which hollow chisel mortise bits? and PM719T questions.

[jonathan sneed]

hi all,
Im about to take the dive and probably buy the Powermatic 917T mortise but had a few questions.

I originally wanted a benchtop style but I have more floor space than bench space to give up. But by the time id buy the PM701 or equivalent bench top and a stand/mobile base and riser block, im just another few hundred from the big brother version that seems, in all accounts, to be superior to benchtop models. Is it worth the jump in price?

Anyway…Which hollow chisel mortise bits should I get? Powermatic, Lee Valley, Fisch, CMT, etc? I like the price of the CMT ones but not sure how premium they are given the price although I love the CMT saw blades and router bits that seem fairly top notch.

Will the Powermatic mobile base PWBS 14 fit this mortiser? everything in my garage shop is mobile in case I need to put the car in for bad weather. If this doesn’t fit ill probably throw on a generic one from woodcraft or rockler.

[Matt Day]

Regarding bits, if it's like bench style bits it doesn't really matter which you buy as long as you put the time in to sharpen them properly. None come ready to cut (well).

[Mike Walsh]

I bought the same mortiser (used) back in March and love it. Ended up getting a set of chisels/bits from LV which work very well after quick sharpening. I picked up a set of cone-shaped diamond sharpeners from Amazon (I think) for inside, and use waterstones on the faces. Can't comment on the PM base - I have the machine in a generic mobile base which works fine

[Thomas L. Miller]

Jonathan,
I have this mortiser. I use the LV premium bits and have the same sharpening cones Mike has. I use waterstones as well for the final honing. These bits work very well. I've used them in all kinds of domestic hardwoods and they leave a clean smooth mortise. The largest mortises I've cut have been for building my rubo bench. They were 1" wide and 5 1/2 " through mortises. They were perfectly aligned and smooth. The wood was ash. They were also very easy to cut. I haven't used the tilt function yet, but it's nice to know it's there. I have my mortiser on a plain ole shop fox mobile base and it works just fine. I don't know anything about the Powermatic mobile base. Sharpening the bits takes very little time and yields huge dividends.
Regards,
Tom

[Wayne Lomman]

Buy the nest ones your budget allows. Bear in mind that of all the machine tools, hollow chisels are one of the least stressed. Mine are Taiwanese and came with the machine. They are accurate and hold their edge well and I work mostly in dense abrasive Australian hardwood. A perfect chisel mortise is more about set up than chisel quality. Cheers

[Rich Riddle]

I own the Powermatic 719T and use the Japanese mortise chisels sold through Grizzly. They are wonderful.

[Todd Davidson]

Jonathan ~

I currently have the JET 719 (When WMH introduced the 719T (tilting table model Powermatic) they essentially painted the remaining stock of Powermatic 719s white and sold them as a JET at a discounted price). Prior to that I had the JET bench top that I acquired used without any chisels/bits.... so....

.... Using that same assumption that CMT manufactures some good blades & router bits I purchased the CMT chisel & bit set - the ubiquitous 4 piece 1/4" to 1/2" set. They proved to not be so hot. On the up side, I did learn how to sharpen efficiently as they were in constant need. Should have followed the sound advice to buy quality as needed....

.... but I guess I kinda did that - while making due with the ones from CMT, I began picking up - mostly vintage - Forest City, Greenlee, Craftsman (made by Greenlee), Rockwell, and the Austrian made Delta Chisels & Bits from eBay. This was a few years back now, but they were fairly plentiful and more often than not went for pennies on the dollar (seemed that there were not many folks looking to ebay for chisels & bits). In no time, I put together a quality set - from 3/16" to 1-1/8" for little money and a bit of elbow grease....

Tell ya what Jonathan, if you go ahead and donate to SMC (it takes as little as $6 to become a contributor) shoot me a PM and I'll send you a couple chisel & bit sets to get you started as I ended up with more than a few "spares" from winning auctions....

[Bill Adamsen]

Powermatic and the Lee Valley "premium" bits both work great out of the box. Comparing them side by side, I suspect the source is the same.

[Matt Day]

Very nice gesture Todd!

[jonathan sneed]

wow thanks Todd! Ill definitely take u up on it and thanks for everyones input! Makes me feel better im getting the right tool going with the floor model as opposed to the bench model. I almost bought the CMT chisels prior to asking. Glad I held off for a real users review. It's too bad they aren't great, I liked most of their other products. Now to get to figuring out how to make that contribution...been a while since ive been on here. Just recently had some free time to get back into the hobby. Thanks again everyone.