Trouble with a mortise

Sorry, made a comment about the wrong picture….
Doh!

• This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by Rowdy Whaleback.
• This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by Rowdy Whaleback.

Much of what has been said is accurate so I will be brief.

1) Pine is harder to chop because it crushes unless chisels are razor sharp. If you can’t shave hair on your arm, you are not getting sharp.

2) Get a couple of board feet of HARDwood and make some practice joints until you get reasonably consistent results. It’s not a chore, it’s fun because there’s no pressure like a project. Cherry, walnut, oak, maple, etc., or whatever hard hardwoods are local to you are good choices. Local = less expensive. Poplar is a hardwood, but too soft for what I’m suggesting.

3) Don’t think of wood as precious. You can always get more.

4) Find an experienced/good woodworker online, join a woodworking club/guild, go to a show, a living history museum, or take a class. Any of these will allow you to experience a chisel and plane that is truly sharp. You will realize your not even close and I think it will redefine sharp for you. You can hit the bullseye unless you know what it looks like.

5) Keep working on sharpening. Your oil stones could be glazed over and are not cutting. You may need to flatten them to refresh them. Invest in diamond stones if you can afford them. Worst case, get a piece of granite and flatten/refresh your stones with 60/80 grit sandpaper on the granite. I got a slab of granite from a local cabinetry store’s dumpster/bin for free. Be nice and they may be happy to let you take one home for free. If they seem hesitant offer them $10-$20USD.

6) Above all keep trying, practice, be patient, have fun, and remember we all started where you are. One day soon it will just click if you stick with it and then you will have a moment of elation and a lifetime of fulfillment.

You can put the arkansas stone to the diamond plate and get rid of the pitting.