Thread: Which Chisel Mortiser - small or big?

I sold my Jet mortiser. After I made a heap of mortises by hand, I decided that I needed a mortiser. I probably only used it once or twice in anger. If you are not doing that many it is easier to use a forstner and clean up the mortise with a chisel.
How well a mortiser performs has a lot to do with the quality of the chisels. I ended up buying three sets but only one set was worth anything. I got them from Carbitool. or CMT I can't remember. Get a pantorouter. That is more up your alley.

For occasional use you can't beat a powerful router and some spiral carbide bits. Most people already have the router, you can make a jig (or just bodge up some guides and stop blocks) and depending on what router bits you have available you might not have to buy anything. Heaps of 'make your own' jigs on the net and a very nice one on here too - I made this mortising jig on the weekend. I'm sure Tony would be more than happy to advise if required.

I can never see myself using a chisel mortiser, looks like hard work.

I do all my mortises with a Triton router, spiral bits and a homemade Jig. Fast, accurate and repeatable.

Dan Phalen mortising jig

Did you happen to take a look at the Taiwanese model while you were there? W345 | M-25 Chisel Morticer | For Sale Sydney Brisbane Melbourne Perth | Buy Workshop Equipment & Machinery online at machineryhouse.com.au

I was considering taking a look at that one myself, as it looks like a more solidly put together unit. I figure a chisel mortiser would be one of those machines where mass and stiffness are your friends.

I have thought about chisel mortisers a few times but was surprised by how little I could find in the way of reviews / info on the forums. It seems that not many people have / use them.

I'll be interested to see what you end up with and what you think.

From what I did read, the bits available from Lee Valley seem to be good quality. Premium Hollow Mortise Chisels & Bits - Lee Valley Tools

No I didn't Dom, even though it was right next to the others. I was never going to spend that kind of money.

I cant comment on both of the machines you listed but I used to own a made in Taiwan Holytek chisel mortiser that weighs 150kg+, I believe it came out of the same factory as the Machinery house, W345.

I have seen the smaller machines, dont let the stops and vise fool you, they are ok for light duty say small boxes or small cabinets, but for hardwood? anything is possible but if you only want to spend the money once then you'd know better.

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The chisel mortiser itself needs to be heavy/and/or bolted to the ground, the chiselling is to do with the chisel and you really need to have a good chisel. I bought a Japanese chisel and it costed like a box of chisel(box of 5) from Carbatec.

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The problem with these chisel mortiser is that you have to chisel one section out before you move onto another, even with my Japanese Chisel it couldnt stand the constant chiselling of my mortised section. I have to constantly stop to wait for the chisel to cool down while mortising out a mortise of 30mm x 100mm wide x 120mm deep, it took about 20 minutes to complete.

I've used it a couple of times before I sold it and upgraded to a swing chisel mortiser.

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I shot the video below, cant do it too fast with one hand holding the camera, but normally the mortise is completed a lot faster, this is with a 10mm cutter swinging 50mm, you can swap out the cutter. I think the largest is 25mm swinging 130mm wide, depth can be up to 130-140mm, it takes about 10 seconds to complete a mortise of this size where as my old mortiser it will need about 20 minutes +




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Have you considered using Festool Domino XL for your project? its more versatile and require less room. of course its more pricey but you pay what you get, I use the XL more often than the mortiser. I only use the mortiser when I feel like it or specific project purpose.

Hi Albert,

Aside from speed was the w345 a good unit in your opinion?

Hi Dom,
Yes the W345 is more of a proper mortiser, I think its a copy of European design whereas the W3465 is copy of the W345. the mortiser is only as good as the chisel bit you put on it.

I have mortised hardwood with the W345 using the half inch chisel bit, no issue, it just mortise through.

The W345 is very beefy and solidly constructed. there is no play and movement once you lock it in place.

Ok great. The W345 seems like good value from H&F compared with very similar looking machines from other suppliers as well and looks a lot more solid than the Jet offering and similar machines. Thanks. Sorry for the slight thread hijack!

Originally Posted by NCArcher

Get a pantorouter. That is more up your alley.

You may be right about that.

Dom, have a look at the video 4th from the right, top line:
https://www.youtube.com/user/hillpanther/videos

I suspect the whole system, inc router which is available from Gregory Machinery in Brisbane, would be a little less than the cost of that Mortising Machine. It would do a stack more jobs than a mortiser, and doesn't have the heat problem.

I'm slowing becoming convinced.....

Matthias Wendell was mixed up in the development of that and has done a few videos of it

I'll have a look when home from work. But I don't see the panto-router being heavy duty enough for my liking. Also router bits would limit DOC to pretty shallow mortises.

Router bits to achieve 55mm depth of cut are readily available, which should be suitable for all but the largest jobs. It is possible to get longer bits, but they're a bit of a specialist item. One of the problems with any of the jigs (and the chisel mortisers) is when the material is too large to take to the jig, through mortises in a table top for instance. In those circumstances you need to make a template to attach to the workpiece, then you need something to guide the router bit. This is where template guide bushings come in to their own.

The issue with guide bushings is they prevent you from using dust collection fittings on the router, at least the festool type. Hence I never use my guide bushings and only use bearing flush trim bits. But then of course they aren't spiral upcut / great for plunging.