Narex going back. Now what for mortisers?

[matthewwh]

Hi Adrian,

If you want to have a go with one of ours drop me a PM and I'll send you one on approval.

They've got the steel and the geometry absolutely spot on, I've yet to find any other reasonably priced mortice chisel that comes close. If you want to look at what is possible if you invest a little more we can do that too.

 

[Jelly]

Well, you can't say much better than that as far as confidence in the quality of your products goes!

I'm firmly in the OBM camp, certainly for deep mortices; not that I could afford a new one...

 

[AJB Temple]

Thanks Matthew - that is a kind offer. I will take you up on it.

Just as an experiment, I did also have a hunt around eBay and bought a job lot of a dozen old chisels, including several mortice chisels, for £16 plus £3.99 postage. They have yet to turn up, so god knows what they will be like. I also bought over the weekend an old but pristine (so they say) Stanley No 6 plane for £25 as well. Complete with box.

Second hand purchases are almost zero risk as you can easily move them on again. I prefer new, good quality tools though as I don't really have time to refurbish the old stuff. I can get my brother to flatten planes etc as he has access to proper engineering equipment, but it costs me a lot in wine.

 

[AJB Temple]

Well blow me down! Two minutes after I wrote the above, a delivery guy turned up with the plane. It is in fact a No 5 Stanley Bailey and completely immaculate. All five of the screw heads are in good nick, blade looks OK but I will replace it probably, sole is in excellent condition. Handles are wood and look as if they have been refinished. Definitely worth £25.

 

[AJB Temple]

Re the bench mortiser - talks BM101. I don't do enough mortising to make a machine worthwhile. I quite like hand work anyway. Plus my wife thinks I have got too much stuff already. She is wrong obviously, but additions need to be discreet.