I have the General morticer, and it was a good move up from the Delta
bench top that I had. I used the origional chisels that came with the
Delta for 10 years, and they still cut fine. I probably cut 1,000 plus
mortices. I use the 3/8 chisel only, and use it for m & t for my
tables. For some reason, the first plunge always seems to take the most
force, but the next one is a lot easier. If it is requiring a lot of
force, I will stop, and move to the next cut, then back to the first
cut, moving back and forth until I hit bottom. I also make one cut at
each end of the mortice, and then take out the middle. I noticed that
If I took out only about a 3/16 cut each time, that there was a
noticable deflection in the chisel as I cut, so now, it is a full 3/8
cut each time, then backtrack 1/2 cut to remove most of that small
piece that is left between the chisel corner and the bit.
robo hippy