Mortiser finally

which one did you get, James?

dave

James D Kountz wrote:

Yeahbuddy... a dedicated mortiser is a helluva bang for the buck in saved time. I just walked in from cutting mortises and tenons for a hall table and did in one afternoon what used to take two days with no screwups.

FYI, I use the inexpensive Delta 200 drill press with the mortising attachment. About the same price, and I get a small drill press too. I have been surprised by its quality and power.

For a dedicated mortiser such as a home woodworker might have, is it recommended to slush out most of the mortise with a drill press before cleaning up with the mortiser? Or is that dependent on wood type?

Normally, I would say no. If you keep your chisels sharp and properly set up the bit and chisel to work together, you shouldn't have too much of a problem with domestic hardwoods. Most of my experience is with the various oaks, particularly white oak, and cherry, so take that into account.

Lee Valley has cone shaped sharpening stones that can be used to touch up chisels on a drill press (with a drill press vice) ... IME, sharp chisels take care of 98% of use without having to resort to another tool.

That said, I find regular chisels are still necessary to clean-up and do a little fine tuning, particularly to the bottoms ... just by hand, no mallet.

Ditto here swingman. First thing I noticed was the small chunks left at the bottom that must be coaxed out of the mortise with a chisel or in my case I use my little 6" engineers rule. I usually have it in hand or pocket anyway so its handy! I went with the cheaper Delta unit from Lowes because I actually wasn't sure if I wanted one or not, and there was rebate. That little thing is the berries though it does a fine job. Tried it on pine, some cherry and the dreaded purpleheart. With the latter it was necessary to extend the bit lower past the chisel as per the instructions and then I made a few shallow cuts side by side before making a full plunge. Worked great, no problems in the PH. I think its going to work fine for what I need which is the project I'm on now. Gonna have about 48 mortises in all.

Jim

Second question that occurred to me. Could a dedicated mortiser do double duty as a basic drill press without the chisels? Understandably, the travel would be limited, but I'm thinking that for someone wanting both, but have neither, the mortiser could be a preferred starting point.

Chuck hidden, single speed. Nope, wouldn't do it.

Drill press of good quality will make better mortises than a mortiser of good quality will bore holes.

Ditto George. It will definitely drill holes, but its use would be severely limited, particularly with the low speed.

My HF mortiser came with an auxiliary chuck that can allow it to act like a drill press. It is single speed and the travel is limited. However, I have a small shop and, if the mortiser is already out, I would rather use that than putting it away and pulling out the DP.

Montyhp