How To Cut Mortises For Door Hinge With A Router

Repeat at the top edge of the door.

How to cut mortises for door hinge with a router.

Then grab a utility knife and extend the blade to no more than 25 in 0 64 cm. How to cut mortises accurately with a hand held router a straight bit a template guide and a few scraps. Get the door hinge jig shown in this video through our l. I use a 1 4 straight bit inside a standard guide collar for this task.

The power tool method uses a router and hinge mortising jig. You can cut a hinge mortise with hand tools or a power tool. The jig is clamped to the door and guides the router through the cut. Now clamp one part of the jig so the inside edge is right on this line.

Leah demonstrates how to use a router and jig to cut perfect door hinge mortises quickly and easily. The hand tool method requires just a utility knife a hammer or mallet and a sharp wood chisel. 2 cutting hinge mortises making a door hinge mortise can be done with a chisel but it s more efficient with a standard trim router. A plunge router is one of the best choices because you can accurately control the depth of cut and the machine delivers clean and precise results.

With this setup hinge mortising becomes a standard template routing operation. First use a hinge to set the router bit s cutting depth photo below. There are many ways to make mortises and just about as many tool options. Score the outline with a utility knife.

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. The first step in the process of making the hinge mortise is to mark the location of one end of the hinge mortise. Once you re happy with the outline remove your hinge from the door. When routing the mortises this way you ll cut them to match half the thickness of the hinge barrel.

I mistakenly assumed that having a mortise about 1 16 too deep would be no big deal.