Bench Morticer Advice

[Chris152]

There are many ways to cut mortices, with varying degrees of manual labour versus had drill, drill press, router, light duty morticing machine, proper morticing machine that can deal with hardwood, plunge saw ...and so on.

My view is you need to cut a LOT of mortices to justify a morticing machine. Drill press plus sharp chisel makes short work of most things. The cheapish ones I have used have been hopeless in oak, mahogany and maple.

Rather than start a new thread I thought I'd refer back to this one which I've found helpful.

I want to cut mortises with some power assistance and have decided it's either a mortising machine (probably Axminster Hobby Series AW16BMST2) or a drill press (possibly Axminster Trade Series ATDP13B) with Forstner drill bit and finish with a chisel. (I already have a cheap Draper drill press but it wobbles and shakes...)

From what I've seen above cheaper mortisers can struggle with hard wood, and maybe the drill press and chisel will handle it better?

I want to get a new model rather than renovate.

Really appreciate for any thoughts on those two models/ methods or others about the same price range. Thanks.

 

[MusicMan]

I sold my drill press and bought a secondhand Axminster AW19 morticer, the floor standing model with 750 W motor. This has been very good decision. It is robust and accurate; I've just morticed 1/2" in hard maple with no trouble. And as a drill, using the Charnworth drill chuck adaptor/extender, it is far superior to the (Delta) pillar model, with the firm clamp and XY table making much more accurate drilling. It is single speed of course, but then it was such a faff changing belts that my pillar drill was, too. You can take off the clamp for larger pieces (but it still has the down clamps). And it takes less space in the workshop than the drill did.

Keith

 

[John15]

Hi Chris,

From your post you want to cut your mortices with a machine but don't dismiss doing them by hand. It only takes a few minutes (5?) and is very satisfying.

John

 

[Chris152]

Keith - That looks a good solid machine but it's too expensive for me. I think that's the concern I have with the mortisers that are in my budget - that they're not so solid and will loose accuracy as a result. Whereas a decent drill press will remove wood relatively easily and I can finish by hand?

And the thing with doing the whole job by hand isn't speed so much as noise, John - I work in my garage at the front of the house in a pretty quiet neighbourhood and really don't want to annoy the neighbours day in, day out! That said, I'm going to have a go at setting up a piece of wood and seeing how quiet I can get some chiselling done this afternoon - maybe some cotton wool on the mallet... ;-)

 

[Chris152]

Well, here are my findings (I know you've been holding your breath).

I bought a 12mm Forstner drill bit on the way home from work and found that it cuts on my wobbly drill press into Ash and pine easily, but that when I cut a mortice with it the edge wasn't very accurate - no really good enough.

I then tried a mortice into the same wood just with the chisel and as usual, I struggle to get a decent bottom to the cut. And being pretty unskilled, the edges ended up bruised in places in site of my efforts.

I then cut a 16 mm mortice by making a knife wall first, then removing wood from the centre with the 12mm bit and removing the remaining 2 mm each side with chisels. I was happy with the finish and the bottom was ok if still a bit messy.

I also realised that I can do a lot of the cutting without even hitting the chisel once the main cuts are made, so it was relatively quiet when I used the chisel. No need for cotton wool.

To be honest, I think I wanted a mortiser to compensate for a lack of confidence which, after this afternoon's efforts, is silly.

Thanks for your comments - they could have saved me a lot of money!