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

[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.

[roger wiegand]

You may well be experiencing the difference between sharp and really sharp. To perform well the outsides of the chisel need to be honed to a mirror-like flat surfaces, as you'd do on a plane blade, the inner cone honed with a diamond hone ar 600 or 1000 grit or so, and the drill bit also sharpened with the diamond. The drill needs to protrude a bit farther than the chisel to minimize the work the chisel needs to do. Cheaper mortising bits for these machines often take a _lot_ of work to tune up so they work well. The Japanese ones from LV work better out of the box, but still need fine honing.

[Ron Citerone]

I have a jet benchtop with jet chisels. I had problems till I spent(invested) time into learning to sharpen the chisels. As others have suggested that is the most likely issue.

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi, I agree completely with Roger.

I have a bench top mortiser and it easily works in hardwood

Here’s a recent one in red oak.

Regards, Rod
IMG_2554.jpgIMG_2555.jpg

[mike stenson]

Chisels aren't sharp. Probably also not enough gap

[Jim Becker]

The drill bit does most of the work, therefore it needs to project beyond the chisel enough to do that. (plan for that in mortise depth) If the chisels are actually sharp (using a sharpening cone) they should clean the corners nicely. Note that it does take more physical effort with a smaller, benchtop mortiser for this task than with a big floor standing mortiser that has a lot of mass and a heavier/longer plunge mechanism.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Before we left town 2 weeks ago, I honed my 3/8" mortise chisel and bit, installed them in my GI mortiser and mortised 2 walnut table legs. I diamond hone the outer wall of the chisel flat, the inner bevel with a fine diamond cone hone. The. I sharpen the bit. When installing the chisel and bit, I try to leave a gap the width of a dime between the flat cutting surface of the bit and the points of the chisel.

[Edward Weber]

I think the other have covered it.
The bits from LV and Grizzly Premium are Nakahashi brand, very high quality.
The woods the OP mentioned should not pose much of an issue if everything is right and tight.
I don't know if alignment could be an an issue, possibly binding the cut.
A bit more explanation of whats not working would help.

[Elmer Hayes]

Gentlemen... thank you for such a great input. Although I think that my mortising chisels are sharp after having sharpened them with a diamond chisel sharpener however it is still a bear to mortising hard woods.

Thank you again