Through mortises

[mo khan]

Hello all,

I stumbled upon a great idea to make through mortises using a hand held router so I thought I'd share it with the group! The problem with making through mortises with a hand held router is that you have to align the router with one face of the workpiece make a mortise about halfway through it using a straight cutting bit and then flip it over and repeat the process. I have found that a little bit of error creeps in when I flip the piece over and sometimes the mortises dont align exactly. To solve this, I make the first mortise as before- about halfway through the piece. Then I drill a hole in the centre of the mortise, smaller than the width of the mortise and all the way through. I make sure that the diameter of this hole is just bigger than my flush trimming bit( this is important). I then flip the piece over, remove the fence from my router and change the bit from a straight cutting bit to a flush trimming bit. I then insert the flush bit into the through hole I've made and using the mortise as a guide, I trim the bottom half of the mortise! Gives perfectly crisp through mortises every time.

[John Schaben]

HI - Good idea. They only thing that occurs to me is that could be hard on the router and the bit as you are taking the full cut all at once. Were I to do that on a regular basis, I think I would invest in one of these

[mo khan]

Hi John,

It is hard on the bit and I sometimes take the majority of the material out with a drill bit before routing. I've been thinking of investing in one of these upcut spiral bits, though.