Is it Neander sacrilege to cut mortises by machine?

[Frederick Skelly]

Not to take away the esteemed comments above but, brother, make sawdust in whatever way makes you happy (you did say you LIKED it). No one is gonna judge, its all about the Furniture. I highly doubt anyone is gonna say " Wow, thats beautiful....wait do i sense a drill press was used .........DESTROY THAT ABOMINATION WITH FIRE!!!!!". You were working, didnt have a fancy schmancy 1/2 inch mortise chisel, but a had a nice shiny drill press.....made it happen.

Joshua, I read this and laughed my tail off when I read this. Thanks man - I needed that!
Fred

[Alan Lightstone]

Drill Press Mortise Repercussions.jpg

You didn't see my last chair attempt. Still have nightmares over the pitchforks and torches.

Never again.

[Frederick Skelly]

Drill Press Mortise Repercussions.jpg

You didn't see my last chair attempt. Still have nightmares over the pitchforks and torches.

Never again.

Definitely a bad day in the shop Alan.

[Allan Speers]

The best way to ease the pain of mortices, and still keep your knuckle-dragger membership card, is to drill out most of the mortice with a brace.

[Dave Anderson NH]

For me, it depends on the time available vs the quantity needed. I don't use or like the drill press for mortises. I will chop them by hand if there are only a few or if I feel I have the time. If there are dozens I will confess to using my hollow chisel mortiser to save both time and tedium. As an example, when I built my plane till I had to make something like 50-60 12 " long stopped dadoes for the vertical dividers between plane cubbies. There was no way I was going to torture myself doing it all by hand even though all other aspects of the till WERE done by hand.

As others have said in this thread, no one is going to hunt you down and tar and feather you for adding power where it makes sense. It is all a matter of personal choice.

[Warren Mickley]

The best way to ease the pain of mortices, and still keep your knuckle-dragger membership card, is to drill out most of the mortice with a brace.

How long dies it take you to make a mortise in oak 5/16 wide, 1 1/2 deep and 1 1/2 long?

[Tom M King]

ElamsHouse Oct. 2012 045 (1280x960).jpgIf I have a few hundred to make, a machine gets the call. If I have a few to make, it gets chiseled out. To me drilling the holes just makes a mess inside the mortise, and may actually take longer. That's a fairly rare and valuable board in the picture. Each mortise (for stile tenons) in that 20' long replacement rail for wainscoting was a different distance from the face-totally not worth the time to fiddle with different setups on a machine. I've been doing it a lot longer than going both ways has been called "hybrid", so don't call me a hybrid woodworker.

[Mel Fulks]

Yeah,drilling first is ok, but those who have done a lot of them seem to prefer just the mortise chisel. The drilled holes can speed process on really big mortises but on a lot of mortise chisel width work it is too grabby.

[Christopher Shaw]

I've never owned a true mortise chisel so I mostly did them like you described. It's just waste wood. It's not like I've cut hundreds of them though. Maybe I would be more of a purist had I done more.

[Allan Speers]

How long dies it take you to make a mortise in oak 5/16 wide, 1 1/2 deep and 1 1/2 long?

I don't know. It's been a long time since I did any (I took about 8 years away from any fine woodworking) and I never really timed it. I can say, though, that doing it with pig stickers is more work than I ever expected ! (but very enjoyable.)

FWIW, while I have a nice selection of oval bolsters, and a few Japanese mortice chisels, (those are too small, IMO) my favorite mortise chisels are Chinese, (I think. - The small one has the Chinese symbol for “Temple” on it.)



These very comfortable to use. The english pig stickers are easy to register, though. Also, I prefer a rounded bevel, which these don't have, as that make it easier to leverage-out waste. Still, these are just so cool.

Having said that, I'm far from an expert on such things.

[James Pallas]

I guess if you use a post drill or one of those foot powered mortise machines you could say that no electrons were used. I don't believe for one minute that there are many people who could criticize about you using a drill press if it works for you.
Jim

[Jim Davis]

I have taken apart a few very old mortise and tenon joints and found circles in the bottom that were made by old spur bits, no doubt new at the time. I'm thinking that most joiners were in it for the money and the more pieces they made the more money they got. I'll bet a great many of the pre-electric set, if they could post here, would say it is a waste of time to chop a mortise with only a chisel if you have a way to drill out most of the waste.

[lowell holmes]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_NXq7_TILA


Watch the video link above. It also addresses the old bevel edge chisel vs pig sticker discussion.

[Brian Holcombe]

Depends on the shape, for short but deep tenons I prefer to use a brace and bit to clear the waste, then pare to fit. For long mortises I think it's quicker just to use a mortise chisel.

Worth a note that it's important to chop on a solid surface, I use my saw bench and chop right over the leg, it makes the hammer much more effective.

[Jim Koepke]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q_NXq7_TILA


Watch the video link above. It also addresses the old bevel edge chisel vs pig sticker discussion.

I have cut a few 1/4" mortises using various bench chisels, bevel edged and straight edged. Just recently purchased a 1/4" Narex mortise chisel. I won't likely be using a bevel edged or other bench chisel for cutting 1/4" mortises again.

I have also cut mortises of various sizes with various chisels. My preference is for the mortise chisel and my biggest mallet.

jtk