Hi all,
I have been lurking a while. I am a new woodworker and have come upon this problem.
I am trying to make mortises in soft wood (cedar). I have drilled out with a forstner bit to rough it out, but when I get to chiseling out, especially across the grain and corners, I can't get a good cut. It is hard to describe what is happening, but basically the chisel pushes out grain rather than cutting through it and I can't get square corners.
I am sure that a sharper and better quality chisel would help, but are there any suggestions?
I was thinking about drilling a small hole into each corner before roughing out with the forstner to help make the corner sharp.
Would a mortising machine or mortising drill press attachment run into the same problems?
Thanks all.