Thread: Morticer for school?

G,day Darryl. Have a look here;

http://www.ptms.com.au/cgi-bin/PTMst...%20Dovetailers

They have a fairly good one for $350.00 but don't forget the chisels. Have a search of the board and see what come up.

Oh and Welcome

Cheers

Ahh, the chisels...
I'm in the market for a new mortiser. My old one is one of the first Taiwanese models to hit the stands, and though it has done yeoman's service these last 12 years or more, it has a couple of very irritating faults, which appear to be corrected on the newer models. However, have seen much written on the quality of chisels, of late, and the general impression seems to be that the cheaper (= Taiwanese/Chinese?) chisels have been very disappointing.
The chisels that came with my clunker have been the best part of it, being very hard, but not prone to chipping. They've stood up to heavy mortising in hardwoods and cabinet woods very well. I have never gotten around to getting the stones for honing the internal bevel, but have been able to keep them performing pretty well by polishing the sides.
However, I'm looking for some replacements and a couple of different sizes, so my question is - anyone out there with experience of recently-purchased chisels with any advise on what to go for or avoid?
Thanks,

Both Carba tech and Delta have very good units - they are both available in the carbatech catalogue or in store. the carbatech is cheaper of course. I dont imagine you'll want to pay top dollar for a professional unit -the carbatech industial is thousands...

why dont the the kids make thier mortices with a hammer and chisel like we did - thats cheating!!!!!!!!!!!!

Carba-Tec(WA) has a number of mortisers on the floor, the SL-2500HB has proved popular with a number of secondary schools and colleges purchasing this model. Schools where the students are strong in senior year (TEE in WA) woodworking (possibly means a very enthusiastic staff) have purchased the great CT-2305. All of these HD units perform very well.The Delta unit is really well made and for a light duty machine, excellent. FTM-13 is also good value for money, but I would probably think twice about placing one in a school environment. I have one in my home workshop, but I use my brains when using machinery, particularly light machinery, and you can't expect kids to make allowance for light construction of a machine - "how much can this baby take?" is probably the operating maxim of many of our secondary school woodies ! We love 'em.
We also just landed an un-catalogued new machine from China which is a "light" heavy duty machine with a purposeful look about it. First impressions are good. If any-one is interested, I will be pleased to send details. On the floor for $995.
I am so pleased with the sale of a mortiser as it confirms that woodies still hang on to one of the best traditional joints for door and frame construction - even if they ain't sluggin' away with a hammer and chisel !
An opinion for Norfolk Island ? Go for SL-2500HB if the budget allows.

I'm presuming you all know that this thread was started on the 2st of March 2000