“Steel City” benchtop mortiser w/pics
After looking at the Shop Fox and General International Tilting-Head Mortiser (benchtops), side-by-side with one from the new company Steel City, I came home with the new kid on the block! Anyone in Western Washington State who hasn’t visited Sumner Wood Workers Store is missing a great place! Huge inventory of machines, blades, router bits, books, turning blocks, and salesmen who are actually experienced woodworkers. They have one guy who does nothing but assemble and tune the machines. They were all great. Price $269.
I have no idea if it’ll be the right decision in the long run, but I really liked Steel City’s user-friendly design and decided I’d take a chance on it. The General had such a small table, and seemed fussy and congested to adjust. As much as anything, though, I just wanted to try out this new company. So, here are some pics:
A wide shot. Those tab-looking things in the sides of the tables are pull-out stock supports, in the closed position. Cast iron table, nicely machined and finished:
Elevated shot of the table, showing the roller-style “hold-ins” which are slid up to the stock, tightened by knobs, and don’t need to be messed with during the mortising operation. The table is BIG and the supports extend out to total 35″ right-to-left.
Close-up shot of extension and roller:
The head travels on dovetailed ways and a big gear. It’s a little stiff. I’m going to adjust it a little at a time, try to get it easier without it getting any play in it. I don’t know if the big gear is a good thing, bad thing, or indifferent. Depth stop is really easy to set.
It has a chisel/tool holder at the back of the head, and comes with a set of 4 chisels, which seem sharp and clean. 5-year limited warranty. I grabbed a piece of cherry and did a couple of small mortises. Technique probably could use some improvement, but it wasn’t too bad!
forestgirl — you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can’t take the forest out of the girl 😉
Edited 9/9/2006 8:34 pm by forestgirl
Replies
Here's the link to their page on the mortiser. Also, it can be turned 180° to mortise off the table the way the Shop Fox does.
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Atta Girl ! Now that mortiser looks to be an improved clone of the Delta Deluxe, Especially the Ways and brass adjuster. By it's looks it's going to be a winner. By the time I caught your post about getting the Shop Fox it was too late, I was going to recommend the Delta Deluxe. Glad you changed your mind. FYI I did a little non-scientific testing of mortise chisles and bits. Delta,Jet and Fisch(Chinese)No German Fisch available at the time. With moderate force I wacked the bit shanks together and the chisles together and the Delta's bits and chisles dented both of the others, more so on the Jet which seemed quite a "bit" softer.Work Safe, Count to 10 when your done for the day !!
Bruce S.
FG, does it tilt like the GI?
"...does it tilt like the GI?" Nope! I liked the Steel City machine so much more than the General that I gave up the tilting, figured I could build a jig if I needed to. It was very hard to choose between the 3. Assuming the quality of the Steel City machine is as good as the GI and Shop Fox, the SC design was much more commanding to me. The large table with stock supports, and the rollers, were big factors. The fence is rock solid when locked, and the dovetail-ways keeps everything in line and steady.
A weird thing about the General -- everything seemed so crowded. Any adjustment that I'd play with, it seemed like I was always running into things! I hate that -- I have pretty big hands "for a girl" and I don't like it when I have to squeeze into spaces and futz with things because they're too close together.
It would have been easier had I any experience with a mortiser. This is a relatively inexpensive way to learn. The guys at Sumner didn't even try to talk me into the more expensive machine which I thought was pretty OK. Wellllll, one guy, a cabinetmaker, thought I should have 2 (regular and tilt). Hah! right....forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
I like the extra supports on the table. I'll be interested in hearing your ongoing assessment of Steel City. I am hopeful they bring a new level of quality at a great price.
Alan - planesaw
I wish I'd had more time to look around yestereday. I did take a quick look at their 17" drill press, which has 6" quill travel, but solid as a rock when extended. The guy told me they had discontined one or two other brands with long-travel because the quality was up to par. But they're liking the SC model.
Also took a quick look at their hybrid saw, but flat ran out of time. I don't think they even make a standard contractors saw. Why would they? LOL!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Nice little unit, FG. That "big gear" (ha.. ha...) is the rack and pinion on the single column.
If not mistaken, a guy named Scott Box showed it to me at the IWF show. I liked the extension tables built in ( I had to do a little thinking and work to get 56" on each side of my mortiser table) which will be compact. The fore-aft roller bearing supports are a plus also. You might mention that the plunge handle will transfer to both sides which makes it "righty"-"lefty" friendly. If I remember correctly, there is a chuck door on both sides also (going on memory here).
I thought the handle was a tad short for maximum leverage in harder woods, but that can be circumvented easily by sliding a longer iron pipe over the current one when the extra leverage is necessary.
Enjoy...
SARGE..
When I made a comment about "big gear" it was to highlight the difference between it and the other units, which have much smaller teeth in their rack-and-pinion. Don't know if that's a plus, minus, or neutral. Figure all things are done for a reason. One thing, that gear is iron, not steel, so maybe that's why.
Yep, access to chuck on both sides. A little easier to access than the Shop Fox too. re: the shorter handle, I was a little concerned about that, but then realized, it's actually more comfortable for me, and pipe's are easy.
Later!forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
I like "big gear", FG. It has a nice ring! :>)
Post if the chisels they use are the long shank as the SF or short shank as the Fisch? If you find them acceptable, I might pick up a set down the road if they match my machine. Now there's an arena that Freud could move into as there is not a wide selection of various grades.
Regards...
SARGE..
"Now there's an arena that Freud could move into as there is not a wide selection of various grades." I'll suggest that to Charles at the next staff meeting.<g>
The chisel part measures a hair under 1.5" from the top edge to the top of the shoulder. 5/8" OD
forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-)
Edited 9/10/2006 7:23 pm by forestgirl
This forum post is now archived. Commenting has been disabled