Hi,
I really want to purchase an easy-to-use, adjustable, mortising jig. I don’t necessarily want to get the “top-of-the-line” but I was hoping to find a reasonably-priced unit. I would love to hear some suggestions out there from woodworkers who may have purchased a mortising jig and are either happy with their jig or could steer me away from one that they might have purchased.
Regards,
Buzzsaw
“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that, because what the world needs is people who have come alive.” Gil Bailie
Replies
You do not indicate the sizes anticipated, but because it does tenons also to the correct fit, I think my Leigh FMT was a good buy. Bought after the price came down of course.
The Leigh FMT is quite versatile and certainly works well, but it's not cheap. There are also some nonstandard cuts that it can't do at all, like put a mortise in the middle of a wide piece of stock. I think one of the nicest things about it is the angled mortise capability, which is very useful for chairs.
Pat Warner makes a very nice looking jig, but I don't have experience with it. It's also not exactly cheap, but it's quite a bit less than the FMT.
-Steve
Here's another plug for Pat Warner's jig.
Harry
Following the path of least resistance makes rivers and men crooked.
Check out the mortise pal around $200......
A simple 3 sided "box" works very well. It is a tried a tested method. I built mine following Tage Frid's design. Long pieces sit on the bottom to get morticed on the edges; an opening in the bottom allows morticing on the end grain. Kevin Rodel described his version in FWW 150 in his article on building a side chair. The router is guided by an edge guide on both sides of the box. I recently used this approach to make >200 mortices for a large chair project
Jeff
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