Noah B Woodworks

I’ve been inspired in the past by the Samurai Carpenter. His woodworking is inspired by Japanese architecture. His work is very clean and soulful. He’s got a mortising machine that he uses for a lot of his joinery. It makes sense that a machine that makes square holes would be very useful in the shop. I was thinking you could use this for all sorts of applications. If needing to fasten two boards together, drill 2 holes and run a squared piece of timber, almost like a bolt, through them and glue it together. Seems like a person could make sturdier objects this way.

There are quite a few mortising machines on Facebook marketplace for cheap. $200-$300 is a lot to spend on something that can be cut by hand, but the speed and precision might just be worth it. It’s one of those things that I’m not sure how much I’ll use it until I have it. My guess is it is the absolute best for making small shelves and small boxes. To be honest, anything rectangular or square in shape it could be useful for.

Here I am, convincing myself to buy yet another tool, one I’ve had my eye on for a while. I am utterly hopeless in my attempt to keep my money, but this one might be worth it. Joinery can be tricky at times so if I were to pair the mortising machine with a router I feel like I’d have a fighting chance at making some really cool objects. Then when you add the CNC into the mix for decorative inlays, we might be cooking with gas. Its decided. I’m going to put in a bid on a mortising machine today, and figure out the rest later.