| Review by mgradwohl | posted 318 days ago | 1247 views | 0 times favorited | 4 comments |  |
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- . Hartville Tool Mortise Chisels and Bits
- Brand: . | Category: Hollow-Chisel Mortisers
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I recently ordered the set for my new Jet JFM-5. I am very disappointed and will be buying a higher quality bit set. I’ll keep these cheaper chisels for rough work. I’m sure they won’t last long.
You can find the link to the set here.
Pros:
1. Cheap
Cons:
1. This is a short set. This means that you’ll have to add your arbor extension to your mortiser.
2. Not sharp, so you’ll have to sharpen them.
3. Not ground to standard angle. I used the Lee Valley hones. And it took a lot of time (and took off a lot of iron) to for the diamond hones to change the angle.
4. They are coated in gunk (like a clear polymer)
5. They heat up and burn even with proper feeding and pressure (see images)
Overall, you get what you pay for. This was not the right set of chisels for my nice new mortiser.
I wonder if these chisels are better.
-Matt
4 comments so far
John Ormsby
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503 posts in 633 days
posted 317 days ago
Matt, The very best mortising chisel sets I have found are Forest But, they are expensive. They will cut perfect and clean mortises. I also have a large set of Japanese Mortising bits for a Makita portable electric beam mortiser. They also are quite good.
-- Oldworld, Fair Oaks, Ca
adam77
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24 posts in 373 days
posted 317 days ago
I have the same mortiser and I purchased two of the jet bits with machine. They are like razors. I am very happy with them. They are twice the price of the ones you are looking at though.
jcees
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552 posts in 695 days
posted 316 days ago
Caveat emptor, baby! Cheap is CHEAP and there is NEVER any way around it unless you happen upon an estate sale and get good ones on-the-cheap. But to expect to get superior performance from a set from a retailer is foolhardy. But then again, you understand that now.
A decent education is always expensive.
Always,
J.C.
-- "Imagination is more important than knowledge" -- Albert Einstein
mgradwohl
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190 posts in 709 days
posted 316 days ago
Yes, jcees caveat emptor.
Of course I bought the cheap bits after reading the post in this topic that recommended the chisels based on a test in Woodworking Magazine Issue #7.
From that post
”I can’t speak for them personally (I just ordered them today). But this really cheap set of chisels and bits from Hartville tool tested out very well in that article, given that you’re willing to spend some time sharpening before use. This boxed set of 4 is on sale for $25 right now.”
Beware of good deals and also beware of crappy recommendations…
Oh, and remember lots of us did get a really good (CHEAP) deal on that Jet JFM-5 ($380 delivered). That’s why I bought these chisels in the first place. So sometimes cheap isn’t foolhardy, sometimes it’s smart shopping.