Replies

1. 
   alexlisa | May 29, 2002 04:20am | #1

   Go for the dedicated mortiser. The drill press attachments are next to useless. The force required to drive a chisel through wood multiplies any small play in the various parts tacked onto the drill press quill, resulting in sloppy mortises. The Typical drill press three-lever advance is not strong or long enough to give the leverage required. Get a good benchtop mortiser. I recommend either the Jet, which I own, or the new Shopfox, which supposedly has a greater depth of cut away from the fence. Both are in the $250 range. If you have $300+ to spend, go for a Multico, which is the best benchtop model available. FWW did a review on a number of models a few years ago. Check the index.

1. 
   dhpascoe | May 29, 2002 04:25am | #2

   Thanks for the response, you confirm what I suspected

2. 
   DonC | May 29, 2002 10:07pm | #3

   Neither, get spiral upcut router bits and make the wood horizontal router jig described in Woodsmith. This arrangement gets 98% of dust created and makes the mortises quicker that other methods. I do double mortises and make splines on the router table to match the curved edges of the router created mortises. Cost is less, performance is better, maintance is nil.

   Don

3. 
   Elcoholic | May 29, 2002 11:12pm | #4

   Mr. None - See my post on Busted Delta Mortiser.  I use my drill press on soft 'hardwoods' like mahoghany, but for hard 'hardwoods' the mortiser is the way to go.  Which is why my next purchase before I start another run of chairs will be the Powermatic 719A or maybe the bigger multico (either way I want the cross slide table).

   DonC4 - I have to disagree at least in part with router mortising/loose tenons.  1st authenticity - a loose tenon is not a real tenon at all.  My customers that want a Stickly Repro better than the ones put out by Stickley today and are willing to pay $900 -1000 a chair don't want a loose tenon;  2nd time savings - router mortises are fussy to set-up, especially for offset M&T's and take several passes to get to full depth, then you have to rip, thickness, round-over and cut the loose tenons to length and do twice as much glueing or just route the mortises and square them by hand or round over 'real tenons'  which adds extra steps and would defile through tenons anyway;  3)  #2 goes double (if even possible) for 5/8" thick steam bent back rails

   My current set of 14 QSW Oak chairs has 672 mortise and tenon joints, fairly evenly distributed between 1/2", 3/8" and 1/4".  56 of them are 1/2" x 2" through tenons.  Just last year I did a run of 12 QSW Oak Harvey Ellis sytle chairs and 8 contemporary chairs in mahogany (for the wife).  Believe me I've had plenty of time to contemplate alternative methods.  For this work and at this volume the HCM is the only repeatable one-step solution.

   John O'Connell - JKO Handcrafted Woodworking

   Life is tough.  It's tougher if you're stupid - John Wayne

   
   

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   Edited 5/29/2002 4:15:26 PM ET by ELCOHOLIC

1. 
   dhpascoe | May 30, 2002 03:00am | #5

   Uh, sorry but my name ain't None: It's Dave. Bear with me, I'm having a hard time figuring out how to work this forum.

   Anyway, thanks for the opinions. I've gone the router route and have had enough of that. I'ts not faster when you're a hobbyist and and have to keep making those jigs. I'm not surprised that the Delta would break after using it continuously all day. This is hobbyist stuff, not commercial grade. Any hoo, I just bought the Delta myself after looking at the Jet, Shop Fox and Multico. If I were a pro, there'd be no question that I'd have to fork out $600 for a machine that would hold up to daily use.

   I'll tell you what I know about Taiwanese cast iron. I'ts known as Class D material on a scale of A to D.

   I may be back here crying the blues, but I've had little complaint with my other 5 Delta machines.

   Dave