# Review of the Harbor Frieght/Central Machine Mortising Tool



## dbhost

I own this mortiser and noticed the same things you did…

#1. You need a mortise chisel sharpening set. Chances are the chisels aren't as sharp as they should be.

#2. Totally agree on the fence. That is why I built a custom table for it with T tracks for hold downs. You can see it at http://lumberjocks.com/projects/52819

#3. You can do one of 3 things about the handle. 1. Adjust the length of the handle through the lock down piece so that at the bottom of its travel it will clear your bench. This reduces your mechanical advantage of the longer lever, but keeps you from hitting the bench. Plus you end up with a short handle-ish on the other side. 2. Adjust the handle and cut off the excess. Same issue as above, but you can no longer go back. Bad idea. and 3. Mount the mortiser on the far right edge of your bench so that the travel of the handle does not hit the bench.

I have seen other mortisers, most notably a Delta, and Grizzly models that do the same thing with the handle. The biggest non universal to mortising machines issue I have found with this machine is the fence. The fence / hold down design on these is weak compared to others. But easy to overcome.


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## woodjunkie

how much did you pay for it


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## ChuckC

I looked at this one a year ago and really wanted to like it. Everything about it felt cheap and I just didn't want to deal with it. I don't cut mortises every day but I don't want to be pissed off every time I do so I went with the PM 701 and PM chisels. Using it is a joy. I hope it works out for you.


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## jerrells

Woodjunkie - I paid 189 + tax

ChuckC - I will decide in about a week if this is a keeper


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## dbhost

Wow… I know I got lucky. I swapped a curb found old Delta 10" miter saw that needed some cleaning and a new blade for mine, it was NIB when I got it…

The current sale price is $189.99, before coupons, and there are plenty of 25% off coupons floating around out there. I used 2 of them yesterday…

Had you used the coupon, you could have saved $47.59 on that thing putting the total pre-tax cost at $142.50


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## Purrmaster

I almost got this tool but after fiddling with it in the store I passed. Mostly because of the table. I hope it works out for you.

dbhost is right: You'll want to pick up some sharpening cones for the chisels. You'll also want to flatten the backs on all 4 sides of the chisels.

Be careful with the cones, especially the finer cone. I destroyed my finer cone in about 10 seconds by using an electric drill and pushing down on the cone. I figured since they had diamond grit on them I'd be ok. I was wrong.


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## bigblockyeti

jerrells, did you end up keeping the mortise? Just saw one on Craigslist for $30 with no chisels and wanted to know if you were able to sharpen yours to work better or not?


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## MrRon

I have that same mortiser. I diamond honed the chisels and they are now very sharp. I bought a cross slide vise at HF and adapted it to the mortiser, eliminating the existing hold down device. The whole thing works pretty good.
BTW, you mentiomed 1/8" mortises???? The chisels on mine are 1/4", 3/8" and 1/2".


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## AlanJ44

Just found me one on the HFT clearance shelf for $75, no 20% off due to mark down.
The Pelham, Alabama store had three, now two.
Might check or ask at our local store as this looked like a discontinued SKU as it's no longer on the web site.
For the price I'm thinking a good test to see if an upgrade in the future is warranted.


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