Floor mount pedal mortiser?

[Dave Cav]

I am thinking of adding a hollow chisel mortiser to my shop. Not a contemporary, imported hand cranked model, but a vintage American foot pedal type, such as a Powermatic 10 or 400 or an Oliver 194. This would be a substantial upgrade to what I do now (forstner bit in the drill press) and would be a fairly sizeable investment, but I believe it would also increase my productivity and improve my finished products. I mostly build Mission/Stickley/Arts and Crafts and contemporary furniture, and may branch out into Shaker stuff as well. I don't do this full time now, but probably will in the future.

Is anyone using a mortiser like these in their pro/semi-pro shop, and if so, what would be your recommendations or comments?

Thanks
Dave

[Kirk Poore]

Originally Posted by Dave Cav

I am thinking of adding a hollow chisel mortiser to my shop. Not a contemporary, imported hand cranked model, but a vintage American foot pedal type, such as a Powermatic 10 or 400 or an Oliver 194. This would be a substantial upgrade to what I do now (forstner bit in the drill press) and would be a fairly sizeable investment, but I believe it would also increase my productivity and improve my finished products. I mostly build Mission/Stickley/Arts and Crafts and contemporary furniture, and may branch out into Shaker stuff as well. I don't do this full time now, but probably will in the future.

Is anyone using a mortiser like these in their pro/semi-pro shop, and if so, what would be your recommendations or comments?

Thanks
Dave

A full size mortiser like that is a huge step up over a drill press. I have a Greenlee 227, and while the autofeed is overkill, it sure is nice. I build medieval-style furniture, and with the mortiser it's worth the setup time to crank out lots of duplicate parts. I normally build in batches of 4 items to take advantage of this.

Look for a tilting table machine--you may not need it often, but you don't want to be without it. Make sure the table travels easily both in/out and left/right. DON'T leave without the table clamp--if it isn't on the machine, scour the area to find it. Table clamps are hard to find and harder to jury rig a replacement--DAMHIKT. Make sure the hold-downs are there too, though they usually are. Stop rods are nice but replaceable. You'll want a mortiser with a direct drive motor, but a flat belt machine in operational shape will do the job just as well. Besides Oliver and Powermatic, other good names are Greenlee, Wysong & Miles, and Crescent. General made good ones too, though those are more likely found in Canada. There are other manufacturers, but they are more rare. The OWWM.com site can be searched by machine type so you can see examples of all of these and more.

Kirk

[Dave Cav]

Good information, thanks. Right now I'm considering a Newman T-20. Although it doesn't have a tilt table it seems like an otherwise capable machine and I could get one for considerably less than a Powermatic. There's not a lot of traffic or discussion of mortisers on OWWM; I imagine people that have them spend more time using them than talking about them.

[Kirk Poore]

Originally Posted by Dave Cav

There's not a lot of traffic or discussion of mortisers on OWWM; I imagine people that have them spend more time using them than talking about them.

Mortisers are kind of like shapers--specialized machines that most people make do without. Once you've got one, though, you'd really need to have your arm twisted to give it up. On the other hand, I don't know anybody that has more than one (or, more than one working machine). I did meet a guy a few years ago that had three, and he was trying to sell two of them.

Kirk

[Chris Rosenberger]

I have had a General 220 for about 17 years. It is an excellent machine. It has a tilt table & most of the other options listed in Kirks post. It is still being made, although it is very high priced. I have seen some used 220s sell on Ebay for reasonable prices.

[Wes Billups]

Chris, I've seen a few posts where you've included pictures of your shop. Could I request a post where you give us a tour at some point?

Thanks,
Wes Billups

[Gary Herrmann]

Geez, Chris. How much does that beast weigh?

[Kirk Poore]

Originally Posted by Gary Herrmann

Geez, Chris. How much does that beast weigh?

General's website says 1005 lbs.

Most of these machines are very similar. Indeed, at one time Greenlee made the base castings for certain Oliver or General models (I forget which), which a side-by-side comparison reveals. I think a direct drive Greenlee 225 is the same as a General 220, except the General will be newer and have more refinements. Greenlee stopped making mortisers in the 1960's, IIRC.

BTW, Chris, nice new Unisaw.

Kirk

[Chris Rosenberger]

Originally Posted by Wes Billups

Chris, I've seen a few posts where you've included pictures of your shop. Could I request a post where you give us a tour at some point?

Thanks,
Wes Billups

I will try to do that Wes.
Have you been getting to use your Saw Stop?

Originally Posted by Kirk Poore

BTW, Chris, nice new Unisaw.

Kirk

Thank you Kirk. It is a nice saw.

Chris

[Wes Billups]

Chris, not much time with the Saw Stop as the last two months I've been working on finishing our basement. I'm close to getting some shop time though as next weekend I'm hoping to get all of the drywall hung. Then it's on to building a vanity and couple of built-in bookcase units.

Thanks,
Wes

[James Boster]

I have an old Monarch X-1 foot mortiser that I use and like it very well. They can be found usally pretty cheap at auctions.

[george wilson]

We had an old Monarch at work for several years. Was left there by another department as they hadn't yet room for it. I hated to give it up when they came for it. Then,I found an old Yates American. I want a foot pedal model for home,but they don't come up that often,it seems. I turned down a near mint Powermatic chain mortiser for $500.00. I COULD have taken the head off of it,and made a chisel mortiser,but would have had to machine out a bunch of parts. I rather wish I had done it,though I don't make that much furniture. I mill out mortises on my milling machine,and quickly chisel the corners square. Not that much trouble,and I don't need the expensive good hollow chisels.