Inspired by Ken Picou’s loose-tenon joinery and Ross Day’s shop-built mortiser (Fine Woodworking #98, p. 46), I turned my drill press into a mortiser by adapting a cross-slide vise.

I lag-bolted the vise securely to a heavy piece of oak, which, in turn, I bolted to the drill-press table. My drill press, a popular import model, has a round table that can pivot. This feature allows me to position the cross-slide vise for either horizontal or vertical mortises.

I set the drill press at its highest speed (3,200 rpm) to cut the mortise quickly and cleanly.

John F. Clemens, St. Louis, Mo.

Fine Woodworking Magazine, February 1994 No. 104

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