Massive Monster Mortiser. The Powermatic 400 hollow chisel mortiser

Retired shop teacher here: we generally moved away from "craftsmanship" and toward "manufacturing" in the 80's and 90's sidelining the old mortisers. Sad but true. Then we moved away from manufacturing and toward "technology" in the 21st century. We lost a lot of ground trying to stay relevant and keep our programs open. NOT saying it was a good direction, just saying it was what it was. So proud of guys like Mike.

What i love about these old tools is that they are built to last

Wish more tools and general items were built to last. Really like what you are doing, thank you.

I enjoy your restorations, People just don't understand how much better the old cast American machinery really is, I recently picked up an Oliver 133bd jointer, it was in pieces when I got it, cleaned it painted it and when I put it back together, the beds were dead flat, this thing was made in 1954 and its still dead on today, no shimming or tweaking it at all I have had 2 people ask me to help them with their brand new asian jointers, and one I couldn't for the life of me get right the other one took 6 hours of fussing with it to get it to be functional. It's so sad so many great companies that made amazing machines are now gone, at least we can still get the great stuff that was made years ago.

Very cool! I've seen this type of tool in a woodshop at a capentry school once, where I was taking a woodworking class. The teacher said: Hey, wanna see a drill that makes square holes?

I'm convinced that there's no nicer mortiser on earth after you gave this bad boy the Medium Density Farrington treatment. Merry Christmas!

Yes, you are right. Such old equipment are part of our culture. I also feel great happiness when disassembling them an see how clever they did construction without computer and software only by their mind Thank you for the video. Thomas

If I were to try to do that kind of a job, I can guarantee two outcomes: 1) I would not be able to get everything back together correctly, regardless of how careful I was (even making a video of the disassembly would not be enough), and 2) I would drop one of those big heavy pieces on my foot. Or if I was fortunate, said piece would fall directly to the floor, and then break. But the proprietor here has none of my disastrous predilections. Well done, sir.

Great video. Great tool! The lack of wood shop and metal shop courses in schools is sad.

We had one of these in our woodshop circa 1980, and it was second hand and refurbished then ! Tech tip ... drill your end holes (top and bottom of mortise) first, then take out the wood between them .... the chisel tends to flex when only one side is rubbing against wood giving a taper to the mortise. Enjoy !!

That bent bolt to hold the rear enclosure is so intriguing.

That's the way tools should be made! What a beast nice job!

Nice one Mike history back in the future the old ones are the best.

That was terrific, Michael! Thanks for believing in Education.

The shop apprentice is getting big!!

That orange is actually a signature color primer that Powermatic used in the "Olden Days".

Thankyou for all your time putting these videos together

Blue raspberry grease is THEE absolute best flavor of grease!!

The shop apprentice is getting so big!

It is a real pleasure to see you restoring those beautiful engineered machines. Also: thank you for the song recommendation. As you said, fits proper for our current time. All the best from Austria.