Looking for opinions of Benchtop mortisers

Late again to this thread but here goes

Do you need to do through mortise and tenon jointsn for both their strength AND a "design element" or do you just want to use mortise and tenon joints because of their strength? It wasn't unusual for original Arts & Crafts/ Stickley / Green & Green / Mission pieces to have "fake" through tenons and pegs, applying or inletting "tenon ends" and peg heads.

Chisel and bit mortisersare great for chairs and tables - not useful for shelves or any other piece that requires cutting a mortise more than maybe four inches from the edge of a board. What types of pieces do you plan on using a mortiser on?

Now to what features make a chisel and bit mortiser nice to user and a PITA if they're not available.

1. An XY table. Chisel and bit mortisers require that the fence be set to one side face of the chisel (or the side face of the chisel set to the fence) in order to cut mortises with sides parallel to the fence. Having an XY table allows you to bring the fence to the chisel to set the chisel, then move it to where you need to cut your mortise.

You then need to align the chisel to your mortise layout lines - one side and one end. Be off just a little and errors start accumulating - often making parts not fit together correctly. Again, an XY table makes that pretty easy. Not having an XY table can make alignment a PITA.

With an XY table, you can set left/right and in/out stops. One they're set repeating mortises on a group of parts requires no additional set up.

1. The Hold Down and Hold In You want to hold the stock down securely AND against the fence. If the part can move up/down you're apt to cause the chisel to get stuck in the stock and can be a hassle to get out - AND can screw up the bit to inside of chisel gap - which is pretty small to begin with.

You also want to make sure the reference face of the part stays firmly against the fence. If it moves away from the fence it can a)screw up your mortise AND mess up you chisel.

1. If while moving up and down, any movement other than up and down can damage the chisel and bit set and screw up your mortise. You're going to be applying a fair amount of force and the up/down control is pretty important. You'll find dovetailed guides/ways on better mortisers for a reason.

1. While not essential, a long lever arm with an L-shaped handle is preferable to a straight handle because it applies your force down the center of the vertical movement rather than off to the side. The longer the arm the more mechanical advantage - and less effort on your part - but more torque on the up/down mechanism.

2. Having multiple handle positions rather than having a single postion is handy so you don't have to stand on a stool to reach the handle for some mortising

1. Having an easily set vertical stop which will work even when you're really pulling on the lever arm can be the difference between a good mortise and a bad one. Too deep and you weaken the joint - or - if you're not careful, the bit hitting the cast iron table.

Have a look at this page - and the following one for pics of much of these things.

Check out General International's mortising machines. They have a model with all the features of the $800 unit - except the tilting head and rotating fence - two options I've never actually used - but I haven't done any chairs - and have a Festool DOMINO now.

Hope this doesn't make your decision harder.

charlie b