Hey group,

I am looking to purchase either a drill press and mortising kit or a
dedicated mortiser to help me out with my furniture-making ambitions. I
initially thought that the drill press and mortising kit would be the
way to go because it would be more versatile. Since I have a limited
tool-buying budget (If I still hope to buy lumber anyways), I thought it
would be a nice, cost-effective compromise. However, I have heard that
the mortising kit/drill press combo isn't entirely satisfactory for
cutting mortises on a regular basis. I've heard that the dedicated
mortiser (as one might guess) is more user-friendly and does a better
job overall. That said, I have a couple questions for the group:

1) What do you use your drill presses for in your shop? My reason for
initially leaning towards the drill press/mortise kit combination is, as
I mentioned, because of the ability to also use the drill press as a
drill press. However, the only uses I can come up with are to cut plugs
and possibly for spinning sanding drums (which, I'm told, is another job
they're not ideally suited for). I don't think I'd do either on a
regular basis.

2) If you've used a mortising kit, what were your impressions of the
quality of the job it did and its usability?

3) Considering the price of a delta bench-top drill press plus mortising
kit is about equal to the delta bench-top dedicated mortiser (including
4 bits and a few other handy gewgaws), which would you go for in my
position? Keep in mind that I already have a good hand-held drill that's
worked just fine for making holes up to this point. (I can even make the
holes end up passably straight most of the time!)

I guess the main thing I'm trying to assess is the real utility of
having a drill press, and whether it outweighs the advantages of going
for the dedicated mortiser. At this point I am leaning towards the
mortiser unless I hear some great reason to have a drill press instead.
Thank you all for your help!

Regards,
Adam Diehl