Mortising machine - clean mortises?

[Mark Hennebury]

A few of the other brands, programable Centauro, Lari & Lari, these are Made in Italy. The last two photos also have a SM6ii Maka

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[Mark Hennebury]

First one is a multi-head Maka. I rebuilt the heads on this one, this has the old style oil heads.
The second one is an Italian made Muti, the third is a Maka that i rebuilt two or three years ago.
It is very easy to get used to having a big multi-head machine at your disposal.


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[Kevin Jenness]

"Be aware that I did not have the privilege of seeing your pictures and it rubs me wrong to have to pay for that.

jack"

Come on Jack, fork over the $6. It won't hurt that much.

Thanks for posting. I always enjoy seeing what you do with your vintage machines.

[jack forsberg]

"Be aware that I did not have the privilege of seeing your pictures and it rubs me wrong to have to pay for that.

jack"

Come on Jack, fork over the $6. It won't hurt that much.

Thanks for posting. I always enjoy seeing what you do with your vintage machines.

i am sorry but this forum is the cheap . pay it for me

[Mark Hennebury]

Then you have the slot mortisers;
Excellent for chairs, cabinet doors, general furniture.

The Balestrini 2Cap
Double table automatic slot mortiser; a compact high quality workhorse.
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The newer version' The Micron

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The mate to the 2Cap is the 2TAO tenoner
Photos from my shop in the eighties, making chair parts.

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Mortiser, tenoner in the background, leaning on an old 24" German jointer /planer.

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There are several newer version.
The tenoner, changed to the TO then the Pico
I currently have one of the TO but haven't tried it yet, so not sure on what the changes mean. Also have an old 2Cap Mortiser.
If/when i ever get them done i will do a thread, to show you what they can do.
All my machines were purchased used, I tinkered with then and got them working well, but mostly never totally rebuilt and painted, except machines to sell. You can get great equipment for a reasonable price, if you are willing to work and deal with the issues.

[jack forsberg]

stenner with a a slot head . domino killed that machine



sure wish i could see mark pics

i love the way it holds the work

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built in sharping

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[Joe Calhoon]

Then you have the slot mortisers;
Excellent for chairs, cabinet doors, general furniture.

The Balestrini 2Cap
Double table automatic slot mortiser; a compact high quality workhorse.


The newer version' The Micron



The mate to the 2Cap is the 2TAO tenoner
Photos from my shop in the eighties, making chair parts.




Mortiser, tenoner in the background, leaning on an old 24" German jointer /planer.



There are several newer version.
The tenoner, changed to the TO then the Pico
I currently have one of the TO but haven't tried it yet, so not sure on what the changes mean. Also have an old 2Cap Mortiser.
If/when i ever get them done i will do a thread, to show you what they can do.
All my machines were purchased used, I tinkered with then and got them working well, but mostly never totally rebuilt and painted, except machines to sell. You can get great equipment for a reasonable price, if you are willing to work and deal with the issues.

Mark, those round end mortisers and tenoners would be ideal for chair building and a lot of furniture making. I dabble in a little chair making for myself as a hobby and think about those machines when I am doing that.
it’s easy enough to make angled tenons and even compound angled tenons on a tilting shaper with sliding table but if they need shouldered that is where it gets labor intensive and complicated.

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[Brian Holcombe]

Only out of Japan

Notice of the pictures show up for the underprivileged.

https://sawmillcreek.org/showthread....-chisels/page2

They are made by Nakahashi, I have a bunch of Nakahashi chisels but I’ve yet to find someone who retails this part.

I pay to use this site and I’m quite fine with that, as when the service is free it is because you are the product. The annual fee ensures that the website remains the product and my personal information does not.

[jack forsberg]

They are made by Nakahashi, I have a bunch of Nakahashi chisels but I’ve yet to find someone who retails this part.

I pay to use this site and I’m quite fine with that, as when the service is free it is because you are the product. The annual fee ensures that the website remains the product and my personal information does not.

I used to get this kit through Chris Hall . I sure do miss him . if you know how to speck Japanize and can pay Yen you my be able to contact them .

[Ron Selzer]

"I pay to use this site and I’m quite fine with that, as when the service is free it is because you are the product. The annual fee ensures that the website remains the product and my personal information does not."

VERY WELL SAID

Ron

[Mark Hennebury]

Hi Joe,

I couldn't imagine doing chairs without them. With chairs you have lots of curved parts and compound angles, these machines are excellent for this work, with the twin tables, you can set one up for the left hand and one for the right.
On the tenoner I mounted a flat plate that was the reference for the shoulder cut, then i would make all of my chair test parts without joints, so i could assemble the parts , by just butting them in place, that way i could check that all of the shoulders were tight and the correct angle, then to set the tenoner tables to the correct compound angle, you just place your part on the tenoner table and adjust the tilt and fence angle until the shoulder buts up tight to the reference plate. It made setup very easy to get precise tight fitting joints, in complex parts. Experimenting with chair designs is a lot of fun. With the Balestrini machines you have a lot of freedom, they don't take long to set up and can whip out 100 mortise and tenons while you drink your coffee. The tenoner, scribes a crisp clean shoulder, and a chamfered end, and is infinitely adjustable, so you have total control of the fit of the joint. You can make the fit a snug slip-fit on the width and a tight fit on the length, you have quite incredible control. Once you get used to them and sort out your system it's a blast. I always made a few of spare parts and scrap stock for test setups, then you are good to go.

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Mark, those round end mortisers and tenoners would be ideal for chair building and a lot of furniture making. I dabble in a little chair making for myself as a hobby and think about those machines when I am doing that.
it’s easy enough to make angled tenons and even compound angled tenons on a tilting shaper with sliding table but if they need shouldered that is where it gets labor intensive and complicated.

5D44B3D3-CF64-4596-B18E-D5148FD837F1.jpg
8441838F-3CDE-497F-AEAB-5834EC98102B.jpg

[Joe Calhoon]

Thanks for the detailed explanation Mark. That is very interesting. Those are some nice chairs you made!
Now that I am semiretired working solo, chairs and furniture look inviting compared the the heavy entry units I build. Maybe I should trade the Maka in

[Brian Holcombe]

The Maka is useful for chair making in my opinion, but you have to make fixtures to turn at part at an angle, which can be a PITA. I do the same for the hollow chisel.

[Mark Hennebury]

Brian The Maka is great for doing chairs, especially Arts and crafts, or Japanese style stuff.

The Balestrini combo takes care of the tenons, and setting up for complex parts a little easier and makes things a bit more efficient overall.
It would be best from my perspective to have both Maka and Balestrini, That is my idea of a great setup. But everyone works differently and has different ideas and situation.
You can get by with a little bit of equipment if you are a little innovative. My first slot mortiser was a plywood cross-slide table hung off the side of a Makita 2040 thickness planer, and a chuck mounted on the end of the cutterhead. I had a machine shop make an adapter to mount the chuck. I adjusted the height of the table by cranking up the planer table. and i used endmills for cutters. Worked great. Lots of ways to do stuff. My first hollow chisel mortiser was a Canadian Buffalo drill-press with a foot-feed and hollow chisel attachment.

I still like that Makita thicknesser, it did a great job, it was a light duty machine and you had to be patient with it. I put a slow feed sprocket set on it and it did nice work. A beautiful little machine.

If you get your system set up and it works well for your needs, there is no need to change it.

The way you get set up your is a very personal thing; it depends on many factors; if you are trying to earn a living, and what your financial situation is, What is your interest and motivation for doing woodwork, what your market is etc..
I wasn't famous, there wasn't any support or much appreciation for custom made stuff where i was, so i didn't get paid big bucks for stuff.
I had to get stuff done to survive, so you have choices, either cheaper faster construction methods or get the best equipment to do high quality work efficiently.
The best solution of course would have been to get famous, then your stuff sells for ten times the price, but I was way to busy trying to survive to chase that dream.

The Maka is useful for chair making in my opinion, but you have to make fixtures to turn at part at an angle, which can be a PITA. I do the same for the hollow chisel.

[Charlie Jones]

There are some great machines here. I can imagine what any of them would cost. If I was running a large commercial shop I would have one. Us hobbyists can't afford them or don't have the room. I built this little slot mortiser for less then 500.00. It does a great job. The loose tenons are easy to make. It can do through mortises but is limited by the length of the router bit. If you are cutting a through mortise in thick material you may have to go from both sides. I use it for most of my joinery.