# Cool Antique Mortiser



## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

Thought you'd all get a charge over seeing this relic from old times: http://winnipeg.kijiji.ca/c-buy-and-sell-tools-equipment-Antique-James-Smart-Mortiser-Tool-Foot-Powered-Offers-W0QQAdIdZ199060815
Imagine spending 35 years with your feet wearing a hole in the floor, standing behind this unit for the duration of your woodworking career!


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## reggiek (Jun 12, 2009)

Probably the guy felt lucky to be able to use the tool, otherwise he would have to drill and chisel by hand - that would be with a hand turned drill - not alot of fun in hardwood. It is amazing how far we have come in such a short time….to think that now the mortisers are high powered, computer managed, laser guided - almost mistake free….and this all started with this simple machine. Thanks for sharing PK.


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## Sawkerf (Dec 31, 2009)

Tools like that always make me wonder about some woodworkers fascination with using hand tools for everything.

As long as people have been making furniture, they've jumped on every labor saving gadget that came along that would improve their productivity or cut the labor. - lol


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## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

True, *Reggie*, at some point in history, this contraption WAS state-of-the-art. and here it is, barely known by anyone… * Sawkerf*: true, enough, but given enough time, most woodworkers would prefer to come full-circle, having eventually getting tired of producing machine-built projects and crafting items straight from the heart instead. It IS quite a feeling; giving somebody a hand-crafted item with hand-cut dovetails and a surface scraped to glass-smooth. Just an alternative viewpoint. Over a lifetime, though, I've produced a lot more stuff with my shop tools, than if I worked entirely off the grid all my life. With age, you just get that itch to create without the use of power equipment. I'm in that hand-tool rediscovery phase myself these days.


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## SnowyRiver (Nov 14, 2008)

I saw one of these (different make) the other day at an antique shop. A guy there has a booth with hundreds of restored old tools….he is big into hand planes….he had restored the mortiser…very neat…he was asking $2800 for it.


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## 33706 (Mar 5, 2008)

Wow, *Snowy*! So… $150 CDN isn't a bad price? Hmmm. maybe I should scoop it and put it on OWWM classifieds???


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## millforge (Sep 3, 2010)

That one's sold now, but $150 is about right. And the bottomfeeders on OWWM (I'm proud to include myself in that category) would think even that's a lot of money. I think $2800 would be a new world record, even for a Steptoe & McFarlane.

And by the way, I *have* used one of those for 30 years, but not every day, just when i'm lucky enough to be mortising.

Art


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