Since we don’t have a mortiser and I hate cutting them by hand, was wondering if anyone’s ever used something like This before and do they work well? You can get a dedicated mortising machine for not that much more but I’ve no room for one.
Yeah…hand cutting a lot of them can be pain.
The Festool Domino joiner essentially makes mortises, even though with rounded ends. Is it good enough that you have to do a little chisel work/squaring-up on each mortise if it saves you some money? Maybe not…or maybe the mortises you have in mind are deeper than Domino joiner can accommodate…
Also, just for drooling purposes, have you seen Mathias Wandels shop-built version:
I’ve used one many moons ago. It was easy to use and pretty straight forward. The most recent mortise tool I’ve used and have is a hollow mortise chisel, which cuts the square corner. Looks just like a drill mortise accept no drill.
Considering the relative low cost of set mortises drill sets, work shop may consider getting a set.
@mblatz, Wandel is a genius, no doubt. In this case, I think he patterned his tool after the Woodrat:
https://woodrat.com/
@agvet, I’ve had the Delta mortising attachment for years. It’s not great, but it works well enough. It comes with a set of collars that will adapt it to most home drill presses. I had it on a Delta drill press (12"?) that I still have in my garage. (I doubt it would fit on the DMS Powermatic.) Work-holding is a bit awkward because the table is so small and up in the air. You have to build some kind of jig with a fence that will hold the work and allow you to slide the piece you are cutting along so that the adjacent mortise cuts line up properly.
I also had a Jet tabletop mortiser like this one that worked much better:
The handle provides much more leverage than that on a drill press, making the cuts much easier. I think I found mine on Craigslist, but I gave it away a few years ago when we moved and I had to dismantle my woodshop.
Finally, cutting mortises with hand tools is not all that arduous as long as you have the right size mortising chisel and it is sharp. (The tip should be as wide as the mortise.) Note that mortising chisels are quite different than the bench chisels we have at DMS.
- Lie-Nielsen’s are a little over the top. (I don’t own any, but they are considered some of the best.) https://www.lie-nielsen.com/nodes/4174/mortise-chisels
- “Pig-sticker” style mortise chisels: https://toolsforworkingwood.com/blogimg/mortise-1-3.jpg
- Mine have a metal ring around the top of the handle to keep them from splitting open when being struck by a mallet.
Some where in the Woodshop is the Delta Mortising Jig. I have seen a couple of people use it.
Look in the drill bit drawer or just hunt for it.
Oh. Didn’t know we had one already.
I used the Morrison’s jig a couple of months ago. The case was in a drawer under the chopsaw. I fit nicely on the powermatic drill press. BTW I found getting controll of my wood was crucial to an accurate mortise. I suggest using a roller support With clamps to prevent your wood from drifting. Practicing on scape helped make my cuts better.