Tuesday, 29 January 2013
"Best" way to make mortises?
I make a lot of Arts & Crafts style furniture as you may have guessed by my pseudonym. I have been using a Jet bench top mortiser that has been okay, but the hold down is poor at best IMO. Today I tried to make some mortises 3/8” wide by 3”long by 1 3/8” deep. The hold down didn’t work at all even though I was only making a shallow cut, then trying to back the chisel out and repeating. I tightened the set screw as much as I could without breaking the allen wrench. I quickly tired of that game, so I drilled the mortises out with the DP, then back to the mortiser to clean them out. Still no joy in the shop. :(
Therefore, can anyone suggest a mortiser that has a great hold down? Which other options might you suggest? Chisel and mallet (I am too old to start using hand tools)? Router and jigs (a possibility)? Domino? Multi-router (home made variety)? Any other options I haven’t mentioned?
Thanks, in advance for any assistance.
Crafty Puzzles
Walnut Aggravation Board
So I made aggravation game boards for my kids and sisters kids this Christmas. This was the final one, the others I gave away… practiced on everyone else’s board so I worked out all the kinks by the time I got to the final board, so this one is perfectly flat works great. I used a template I made out of 1/2 plywood and used Rockler marble hole drill bit.
Crafty Puzzles