Mortiser Advice

[Mike Goetzke]

If I had to have a benchtop mortiser, I'd get the Powermatic. You want the beefiest one you can afford.

My advice is not what you'd like to hear, probably: forgo the benchtop unit altogether and save up for a floor model or a Domino. The Domino is more versatile and with the larger unit, there's really no mortising job it cannot handle. Less layout required than a mortising unit, and gives you the ability to do endgrain mortises for floating tenons. FWIW, I use my Domino for traditional M&T too.

+1 Been full circle twice on this. I had a mortiser then sold it when the Domino 500 just came out. Sold the 500 because the tenons were too small for some applications. Earlier this year I found a great deal on a slightly used Domino XL 700. Came with all the extras including unused Seneca add-ons which allow use of smaller cutters if needed and a neat thickness gauge. I'm working on a crib project that calls for loose M&T joints for the slats. The XL was accurate and made quick work of almost 150 mortises.

[Stew Hagerty]

+1 Been full circle twice on this. I had a mortiser then sold it when the Domino 500 just came out. Sold the 500 because the tenons were too small for some applications. Earlier this year I found a great deal on a slightly used Domino XL 700. Came with all the extras including unused Seneca add-ons which allow use of smaller cutters if needed and a neat thickness gauge. I'm working on a crib project that calls for loose M&T joints for the slats. The XL was accurate and made quick work of almost 150 mortises.

Thank you for your imput Mike. However, as I posted last night, I ordered the Powermatic with Cyber Monday savings.

Everybody has their own ways of doing things, and I'm just not a fan of loose tenons. I guess that I'm a bit more of a traditionalist when it comes to joinery. Besides, if I run into a situation where I need to use loose tenons, I can either chop them, drill them, route them, and/or use my new mortiser.

I am a Hybrid Woodworker. I do a lot of my work by hand. It took me a long time to pull the trigger on the mortiser. I've always chopped my mortises. However, I have some furniture projects coming up that have a ton of mortises and my arms figured it was time.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Stew,

I didn't respond earlier because I have a different brand of mortiser than you listed in your poll.

Regardless of which mortiser you get, the degree of sharpness of your bits and chisels will have the greatest effect on your degree of happiness with your mortiser. I found that using two different sharpening tools improved the operation of my mortiser and improved my satisfaction with it. I bought the mortiser sharpening kits from Wood Craft and Rockler.

The Wood Craft sharpener reams or cuts, if you will, a new face on the cutting face of the chisel. The Rockler kit uses diamond encrusted cones to hone that face. I ream them when necessary and touch them up with the diamond hone.

It's important to flatten the outside of the chisel too just like the back of a chisel or plane blade.

Then I also sharpen the cutting edge on the bits.

I can't place enough emphasis on the bits and chisels being sharp.

My initial impression of using my GI mortiser was "so-so" but after sharpening, I truly enjoy using it!

My final choices was the PM you ordered and the GI. I am sure you will be happy with the PM.

[Tom M King]

On a big project, if I don't to take the chisel and bit out, hitting the outside of the chisel with one of these keeps the burr down, and helps keep it sharp. After a lot of use, a burr will form on the outside edges of the chisel. Even the slightest burr makes it difficult to withdraw the chisel and bit from the mortise. If it gets hard to pull out, this is most likely the problem. I keep one of these beside the mortisers: http://www.woodcraft.com/product/147...xtra-fine.aspx

[Jim Becker]

In addition to the excellent advise that Ken and Tom provided above, Be sure you understand the setup for the chisel and bit. The bit must be proud of the chisel...the bit does the work and the chisel only cleans things up as it squares the hole. This really is critical.

[Stew Hagerty]

Robert, Rod, Ken, Tom, & Jim

I thank you for your advise. I ordered the Premium Chisels from Lee Valley plus the Hone Cone set. I was going to get either the less expensive set they sell or the Powermatic ones, but I figured "What the heck, get the best ones." Besides, I still had some Amazon gift cards left I had been saving for tools that further discounted the Cyber Monday savings on the mortiser. So I figured I could splurge on the bits.