Fisch Hollow Mortise Chisel Set (1/4") - Kit Includes Premium Mortiser and Bit, Fits All Mortising Machines and Drill Press Attachments - Crafted from Quality Tool Steel - FSG-096177 - Made in Austria

This is a super high quality tool that does a great job. I am new to machine mortising so I may be wrong about what the average tool is. This is extremely hard metal and the bit makes a huge racket when not engaged in the material. I tried dry lube and Moly Mist, and it helped a little but not much. I wanted a 5/8" mortice even though it is possible to mortise with a small bit to 5/8 using multiple passes primarily because the reason I got a mortise machine was to make my job easier. The 5/8 allows me to make square dowels to hang things on in one motion. I am making gun racks using exotic hardwoods like ebony and zebra wood, and having a flat smooth peg makes more sense and is a better use of materials. Plus, I don't have a lathe, so there is that. Setup and depth of the inner bit is a big deal in how much force it takes to use this, but this is a big bit and you better have some lead in your trousers to use it on hardwood.

I have bought loved many Fisch brand bra over the years so I figured their mortise chisel bits would be just as good. I bought one and the bit snapped within a week boring through African mahogany, which is a medium density hardwood. I bought 2 more so I’d have a replacement and a backup, the chisel on the second one broke (it’s cast metal), then another bit snapped off. The same thing happened with the third one, so I’m moving on to a different brand.

This was my first mortising chisel and the overall quality seems to be great. After many hours of researching both mortising machines and chisels. I felt that I made a good choice on both. I purchased a power magic bench mortiser, this chisel and the matching set of 4 (1/4” - 1/2”). First thing I did was lightly hone the inside with a fine cone and hone the outside just to as sharp of an edge as I could. The square sides were sharp enough to start cutting into my fingers as I was finishing up with a 6000 grit water stone. The points were extremely sharp as well as the rest of the cutting edges. I felt very confident with how sharp I was able to get the chisel. After cutting a few test cuts that had horrible tear out even with a fresh backer on each cut and nearly 50 plunges in 1 3/4” square cherry (half way from each side), I was quite disappointed in the cut quality. The cuts looked like I took a chisel and ran the sharp edge against a coarse high speed stone. The wood was chunked up on every cut. I tried adjusting everything, the drill to chisel spacing, the feed rate/pressure, different lubes including dry and wet. I made sure the chips were ejecting and not clogging up.No problems out of the 4 piece set at all. I sharpened the same and was easily able to get perfect mortises on the first plunge through the last.

This is my second Fisch bit. I use them in a Powermatic benchtop mortising machine. I like the auger and the chisel. Very sharp. Presumably machined well. However, with both, I had to spend time rubbing the shaft of the chisel with sandpaper to get them to fit in the Powermatic collet. It's a nuisance, but not a big enough deal to send them back and look elsewhere. I bought the first one at my local Woodcraft and the second one on Amazon. Not sure whether the bit is too big, or the collet is too small.

If you need to make perfect mortises you'll need (1) a good mortiser and (2) GREAT Chisels - these are just that, super sharp right out of the box and work flawlessly.

Good luck finding a mortise machine that it will fit in. Very poor description of the product and size. Even the woodworking store that we buy from didn't know where I could get a mortise machine that would fit it. I ended up using my 1/2" bit 4 times per hole and then driving the 1" mortise bit through with a hammer.

I thought that paying a premium price - $50! - would bring me a great Mortise Chisel and Bit. (I didn't order a complete set so that I could test one first.) I also thought that Austrian engineering would help. But, alas, it was, at best, slightly below average.There were burrs everywhere: On the drill bit itself, on the cutting edge of the chisel, and even on the chip ejection area so that the chips catch on their way out.The "polish" on the chisel was fair. Better than cheap ones but not even at all.After some tuning up it worked well. But the initial quality was disappointing.

The chisel and bit set cuts fairly well, but I'm looking for an upgrade. The shank of the 1/4" bit is rather short, just over 6", requiring the use of a chuck extension on my Powermatic PM 701 mortiser. Also, the bit tends to deflect slightly when first entering the wood, causing the edge to protrude slightly outside the perimeter of the chisel and resulting in a slight rounded "divot" along the edge of mortises. That's not a problem for blind mortises, but it is for through mortises in which the mortise edges aren't covered by the tenon shoulders.