How To Cut Mortises For Door Hinges With A Router

To carve out the mortise place a chisel into the outline grooves and tap the.

How to cut mortises for door hinges with a router.

So i turned to my router to cut flat bottomed mortises. Make a straight line perpendicular to the spine of the door by resting the set square in line with your mark. Repeat at the top edge of the door. The jig is clamped to the door and guides the router through the cut.

In fact for the technique you see here all it takes is a simple two part jig and an inexpensive router bit. Hinge mortises on a door are often cut by machine with a router and straight bit but you can cut mortises by hand using a hammer and chisel as well. Get the door hinge jig shown in this video through our l. Measure 6 inches from the top of the door with the tape measure and make a mark with your pencil.

First use a hinge to set the router bit s cutting depth photo below. Leah demonstrates how to use a router and jig to cut perfect door hinge mortises quickly and easily. Then align the support arm s bottom edge with the bottom edge of the door clamp it in place and rout the mortise as shown above. It clamps to your workbench and securing the workpieces in place only takes a second with a.

The bit i use for mortising is a short top bearing pattern bit. This mortising jig is the way to go. You can cut a hinge mortise with hand tools or a power tool. Turns out once the door is hung it lacks the 1 8 gap between it and the door jamb making it semi difficult to shut.

That doesn t mean you need a complicated jig or setup to rout hinge mortises. The hinge mortise allows the hinge to be mounted flush with the jamb and door so the door will close properly. To rout mating mortises in the cabinet clamp the jig s support arm to the face frame s stile see photo. To do a good job cutting mortises the chisel needs to be razor sharp.

To cut hinge. Lay the door on its side with the side that will receive the hinges facing upward. The power tool method uses a router and hinge mortising jig. Using a utility knife trace along the outline to create small groves then make a cut on the front or back side of the door indicating the mortise s depth.

The hand tool method requires just a utility knife a hammer or mallet and a sharp wood chisel. Mark the door for hinge positioning. I mistakenly assumed that having a mortise about 1 16 too deep would be no big deal.