: I'm getting to the point where I have to start cutting mortises for my SOF.
: I'm not looking forward to cutting them by hand with a chisel, but I also
: don't want to spend the money on a dedicated mortiser. Has anyone used
: the mortising attachments for drill presses? I'm wondering if it's worth
: the investment (somewhere from $40 to $75).

Chris,

I haven't used a mortising attachment. Although you should use whatever gear that makes the job enjoyable for you, you really don't need furniture quality mortises. FWIW, I simply use a hand drill to drill three adjacent holes and then clean the waste with a chisel. If your chisel is sharp you might find this enjoyable and quite fast. You can leave the corners rounded if you wish.

The image below is of Maligiaq Padilla (the current kayaking champion of Greenland) drilling gunwale mortices. Although I make use of an angle gauge, Maligiaq does this work by eye. Maligiaq completed two kayaks during the three weeks that I visited Greenland last summer.

Greg Stamer