Mortiser Recommendation

[AHill]

I'll start the war and recommend a Festool Domino. Yes, it's not traditional mortises, but it's fast and deadly accurate. Unless you're wanting through mortises, the Festool can't be beat for speed and ease of use. Compared to other floor standing mortisers, it's also cheaper. It's not often you can say that about Festool products.

[frigator]

Yeah you can get into some long discussions about the pros and cons of the domino. I'm still learning on it and it is a unique machine. I still can't believe I spent that much money on it though. It cost as much as my tablesaw.

I'm with you John. The router is the way to go. I still have those mortising chisels sitting in my tool chest and They haven't been used in probably 15 years. With the Leigh you only have one set up that cuts both the mortise and the tenon so you really don't save much time by going with loose tenons. Rather than going with the mortiser I would go with a horizontal router like you have, the Leigh, or the domino. You can buy a used leigh now for 50% of the new cost as everybody is selling them because They now use the domino.

[KC]

I had a JET benchtop and never had any trouble with it.  Maybe I was lucky.  Chisels had to be sharp.

That said, I upgraded to a Powermatic floor model because it had the sliding/adjustable table.  Other than that (which is sweet), I don't know that it cuts mortises any better than the other one.

[jteneyck]

Yeah you can get into some long discussions about the pros and cons of the domino. I'm still learning on it and it is a unique machine. I still can't believe I spent that much money on it though. It cost as much as my tablesaw.

I'm with you John. The router is the way to go. I still have those mortising chisels sitting in my tool chest and They haven't been used in probably 15 years. With the Leigh you only have one set up that cuts both the mortise and the tenon so you really don't save much time by going with loose tenons. Rather than going with the mortiser I would go with a horizontal router like you have, the Leigh, or the domino. You can buy a used leigh now for 50% of the new cost as everybody is selling them because They now use the domino.

Like everything Leigh, the FMT is beautifully made, but it only does two things.  I makes mortises and it makes tenons.  But try to put a tenon on even a 5 foot long piece of stock and you will find yourself figuring out where to mount the thing and probably end up standing on a ladder.  Not everyone has sold their FMT's in favor of a Domino.  A few have moved on to a horizontal router mortiser instead. 

I'm not advocating the horizontal router mortiser as the best and only joinery machine you will ever want or need.  There is a place for the Domino and Kreg Pocket Hole Jig, dado blade on the TS, etc.  What I am saying is that it offers a tremendous amount of versatility and capability, it is extremely fast, easy, and safe to use, and it can be built or purchased for less than any alternative.  Accuracy is built into the machine - lay the stock on the table, mill the mortise, do the same with the next piece, and the joint will line up with perfect registration.  You don't even have to center the mortises.  One joint or a hundred, you set up the machine once, mill away, and they will all be identical and interchangeable.  It couldn't be any simpler.  Or cut sliding dovetails, or dados, or rabbets, or raised panels, or dowel holes. 

John

[Curlycherry]

I am one of those guys that has put long pieces (bed rails) into my FMT by putting the jig on my railing of my deck, and holding the pieces outside of the railing.  I have access to a horizontal mortiser and it failed on the bed rail projects because there was too much mass to move it accurately. Now I would just toss some Dominos in the rails and head/foot boards and be done in under a minute. For certain pieces that are big, moving the piece during cutting is very hard to do and so moving the tool makes it easier.

[Huxleywood]

I'll start the war and recommend a Festool Domino.  Yes, it's not traditional mortises, but it's fast and deadly accurate.  Unless you're wanting through mortises, the Festool can't be beat for speed and ease of use.  Compared to other floor standing mortisers, it's also cheaper.  It's not often you can say that about Festool products.

If a person's only concern is floating tenon joints there is nothing faster or more efficient than the Domino, and that includes the stand alone horizontal European mortisers.  That said it can't do everything, there are a huge number of ways to join wood and you have to decide what options you want and whether you want to spend the money to get the fastest most accurate tools for each job or want to spend less and use multi-function machines to give you many options in one.  I have used many options over the years and the Domino was/is a true game changer for me it is just simply more efficient than anything else for loose tenons, the setup is extremely quick and intuitive, the accuracy is amazing and the only draw back is price.  If the patents were to run out tomorrow I guarantee with cheaper options they would be in nearly every woodshop and they would be recommended in every thread by multiple people.  This isn't to say they are right for every joint as no single joining method is.

[jteneyck]

You just have to use a simple outboard support to handle long parts on the horizontal router mortiser; no different than what you would do to catch long parts coming off a TS, router table, jointer, planer, or most other machines where the work piece exceeds the ability of the machine to support it alone.  Here's a photo of the stiles I mortised for the arched French doors I'm building. 



This was with my slot mortiser, but it would be the same approach using the horizontal router mortiser, I just don't happen to have a picture. 

Can a Domino cut 2-3/4" deep?  A slot mortiser can.  A horizontal router mortiser can.  

John

[Huxleywood]

 

Can a Domino cut 2-3/4" deep?  A slot mortiser can.  A horizontal router mortiser can.  

John

Yes, my 700 can.   Now the Felder horizontal mortiser I used to have would cut over 6" deep.

Again, the key is no single tool can do everything.  Some can do more functions, some have greater capacity and some are quicker and more efficient but not one is a true do-all.  One simply has to decide what they need and what their budget is and buy what works best for them and it will not be the same machine/tool for everyone.

[Curlycherry]

I wasn't putting the mortises on the sides of the bed rails like the in picture, I was putting them in the ends. That is where the problem came about because I needed to support the end so the board could move sideways, not lengthwise. I needed a bearing ball table that would allow that kind of movement which I did not have.

[jteneyck]

I wasn't putting the mortises on the sides of the bed rails like the in picture, I was putting them in the ends. That is where the problem came about because I needed to support the end so the board could move sideways, not lengthwise. I needed a bearing ball table that would allow that kind of movement which I did not have.

A simple roller stand works for an end cut just as well as it did in the picture shown.  It rolls in one direction and slides over the roller in the other.  Try it, you'll see. 

John