By Tim Johnson and Dave Olson
For $250 and half an hour's worth of simple improvements, you can cut precise mortises all day.
Mortising machines first answered the prayers of mortise-cutting woodworkers over 120 years ago. Today you can buy a miniaturized descendant of those old-timers. Though they're not the only powered option you have for mortising these days, their square mortises are the perfect match for tablesawn tenons.
We tested eight benchtop machines designed to cut mortises up to 1/2-in. wide. They're similar in size and capacity, and all but one sell for less than $250. They all use the same specialized chisels and drill bits. The machines are easy to set up and ready to cut mortises within 20 minutes. After our own testing, we invited a group of professional and amateur woodworkers to try out the machines as well. All together, we cut hundreds of mortises with each machine, using 1/4-in. to 1/2-in. chisel sets, in mahogany, red oak and maple.
