Thread: Ledacraft, M25, XCalibur or Jet 719T Chisel Mortiser

OK, my thoughts for what they're worth
I had a smaller Jet chisel mortiser. great bit of gear. Worked really well, if you purchase really good quality chisels....the one or two times I actually used it. Like you, I made a couple of items with lots of hand cut mortises and thought a CM would be a good buy. A CM is a single purpose machine and for the amount of use it gets, IMO, you would be better off investing in a, for instance, Leigh FMT or a Pantorouter. That's if you plan on doing loads of mortice & tennons. If you are only doing the occasional mortice, use a spiral router bit and clean it up with a sharp chisel. Far be it from me to tell someone not to buy woodworking tools but I would spend my cash on something else.

Thanks mate,

You're probably right that the CM is a tool that you think you're going to use heaps in theory, but then in practice may not end up getting that much use. On the other hand, I have a few projects on my near-future list that I could see the CM coming in very hand for, eg. Roubo workbench, dining table and bench seating, outdoor bench seating etc. Also, some part of me keeps thinking that if one day in the next few years I get tired of working my 8-5 day job, and I develop enough skills, I may just try making some furniture for a meager living (yes I'm aware it would likely be a very, very, poor paying profession) - as unlikely as that might be. So I tend to buy tools that may help make that pipe-dream a little more possible - even if it's just in my head.

It certainly seems that the chisel mortiser isn't a popular tool on these forums - either not many have ever had one, or just don't like them for whatever reason. Which to me is surprising, as I would have thought it was quite a popular machine - even Chris Schwarz, in his book "The Anarchists Tool Chest", where he makes a point of shedding unnecessary tools / getting back to a more minimalist tool-set, says he could never bare to part with his chisel mortiser (The Jet machine in fact, unless I remember wrongly).

With that in mind, I drove out to Hare and Forbes to take a look at the M25, and after driving 1.5hrs to get there, it turned out they'd sold out (nation-wide) and even sold the display model - the guy there told me they'd also pre-sold half of the next batch due to arrive in a couple of weeks but they then have another batch of 20-30 arriving a month or so later. No matter, I though. Leda-machinery was only 15min away so I drove there - again no stock! Arrrg. I ended up taking a look at the Jet at Carba-tec and it looked like a nice enough unit. Although it was smaller than I expected - which is actually not a bad thing as it won't take up a heap of much-needed space in the shop. I still want to see the Hare and Forbes model before I make any decisions. I might even put a deposit down on one with the caveat that I want to see a floor/display model first - that way I may be able to lock in the sale pricing and make a decision once they have stock. The fact that H&F are selling quite a few of these things means that people are clearly buying them - obviously no-one on this forum though.

Cheers,

Dom

From the links they all look like they are exactly the same machine in different colours, so maybe the only difference is the price.
I have a benchtop model which is the tool I needed to have after looking at many American websites and videos, but after buying it I have found that I haven't used it much at all just like NCAcher. Seem to be very popular in the US.

Originally Posted by Treecycle

From the links they all look like they are exactly the same machine in different colours, so maybe the only difference is the price.
I have a benchtop model which is the tool I needed to have after looking at many American websites and videos, but after buying it I have found that I haven't used it much at all just like NCAcher. Seem to be very popular in the US.

Yeah the three appear identical. Hence my confusion. If the $1595 (on sale) H&F M-25 is the same as the machines selling for $2400 then does that indicate that it is a much better machine, as well as much cheaper, than the Jet from Carbatec which used to be $1700 and is now $2099. Wish I could have seen the H&F in person and not have to make a decision based on paper specs / pricing.

Have you not used yours much because you haven't needed to cut many mortises? Or because you still prefered to cut them via other means?
Cheers, Dom

I probably haven't made all the items I thought I was going to make, hence the lower need than expected.
If you are going to cut lots of mortices I am sure it will save you a lot of time. Unfortunately they don't produce nice smooth sides (at least mine doesn't) so you still need to use hand tools to clean up the sides to produce accurate fits. It's not something I will get rid of now I have it as one day I might have a greater need for it, but for my personal needs I wouldn't buy another one as there are lots of other tools that would get more use if I had brought them instead.

I used to own a Hafco M25 (or equivalent)

very sturdy. very solid. it does one thing only and your cutter probably more important than the machine.

They are originally European design but Taiwanese manufacturer copied them, made them a whole lot cheaper.

Because you need to repeat and move the stock after each cut, its very slow if you are cutting a large mortise.