Thinking of buying a bench morticer

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Afon

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Now that I have used a bench morticer at school, I think I would like to add one to my home workshop. If buying new then the 16mm model with sliding table offered by several companies will just fit my budget, but which one to go for? The Lumberjack STM16 - 269.95, Charnworth W316 - 324.96, SIP 01944 - 373.10 and the BM16 used to be available from Record Power - 309.98 but is now discontinued. Toolsave who represent Lumberjack in the UK tell me that all these morticers are made by the same manufacturer iin China and simply painted different colours and labelled accordingly! I have no experience of any of these companies and wonder why the big price differential for the same tool. All above prices include free UK delivery. The Lumberjack and Charnworth have a 12 month RTB warranty and the SIP a 24 month RTB warranty. The Record Power came with a 60 month warranty, pity that is no more. Has anyone direct experience of dealing with these companies and could recommend one over the other in terms of support and quality control?
 
I personally wouldn’t bother with a bench top model at that price, they’re much cheaper secondhand and work just the same. If you’ve got the space you can pick up a nice Old Sedgwick 571 morticer for around the same price as one of those brand new bench models and will last you the rest of your life.
 
Don't forget the Rutlands and Axminster variants of the bench mounted machines. I have had the Rutlands version for a few years now and it has worked flawlessly. It was also the cheapest of this type so do consider it (especially when they have it on one of their offers).
 
I have cosidered a mortiser in the past but never got round to it. Now I have a Festool Domino and wouldn't even consider a mortiser. The Domino will do pretty much all that a mortiser will do and more besides. Yes, a mortiser will do bigger stuff but you can go pretty big with a Domino with a little ingenuity and making your own Domino tenons which is very easy, and the machine doesn't take up the bench or floor space that a mortiser does. OK, a Domono costs more but I reckon its worth it for the versatility. Just a thought.

Jim
 
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