Mortising Hardwoods with Mortiser !

[Elmer Hayes]

Hi all...

Long time since I have been on this forum until now seeking advice. Excuse my absence!

I have a plunging Mortiser (Grizzly #T10816-Bench Top Mortiser), which I find pretty useful for regular woods but when trying to mortise hardwoods-- Sapelle, black walnut, oak, etc., it is mostly impossible to mortise these woods, even with brute force. Chisels are sharp as well as the bits.

Any solution to mortise these hardwoods? Thank you all...



r

[Kevin Jenness]

You can hog out the mortises with an undersize drill bit and finish up with the mortiser.

[Mark Hennebury]

This should work for you, its a Maka SM6 P-11

[Thomas McCurnin]

I have never had any problem with a similar (Delta) mortiser. I suspect your bits are not sharp. Often, they are simply not honed fine enough out of the box.

For the outer bit, the chisel, the outsides need to be sharpened flat and polished to about 600g+ and the inner portion sharpened with a cone type sharpener in a hand drill, usually the finest grit you can fine--Lee Valley has a good one. Of course, the inner drill bit needs to be sharp as well. The mortiser also has to be set up so the drill bit hogs out the first 1/8th of an inch or so, not the chisel. Finally, some wax or glide coat on the outside of the chisel will help things move along nicely.

Here is a good video on how to do all of this: https://www.finewoodworking.com/2014...mortising-bits

[Lee Schierer]

I have never had any problem with a similar (Delta) mortiser. I suspect your bits are not sharp. Often, they are simply not honed fine enough out of the box.

For the outer bit, the chisel, the outsides need to be sharpened flat and polished to about 600g+ and the inner portion sharpened with a cone type sharpener in a hand drill, usually the finest grit you can fine--Lee Valley has a good one. Of course, the inner drill bit needs to be sharp as well. The mortiser also has to be set up so the drill bit hogs out the first 1/8th of an inch or so, not the chisel. Finally, some wax or glide coat on the outside of the chisel will help things move along nicely.

Here is a good video on how to do all of this: https://www.finewoodworking.com/2014...mortising-bits

Tom is correct. I used to struggle with my mortising attachment for my drill press until I polished the out side surfaces so they are slick. I also learned that the drill bit should be about 1/16" spaced ahead of the inside of the chisel cutting edges. The tips of the chisels should just be clearing the corners while the drill bit removes the majority of the waste.

[roger wiegand]

I, at least, am in the camp of "been there, done that" with respect to mortise chisels. I spent several years hanging all my (not insubstantial) weight on the end of the lever arm on my General floor mortiser. Then I bought better chisels, the sharpening cones from LV, polished the outsides on a 10000 grit water stone and now it takes some effort but a fraction of what it used to to cut mortises in hard maple. A real night and day difference. I also would have told you my chisels were sharp before going through all that.

[Tom M King]

I really like the Star M Japanese mortising bit and chisel sets. Not only are they very good quality, and hold edges good, but the drill bit comes long. It takes some careful fiddling to cut the bit just the right length, but it saves time setting up once you have it cut correctly and you can seat the bit all the way home in the chuck with zero chance of it pushing up into, and ruining the chisel. You just seat the chisel and push the bit all the way up with no adjusting gap with a dime or whatever once you cut the bit the correct length.

[Larry Edgerton]

Fische come that same way and I do as you describe.

[mike stenson]

Fische come that same way and I do as you describe.

and just like a Lie-Nielsen/Hock/Lee Valley plane iron.. I'd still sharpen it.

[Larry Edgerton]

and just like a Lie-Nielsen/Hock/Lee Valley plane iron.. I'd still sharpen it.

We were referencing the length of the drill bit?

[mike stenson]

We were referencing the length of the drill bit?

What were YOU referencing?

[Tom M King]

I'm copying and pasting my post, no.30 in this thread. This is what others were agreeing with and saying that other manufacturers supply over-length bits to start with too.

copied and pasted:
I really like the Star M Japanese mortising bit and chisel sets. Not only are they very good quality, and hold edges good, but the drill bit comes long. It takes some careful fiddling to cut the bit just the right length, but it saves time setting up once you have it cut correctly and you can seat the bit all the way home in the chuck with zero chance of it pushing up into, and ruining the chisel. You just seat the chisel and push the bit all the way up with no adjusting gap with a dime or whatever once you cut the bit the correct length.

[Mark Hennebury]

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/zYFDiQL9w3Q

Maka mortisers will cut hardwoods, clean and fast, many different chisel sizes and shapes. This is a manual one that I recently rebuilt for sale.

Woodmortice2 (1).jpg woodmortise4.jpg SAM_2391.jpg PXL_20230501_213644823.jpg

https://youtube.com/shorts/zYFDiQL9w...NJJlQC3vW2HcEL

Hi all...

Long time since I have been on this forum until now seeking advice. Excuse my absence!

I have a plunging Mortiser (Grizzly #T10816-Bench Top Mortiser), which I find pretty useful for regular woods but when trying to mortise hardwoods-- Sapelle, black walnut, oak, etc., it is mostly impossible to mortise these woods, even with brute force. Chisels are sharp as well as the bits.

Any solution to mortise these hardwoods? Thank you all...



r

[John TenEyck]

A handheld router with spiral upcut bit and a purchased or shop-built guide works well. Chisel mortisers were a great invention - in the 1800's. Advancements in technology have given us easier to use options.

John

When the router bit gets dull, replace it with a new one and keep going. No sharpening, adjusting, etc. required.

[Brian Holcombe]

Heavy cast iron chisel mortisers with sharp chisels work beautifully. I mortise with the Maka that Mark recommends or a chisel mortiser, often depends on what I’m doing specifically.

The Maka is blazing fast and cuts a beautiful mortise.

The chisel mortiser cuts a clean mortise, with sharp chisels, it’s a little slower than the Maka but it’s quick to setup and has a broader range of depth and width than the smaller Maka units.