Jim...

Thank you for your reply. My delay in responding is due to a wicked head cold.

I can't seem to find any info on the Makita chisel mortiser. My web searches find chain mortisers and bench top chisel mortisers! Can you point me in the right direction?

I used a Mafel for a couple mortisers at Heartwood School. Very nice tool...but costs more than I should spend for a tool that will get ocassional use. One of the Heartwood instructors suggested that a chisel mortiser might be more useful for projects other than large timberframes than a chain mortiser.

BTW, I've heard comments that the Makita chain mortiser is not the smoothest in the world and wears out the user fast. Also heard it will kick back a moderate amount of time. How true is all these?

Joel