# How to cut small, shallow mortise



## Syellin (Apr 21, 2015)

I need to cut a few small (3/4" x 3/4" x 1/2") mortises in the wide face of a board, to be used to register against another board that will have a matching floating tenon. How would you go about cutting this mortise? Too shallow for a mortising chisel. Would you just waste out the center with a drill and cut the corners with a chisel? I worry about a flat bottom as this is too small for a router plane to smooth it out. Any suggestions would be welcome.


----------



## wapakfred (Jul 29, 2011)

That;s the way I would do it (drill,out the waste, and square with a chisel). Flat bottoms aren't really too important, they do do anything for the holding power. I'd probably use a mortising chisel without the drill bit in it square the mortise up. That way I could clamp a cleat across the workpiece to register the chisel against and go from there.


----------



## Kazooman (Jan 20, 2013)

Plunge router and then square up the corners. Actually, do you really need square mortises for this job? Dowels would be easier to do.


----------



## Ghidrah (Jan 20, 2015)

I'd make a template I could clamp to the object then rout it out. Good for future projects. I agree flat bottoms aren't required for a solid joint. All the nooks and crannies give the excess glue somewhere to go.


----------



## pintodeluxe (Sep 12, 2010)

A mortise and tenon is a useful joint to make. Ever looked at a dedicated mortiser?


----------

