chopping a mortise
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- This topic has 8 replies, 5 voices, and was last updated 4 years, 6 months ago by
neil grayson.
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19 March 2019 at 7:16 pm #555616
HI,
Not sure if this is in the right forum or not but I can but try.
OK so I am slightly younger than Paul and the last real woodwork I did was at school a long time ago. I actually love it and now I am retired getting back into it.
I am building a Paul Sellers workbench and I am finding that as I chop the mortises the chisel ( Lidl prepared the Paul Sellers way) twists on me no matter how tightly I grip it.
Is it just me? Am I weak or could it be that the chisel bevel is slightly off and that’s the cause?
Any one else been through this or got any suggestions?
Neil19 March 2019 at 9:17 pm #555617Please ignore this. Although I searched for previous entries on mortises on the forum I found none. When I googled it tooke me to a page on this forum. Go Figure.
Anyway I have my answer.
19 March 2019 at 9:48 pm #555618With or without a honing guide, a skew bevel or edge easily occurs. You have probably noticed that as the edge is hammered down the bevel pushes the iron along the mortice breaking the “chop” free. A skew bevel will inevitably twist the chisel during that push, no matter what.
Being at best an acceptably mediocre woodworker, I find mortising easier with a guide and a flat side mortise chisel that required no preparation before use. Won’t work for mortices >½” though.
/Sven-Olof
PS
Sorry Neil, didn’t see your 2nd message before hitting submint-
This reply was modified 4 years, 6 months ago by
Sven-Olof Jansson. Reason: Addition
21 March 2019 at 10:49 am #555632If the chisel is not sharp enough, it will follow the path of least resistance. Pine in particular is far from isotropic.
21 March 2019 at 5:51 pm #555635Many thanks for the replies.
I will be checking all of them to try to better understand my technique.
23 March 2019 at 3:11 pm #555660“smaller bites”
That is a more practical answer than mine.
P. S. has an excellent video where he is chopping mortises behind a glass.
Capital video in my opinion.29 March 2019 at 4:52 pm #555704When I googled it tooke me to a page on this forum. Go Figure.
Anyway I have my answer.
Out of interest, what page did you find?
Mic
30 March 2019 at 9:23 pm #555707Sorry for the late reply. I had to find it again.
Here you go.
Neil
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