May I please register my grateful thanks to Mark both for the machine and for giving up his time to break it down to car-friendly chunks. This lovely old relic of proper British engineering has now migrated north. It was good to see you Mucker, just sorry domestic emergency prevented a longer chat. If you are ever up north of NewKassel ( as pronounced), my door is open.
Sam
I've never used one but they certainly do look as though they'd do the job! Quite a few of them around so must be true. Not surprised that they could be as good as a powered option - a powered morticer takes a fair bit of force - the auger only takes out the middle and the rest of the hole is by manpower.
I was explaining to someone the other day about hand chisel morticing - you emulate the machine; each stroke vertical down the face of the last one, a bit like digging a trench where you get down as deep as you can and then work the vertical face along