Mortising with a Router

If you are talking about the Mortising Jig in Shopnotes Issue 90 I made that jig, and have used the jig on two tables so far and it keeps getting better.

-- http://ye-olde-cabinet-shoppe.com/

Obi had a design that he used, maybe it was from ShopNotes. Anyway, he liked the jig, and did what he needed.

All the videos I have seen, articles I read, say how fast and easy it is to make a mortise with a router. I plan on trying it soon, as the drill and chisel method have not yielded the quality I want in my joinery.

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

See, we were posting at the same time.

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

JP,

I have a Delta mortising attachment for my drill press. I haven’t had any problems with it. The only thing I don’t like is that It isn’t a dedicated mortising machine so I have to remove the attachment when I need to drill holes. I suppose you’d have to so the same thing with a router.

I’ve done mortises with the router as well and like that method too. I would look into using a spiral bit so the saw dust is ejected out of the hole you’re making.

-- There are three types of people in the world, those who can count and those who can't!

I only use this router for this jig… Here’s the actual jig, and here is the actual mortises
and this was the last picture of the coffee table

-- http://ye-olde-cabinet-shoppe.com/

That’s the jig I was talking about, and if it’s good enough for Obi then it’s good enough for me.

Obi…. nice shades/safety glasses.

BB, I found a 3 bit set of spiral upcut bits from MLCS on Amazon. It’s a $70 set of bits on sale for $50. I think I’m going to give that a shot.

-- JP, Shelbyville, KY

Those mortises look great Obi.

JP - you can order directly from MLCS as well, and get the same prices usually. Check out their site – MLCS Woodworking.

If you look on Amazon, I think you can find Mortise machines are not that expensive. either.

-- Bill, Turlock California, http://www.brookswoodworks.com

Amazon has the Delta (ranked #1) for about $250 and the 3-bit set was around $40.00

-- http://ye-olde-cabinet-shoppe.com/

Here is the set from MLCS. You’re correct, Bill. They have the same price as Amazon.

-- JP, Shelbyville, KY

I haven’t done much in the way of mortising yet, but I had to knock out 8 identically placed recesses for my removable stair rail with the Festool MFS and I’m no longer scared of mortises. The only difference between my recesses and a mortise was depth. I’ll probably try the MFS first when I do mortises (someone stop me before I enter the side table challenge…). That’d solve both the clamping and the length of the cut issue.

But that’s not a cheap option.

I don’t know what other routers have, but Obi’s Shop Notes mortising jig looks like what’d happen if I got a second Festool edge guide for my router, so you might check to see if the rail spacing on your router matches Festool’s or if you can build something that clips on to your router rails, if clamping something on to the router rail slots would be a faster option than changing out a base plate (I’m not sure it is, but something about diddling with those little screws feels slow).

-- Dan Lyke, Petaluma California, http://www.flutterby.net/User:DanLyke

I made a jig for mortising that is a box with only three sides. I put the piece in the box and would shim it so it doesn’t move. I use an edge guide on the router.

BUT, I really like the jig Obi uses. I am going to make one. It looks like an easy answer.

Someday in the future I may get the Festool Domino and won’t need a jig.

-- Fred Childs, Pasadena, CA - - - Law of the Workshop: Any tool, when dropped, will roll to the least accessible corner.

Fred – I think most of us would like to have the Domino in our shops. It sure does look like it would make life easy. I’ve liked Obi’s jig since I found the plan for it online. I’m glad he was able to give me a good review. If you build one let me know how you like it, and I will do the same.

-- JP, Shelbyville, KY

Have you been over to www.eaglelakewoodworking.com?
He has a motorized router lift setup that is not expensive to make and seems to work great. I’m thinking of adapting my router to do that.
Lee

-- No piece is cut too short. It was meant for a smaller project.

I just watched that video and it didnt look that simple to me. Mine sits on top of the piece, I clamp the piece so it doesn’t move and then move the router. So far I’ve yet to see a simpler method.

-- http://ye-olde-cabinet-shoppe.com/

I’ve mentioned the Steel City mortiser once before. This is a relatively new company of woodworkers building tools for woodworkers. This mortiser is, of course, dedicated to it’s purpose. It is precise and easy to use. I have been just thrilled since I purchased it several months ago.
www.steelcitytoolworks.com

Bruce

-- RusticBru of Utah, www.aspenlogik.com

OK, I’ll have to build a decent mortise jig as well. I just finished 16 big deep mortises for a workbench using the drill and chisel method. I’ve only got a set of Craftsman chisels which I put good edges on, and as such it was a lot of work. A decent jig could have saved me a lot of time and probably made cleaner mortises.

Now, are we gonna talk tenoning jigs too? When you make mortises with a router jig to you sqaure the ends up with a chisel or do you have some method of rounding the shoulders of the tenon?

Here are a couple of pics of the simple jig I use. First pic
Second pic

I’m not sure how that’s going to work out because the method of posting links on here is different from anything else I’ve ever used.

Anyway, I use the edge guide for the router. I screwed a scrap piece of hardwood to the edge guide so I would have nice square ends to work against the stops. I screw a different length stop to the right end of the jig for different length mortises.

I use the table saw for doing the tenons. I have a tenoning jig for cutting the cheeks, but if the tenons are short I just use the mitre guage and a rip blade and nibble the cheeks off.

I round over the edges of the tenons rather than trying to square up the mortises. Once you glue it all together nobody knows or cares what shape they are. :)

Thanks for looking (if the links to the pics worked).

...ken…

How do you round over the tenons? By the way, the links to your pictures work fine.

-- JP, Shelbyville, KY

You can put pictures in line using the Insert Image button in the reply box.

I just leave the last URL blank unless I want to link to a page somewhere.

To get the picture’s URL in Internet Explorer, I right click the image and select properties. The url is displayed on the properties page and I highlight it. Control-C to copy and then back to LJ. to paste it into the dialog box.

-- We must guard our enthusiasm as we would our life - James Krenov

I use a chisel to round the shoulders on the tenons.

-- http://ye-olde-cabinet-shoppe.com/

Sounds a lot easier than squaring up the mortises with a chisel.

-- JP, Shelbyville, KY

You are correct on that JP.

-- Karson Southern Delaware karson_morrison@bigfoot.com

I recently had the pleasure of reviewing and making a video for the MLCS horizontal router table. In this video, I show how to make Mortises and Tenons easily on this machine. Also covered in the video is raised panels, crown molding and custom molding.

Give it a look and let me know what you think.
http://www.EagleLakeWoodworking.com/index.htm?mlcs.htm

Thanks,
John

-- John Nixon - Buffalo, NY - www.EagleLakeWoodworking.com