Replies

1. 
   mowog77 | Dec 08, 2006 08:38pm | #1

   I'm by no means an expert, but I just finished three tables that were built using all haunched and regular mortise and tenon joints held with glue.
   Amazingly simple and strong joint!!
   I chopped all 42 mortises by hand with a mallet and mortise chisel.
   It took me about 8 minutes per haunched mortise and 5 minutes per regular mortise.

   I tried drilling the mortises out and cleaning up with a chisel, but it took as long or longer to do.

   My neighbor has a Jet mortiser that I could have borrowed, but chose to do it by hand. Builds character, right?

   My point is, the mortiser machine costs about $250-350 and you will use it very rarely.
   The mortise chisel is $20-30 and if you need to chop a mortise, you lay out the lines, clamp the piece and chop away. You will be finished with the mortise before you would be done setting up the mortiser.

   Plus, no high pitch whining or dangerous sawdust -- though the pounding of chopping a mortise isn't exactly quiet...can't win them all.

   good luck,
   erik.

2. 
   cadiddlehopper | Dec 08, 2006 08:57pm | #2

   As a hobbyist, I use a mortising attachment on my drill press. It is more trouble to set up, but may be slightly more versatile. It costs less. Not to disagree with Mowoq too much, but a mortiser makes very little sawdust and does not propel it very far either. It does save time. If you get your kicks chiseling mortises, go ahead. If you want to finish the job more quickly, machinery is for you.

   BTW, FWW issue #178 has a review of benchtop mortisers.

   Cadiddlehopper

3. 
   DavidxDoud | Dec 09, 2006 02:13am | #3

   I've got one - use it occasionally - works fine -

    

   "there's enough for everyone"
4. 
   alanplanesaw | Dec 09, 2006 05:29am | #4

   If you live close to Central Pennsylvania, I have one I'll sell you for a very good price.   Test run only.  I paid extra for bits (they don't come with them) and I'll throw them in for free.

   Probably still have the box.

   Alan - planesaw

5. 
   ThreePuttJoe | Dec 09, 2006 05:48am | #5

   I find mine to be extremely useful. I used to drill them out and chop them with a chisel, but my mortiser has taken that tedious task and made it a breeze. Since I have a sliding table, I can do the eight mortises for a typical table in about 10 minutes...with perfect repeatability. I love hand tools and the look they create as much as the next guy, but this is simply a time saver. I look at a mortiser in kind of the same way as a thickness planer...it takes a very tedious task that does not add to the "hand made ness" of a project, and speeds it up. I don't know about you, I don't have a ton of money, but I certainly have more money than time. When I am building, say, a table, I want the time to be spent on other details...keeping in mind that machine-cut mortises are not a bit less structurally sound than hand chopped, probably more so. This frees me up to spend more time on the finish, or hand cutting the dovetails etc. I have seen the drill-press attachments and some of the smaller, benchtop mortisers, and am probably very spoiled now by my PM Tilting Table Floor Standing Mortiser, but I will never regret buying it. It all depends on what you want to spend your time doing. Just my opinion.

6. 
   SARGEgrinder47 | Dec 09, 2006 07:20am | #6

   Just finished 8 mortises for table legs 3/4"W x 2 1/4"L x 2" Deep. Had to make 12 plunges per mortise as I only have a a chisel 1/2" wide (so a double row of six plunges 3/8" wide per mortise hole). Took about 45 minutes with coffee breaks in white oak to make eight perfect ones. Have cut a ton on the Shop Fox and the noise is negligible to me as I don't hear that well anyway. I have a small Shop Vac under my mortiser that gets the waste with a nozzle mounted behind the fence.

   I paid $185 for a floor model Shop-Fox and it's well paid for itself, IMO. It has the deepest plunge available with bench-tops and the dual column is very sturdy. Love to have a good adjustable table as per big brothers, but I don't do enough mortises to justify the over $600 price that would relate to time saved as time is on my side being a small  non commercial shop.

   Regards...

   SARGE..

   
   

   ---

   Edited 12/8/2006 11:25 pm ET by SARGEgrinder47

7. 
   rjones69 | Dec 09, 2006 03:01pm | #7

   Awesome!! Thanks so much for the input.  The reason why I asked is because I could have picked one up for $100 but it was gone so...