]

I also have the Steel City mortising machine, I paid well under 300.00 for it new, I want to say about 250.00. And unlike a lot of the machines like the Delta or Grizzly, the Steel City comes with a standard five year warranty. Something to think about. The steel city also has extenstions that pull out on each side of the table, very cool.:)

[Casey Gooding]

I use both the Steel City and the Jet. I think the Steel City has a better table (the extensions are a real plus). However, the hydraulic lift that helps return the drill portion to the up position also keeps it from coming all the way down. So on thinner stock, you must shim the workpiece into position.
That considered, I think the Jet edges it out.

[Mike Keers]

a 1HP Woodtek from Woodworker's Supply and been happy with it, works very well and has plenty of power. I bought it based on a magazine review several years ago that awarded it 'Best Value' out of a bunch tested, but it wasn't the cheapest they tested then and it's currently selling for $390, so more than you've budgeted.

I see the Steel City, Griz G0645 and Delta bench top units are only 1/2 HP, so it's probably the extra horses that cost the extra bux. The Shop Fox is 3/4 HP and only $250, and looks to be worth the extra $65 over the Griz.

When buying machinery I pay attention to the weight too, figgering a heavier machine, all else being somewhat equal, means more mass, metal, etc. Might as well get the biggest bang for your dollar in that sense. For comparison the 'estimated shipping weight' (no actual weights given by Griz) of the Griz is 73 pounds, the Shop Fox is 94 lbs.

Like with any tool it depends on how you plan to use it, how much you have to spend, and maybe the color :D. Just please don't buy the Harbor 'Fright' cheap one! :eek:

And if you plan to do much mortising or in hard woods, I suggest you consider the better quality chisels, there are at least two grades of those I see around. I went for a cheaper set to get started and they will certainly work, but I coulda-shoulda put the money into buying the better quality individual chisels I ended up buying anyway. So now I have a 'beater set' and several high quality individual chisels for the fine work.

[Casey Gooding]

Speaking of chisels. Woodworking Magazine did an article on Moritising machine chisels a while back. Their main point was that the outside needed to be polished and the inside of the cutter touched up. That said, after that, they are all pretty close to the same as far as performance is concerned. They picked the Woodcraft set (sells for around $35 for four chisels) as their top pick.
Although, that could fly out the window with super cheap chisels.

[glenn bradley]

I spent quite a bit of time looking at these. We all have an opinion so here's mine . . . I realized that the only one that I would really be happy with on the bench top was the General 17-050T with the 75-075 being preferred. Both were quite a bit of money and some tests of some chisels showed me that the garden variety were pretty poor and would require frequent sharpenings.

In the end I fell back to a shop made jig and my router. For the cost of a good mortising machine I could buy a dedicated router and a Mortise Pal. As I said; this was just my experience and completely my opinion having not OWNED one and used it for an extended period. Some of the other upper-end bench top machines were OK but lacked features I felt were key in a dedicated machine (except for the Woodtek which seemed OK).

Boy, long winded for a guy who doesn't even own one. Seriously, I did a decent amount of homework so this could be called an educated opinion if not an experienced one ;-)

[Mike Keers]

In the end I fell back to a shop made jig and my router.Not only do we all have our opinions, but ways of doing things. I've seen all the various jigs for routing mortises in books and magazines, and I've given it a fair shot, but I always fell back on my preferred method, the drill press with a Forstner bit, then hand work with chisel and mallet. That's fine for the occasional job, but after many years and some big jobs that required tons of large and deep mortises (for furniture now, not timber framing!) I started feeling the age and arthritis in my hands. And after keeping accurate time on chopping them out, I decided it was in my best interest to go for the machine. I have no regrets! My hands thank me.

Like many things, the Woodtek is a compromise too. There were some features I liked better on other machines in that test/reveiw I mentioned, but they had downsides that didn't make up for it IMO. I went with Woodtek because of the review and my confidence in Woodworker's Supply; they are my main mail order supplier for almost everything I don't get local (and some stuff I could get local), I have a pro account so get a nice discount, and they always treat me right, I've done business with them for 25 years or better. I like the bigger pony too--it doesn't stall out and a lot of my work is white oak and 1/2" or 3/4" M&T.

Casey,

Speaking of chisels. Woodworking Magazine did an article on Moritising machine chisels a while back...they are all pretty close to the same as far as performance is concerned. They picked the Woodcraft set (sells for around $35 for four chisels) as their top pick.

That was my starter set, now relegated to 'beaters'. It was the 'professional grade' from Japan, Star-M is the brand, that are now my good ones. And yes, it makes a big difference polishing the outside of the chisel. I use water stones and polish them up just like a chisel or plane iron back to 4000g.

[glenn bradley]

And after keeping accurate time on chopping them out, I decided it was in my best interest to go for the machine. I have no regrets!

Mike makes a great point here. Are you doing loads of mortises or just an occasional set of 20 or so for certain pieces. Just having to do a couple dozen per piece set me looking at machines. As I mentioned, I stayed with the router BUT, my hobbyist output is quite low ;-)

The Woodtek Mike mentions (if its the one I'm thinking of) tied with the General in a FWW bake-off and quite a few folks here have various machines of theirs and I don't know that I have ever read a poor comment.

Either will break your $300 figure, especially after getting some good chisels. If you do a lot of mortises, just do what I do when I want something; figure out how many times you'll use it over a given period of time. Divide that number into the cost and things get reasonable pretty fast sometimes.

Deciding things like this is half the fun :D.

[Neal Clayton]

I spent quite a bit of time looking at these. We all have an opinion so here's mine . . . I realized that the only one that I would really be happy with on the bench top was the General 17-050T with the 75-075 being preferred. Both were quite a bit of money and some tests of some chisels showed me that the garden variety were pretty poor and would require frequent sharpenings.

In the end I fell back to a shop made jig and my router. For the cost of a good mortising machine I could buy a dedicated router and a Mortise Pal. As I said; this was just my experience and completely my opinion having not OWNED one and used it for an extended period. Some of the other upper-end bench top machines were OK but lacked features I felt were key in a dedicated machine (except for the Woodtek which seemed OK).

Boy, long winded for a guy who doesn't even own one. Seriously, I did a decent amount of homework so this could be called an educated opinion if not an experienced one ;-)

same here. a full size mortiser is all fine and good, but i've not been too impressed with the accuracy of benchtop machines. the powermatic one i bought was downright terrible. i've used the lower end grizzly full size mortiser and it was fine, fwiw.

i went with a router jig too, after my failed attempt at bench mortise machines.

[Mike Keers]

The Woodtek Mike mentions (if its the one I'm thinking of) tied with the General in a FWW bake-off

Yes indeed, that was the one and the article I believe, tho there have been several reviews in the past few years I think. I get a mess of magazines, so I didn't want to hazard a guess which one I went by.

Woodtek has two models, the one I have and a less expensive one. The cheaper one appears (or did at the time) almost identical to the Harbor 'Fright' one, and cost more besides I think, $265. I think that same 'bake off' as you say tested that one too, and it didn't impress them or me IIRC. I was also looking in the $250 range more or less at first. I would have chosen a different model than the cheaper WT if my budget hadn't allowed me to go that extra cost for the better model.

Neal, interesting comments. Would you care to expound on how you found the Powermatic not accurate or not to your liking? When I saw the PM was imported these days, any advantage the name and reputation might have offered disappeared.

[Rick Fisher]

I have a full sized mortiser. The motivation was the built in X-Y Table.
It only has a 1hp motor but its really powerful. The extra long arm is awesome too.

The downside is that it takes a 3/4" shank chisel. I have 12 different 5/8" chisels ... Didnt realize that when I bought it :)

So I cooked up a little sleeve that allows me to use my old chisels. (some are still new).

This is my second mortiser. I started with a drill press jig, moved up to a benchtop and finally a machine with a great talble and clamp system.

http://i335.photobucket.com/albums/m455/jokerbird_photo/Mortiser.jpg

I kinda consider it like Table Saws. Moving from portable to contractor to cabinet. If you have the extra, you might just go direct to the better one.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, I've owned the General International 75-050 for 7 years, and have probably made over a thousand mortices with it to date.

At the time i looked at all the bench top models and found that the GI had a better table, dovetail ways with adjustable brass wear bars, and the gas cyclinder for head support worked well.

I've been very pleased with it, once I sharpened and honed the chisels and augers. Most of my work is in white oak.

Regards, Rod.

[Thomas Williams]

For a machine in the sub $300 category ( I paid $179 on sale a few years back) I am very pleased with my Shop Fox. I have not cut thousands of mortises, but have cut a few hundred with no problems. Set up was simple and the table and fence were square out of the box.

[Dave Lehnert]

The Delta and Grizzly look to be the same unit. I would go with the lower price. I have an older style Grizzly that does the job well. I like the slower RPM of the Grizzly (Delta also) some units spin twice as fast. Even at the slower rpm you do get some burning in oak or the like.

[Ron Bontz]

Ok here are my feeble thoughts. I owned the Delta bench top. (651) It did the job I needed it to do on some Victorian windows I had to make, but life would have been a lot better if I had a floor model. The riser block made the adjusting knob useless and of course having to move the wood by hand made the whole process more tedious and less accurate. I was also looking at these bench top models at WC today and I believe I would go with the PM if I bought another benchtop model. For me though it would be between the Steel City, PM, or General. I like the idea of a tilting head. And there you have it.:)