On 20 Oct 2006 18:52:01 -0700, wrote:

Does anyone combo a mortiser and a router to make a mortise? I ask
because, as much fun as my delta mortiser bits have turned out to be, I
think I'd have better luck (and less risk of breakage) if I cut the end
points and then zipped the board down between them.

Since I'll have to cut 12 mortises per column (48 total) I'm looking
for the least amount of work that is as reproduceable as possible.

Suggestions welcome (part of the wine rack posts I've made in the
past).

I do it differently than the other posts in this particular thread,
and it may be helpful to you (or not.)

I usually carefully lay out the mortises with a square and a pencil,
then make the center line of the area to be removed, and mark it at
1/2 of the total width from each end, with several marks in between
the two. I whack each of the marks with a nail set to insure that the
drill bit seats properly, then drill several holes with a forsner bit
to the desired depth.

After you've got most of the material removed, it's very easy to clean
up the leftover bits in the corners and on the edges of the mortise
with a chisel.

The benefit to this is that it makes cutting the tenons on the table
saw simpler, and there's no need to round off the corners like you
would with the router method.

It is fast? Not at first, no. But I made a park bench a year or two
ago with 96 hand-cut mortises using this technique, and after the
first couple, the rest got easier and easier until it now it doesn't
take signifigantly longer to cut them by hand then it would to set up
and use a dedicated mortising machine.