Thread: Improving mortise chopping efficiency

The mortise chisel is made like this for good reason .

Pounding the absolute C##P out of it .

Vintage HALE BROS 9/16" MORTISE CHISEL Old Antique Hand W^D Tool #610 | eBay




See this for Maul making . My one is larger again .

YouTube

As most others, for mortises this large i'd go with a hollow chisel mortiser or router to get rid of the worst of the waste or double mortise/tenon. Then clean up the ends with a chisel or round over the tenons.

As for mortising in general, a mortise chisel is a great tool when you're using it correctly. The japanese commonly use a helpful tool called an oilpot, also known as Aburatsubo. You dip the chisel edge into the oil pot that contains a bit of cotton material that is lightly soaked in an oil like camelia or similar. It is used to reduce friction and seems to make mortising more efficient. Mortice chisels need to be made and maintained accurate to ensure they mortise square.

The guys have already answered this question but i'll chip in anyway . I had to do a large number of 1.5" mortises up to 160mm deep and 240mm long recently. I used a large Woodowl auger bit to get rid of the bulk of the waste, then a router bit with a template to get a square shoulder part-depth (no bits long enough) and then finished with a 1.5" framing chisel. You could skip the router and just use the chisel but for 160mm mortises I was afraid I may have gone slightly out of square and it was also quicker using the router.

For smaller stuff I like to use a chisel mortiser with up to a 3/4" bit. Despite really enjoying hand tool woodworking I'm not a fan of hand-chopping mortises, particularly in Australian timbers! I'd definitely by using a drill to get rid of as much waste as possible first.

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Cheers, Dom

Thanks for the further information.

Rob, your list was spot on and exactly whta I was looking for. I can see why each point would make a contribution to better morticing. Can you post a picture of what you mean by a "maul"? I did a google search, but it seems to be a fairly generic term with no clear indication of what you are referring to. My only guess by your description is something like this:

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Dom and others that mentioned not chopping mortices with a chisel. I ended up using a router. It was a bit of a hack and while the result was great, I need to come up with a solution I feel more comfortable with. At this stage a hollow morticing machine is not on the cards, both for space and cost.

What I will do is get myself a propper morticing chisel to start with and take it from there. I think the next time I need to do massive joints, I will do a double mortice. Thoughts on a new Narex, or a used pigsticker style?

Also, I changed my super long mortices into non-through M&T joints, so that I could do them simply with a router. I will run a threaded rod through them to tie the stretchers to the legs. More details in my bench build thread (tomorrow, I'm too tired now).

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Kind regards,
Lance

Lance, I do love hand work, however there is a time and a place for it and for power tools. When working with hard West Australian timbers, a mortice chisel is really only viable for small stuff. If you can afford it, the Veritas mortice chisels in PM-V11 are superb. Actually, the A2 are bloody good as well.

I use the router jig (above) a good deal now. It is really a great design.

Regards from Perth

Derek

Lance


A maul is normally a timber "mallet" of some description. In it's most crude form it is a branch or small log. This is what I call a maul:

Maul 2.jpg

More information in this thread:

Billets Mauled by Bushie

There is some disagreement on exactly what constitutes a maul.

Regards
Paul

Originally Posted by derekcohen

I do love hand work, however there is a time and a place for it and for power tools.

I agree. As woodworking is my de-stressing activity, I find it's a matter of doing what brings me peace and allows me to recharge. My frustration with the router wasn't phylosophical, more that I didn't feel I had everything set up such that I had total control over what it was doing and where it was going (and that it sends chips EVERYWHERE). My action list with respects to the router is:
1) Sharpen the bit. It was leaving a fair amount of fuzzies and burn marks.
2) Add a strip of timber to the router fence. I found that it didn't want to slide nicely against the smooth planed edges of the stock. I even tried waxing the fence, but that still didn't help. I think as it's only a press tool part with no finishing, a timber liner will make a difference.
3) Take a closer look at your jig. I like thhe simplistic yet versitile clamping system, and the rail along the top which I assume is for stops.

For those router advocates, which type bit do you use in your router? I have a small downcut bit that I have used for detail work, but boy does it pack the waste hard into the slot. With Tas Blackwood it was a real effort to get it out afterwards (digging it out with a chisel). I wonder about chipout with an upcut bit. I was using a straight bit over the last couple of days (the only reasonably large diameter bit I had), but necesitated a ramping cut to get to depth as it can't be plunged straight down.

Kind regards,
Lance

Me Wee Maul .

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Just sawed out of the heaviest bit of waste I had at the time . I don't use it on the end of chisels much . Specially mortises cause Ive got a top of the line Chain and chisel mortiser .

I use it a lot for shifting things into position during glue ups . Big mitred top ends and sides where the friction with joints and glue need fast persuasion to get into position .
When your putting on a 3M x 150 x 30 pair of sides to a top , there may be 12 biscuits with glue to each side and the side needs to be shifted 4mm along the edge fast , REAL FAST or the glue grabs . It needs to be hit on the end and its a mitred top part so its a sharp end as well . The mauls takes part of the damage caused . Same as it will with the mortise chisel so don't be precious about them . The table part is over size so the damage received to that gets cut off after the glue is dry .

You need something heavy with as much weight as you can swing with one arm comfortably .

Bigger jobs and you need a two handed maul . I have Ironbark bearers I pick up for that sort of thing .

Rob

I was just doing some big mortise and tenon work this week using chisel and chain on the MF Wadkin . 175 x 60 x 80 deep .
Clean true and fast . A mortise like that takes 10 minutes once its set up . You can see the two different tool marks across the bottom . The chisel's drill bit round marks going across each end and sides and the chain scoop marks can just be made out along the rest of the bottom .

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Id be asking someone local with such a machine to knock out the mortises and tenons if it were possible . Id do a set for a bench if asked, for a swap of something worth the time . That's My matching tenoner as well.


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Mortise and Tenon action video's

https://www.instagram.com/p/BlK7kTyjVGP/

https://www.instagram.com/p/BiFxfaVAiy9/

As a young fella, I used to help my Dad with hut repairs in the Alpine areas. Mortising machines and routers tended to be in short supply and the availability of power to operate them was a figment of ones imagination. When it came to mortising, the general rule was "The harder the wood the narrower the chisel." A half inch chisel will cut much more quickly than one double the width. A nice wide pairing chisel to clean down the sides and the job is done.