I haven't done decent mortises. I wondered about using various equipment to make it an easier endeavor than mallet and chisel and your video popped up. Thank you for putting it up and explaining a good process for this, it's a huge help!
Thank you for your reply. Will check out the door builds. Unfortunately in the UK we are not allowed to use dadoe sets on table saws so will have to go with the standard blade. Great videos thank you for your time making them. I really enjoy them.
my first mortises were cut with a chisel. it took me 3 days to cut them all for my table. i used this method last week and it took me 11 minutes to cut all my mortises. thanks so much for this video!!
+Richard Wagner HAHA! There is a certain joy to cutting mortises by hand but when you have a lot of them to do it's hard to beat the speed of a router.
Dave Knecht This gets confusing. You'll want an upcut bit, which lifts the shavings up out of the slot. Since you are mounting the router upside down, an upcut bit pulls the shavings downwards!
Besides making this mortise method more accurate, stops also make it much safer. Also, to ensure that mortises are in precisely the same location on identical pieces (such as the stiles of a frame or door), you can use stop blocks to define BOTH ends of the mortise. (If necessary, you can add a longer auxiliary subfence on the router table in order to have enough length on either side of the bit to position the stops.) For a typical frame with mortises at both ends of the work piece (and width equal to that of the bit), you cut all mortises with the same reference face contacting the fence and make two stop set-ups: one for the mortise on each end of the work piece. If required, you can make additional set-up(s) for mid-rail(s).
It's more complicated than that. A down cut bit provides a cleaner cut at the surface, which is important for a mortise since that's where the fit should be tight. A downcut bit can also be more stable during a plunge cut. If you use an upcut bit, it will tend to pull the workpiece toward the router, which may be too grabby for precision plunge cutting and which may also make it more difficult to pull the workpiece back up when you are done cutting the mortise. The downcut bit will tend to push chips into the mortise, but those easily pop out when you are done.
Hi. Thanks for all your great videos. I was thinking whether or not to get a hollow chisel mortiser to build furniture but came across this video of yours. I cannot see a video on making the tenons though. Is there one? Regards Lee
I have several videos concerning the making of doors or cabinets in which I discuss the tenons. Unless you have a huge production run the easiest means is on a table saw and you can use either a regular blade or a dado blade . The stock is held against a miter gauge and registered against a scrap of wood clamped to the fence before the blade area. Check out some of the door videos.
With a drill press you could set up a fence and drill a series of holes in a line, then us a chisel to clean up the sides. It works, but it isn't much faster than using just a chisel. If you own a router you'd be much better off going that route for speed and accuracy.
This method I find very slow with deep mortises in very hard timber like I mostly use,for example recycled iron bark from here in Australia.With hard timber you can only take out a small amount of timber in depth at a time due to the stress on a router bit if it goes too deep,so I usually take only up to 15mm maximum out with each pass so the router height needs to be adjusted several times for a deep mortise and so slows things down.Nice vid though if you are using softwood.Cheers
True, hardwoods put greater stress on the tool. I still find this method faster than a dedicated morticer or the drill press method, though, even in difficult woods. It's important with hardwoods to have a powerful router (usually marketed as "3.5 horsepower" in the states) and high quality bits. The quality and sharpness of bits does vary a lot among manufacturers. And, using a spiral style bit as shown in the video is also helpful. I can typically remove more like 20mm of material in a single pass through a hardwood, although I may slow down my rate of feed.
enduringcharm I agree about the spiral bits being better. I do like to use the router table when I make smaller pieces of furniture out of recycled hoop pine or silky oak but still need to use a drill press with forstner bits for the very dense old hardwoods I use to make larger pieces due to the density of some of the timbers I use and the router table I find too awkward when working with lenghts 3ft and over.I am presently making some large window frames for my house I am building using 80 year old iron bark timber which is so hard It's almost like working with steel,all tools need to be so sharp or you just can't work it.
Kerrigan M I have intentions of making a companion video on that, but I haven't had time yet. There are lots of ways to make tenons, including by hand. Using a table saw is probably one of the most common methods though. There are also router jigs you can use. I've got to get to that video!
MrRichot I have a video coming up in the next week or so about making cabinet doors on a table saw. That video will also include information about tenons, so that should be of some help to you.
Mounted on a router table, gravity will do some of the work of chip removal. Also, there are differences in the cut. A downcut bit will leave a clean top edge, an upcut but will tend to leave a more ragged top edge.
It's an industry term. 5/4 stock refers to 1 and 1/4 inches, which actually measures 1 and 1/8 inches thick since you are buying it kiln dried. If I specified 12/4 stock I'd be looking for 3 inch thick boards, which would also measure a little less. Just to make things more confusing, most lumberyards and box stores these days don't carry anything above 5/4, or at least it will be a special order. So, we often turn to niche sawmills or other local providers. There, if you specify 12/4 you will typically get the full three inches since it is air dried.
I haven't done decent mortises. I wondered about using various equipment to make it an easier endeavor than mallet and chisel and your video popped up. Thank you for putting it up and explaining a good process for this, it's a huge help!
For speed and accuracy it's hard to beat a router table.
This video really helped me. Not only with the mortise part but also with understanding a router table in general. Thank you!
Thank you for your reply. Will check out the door builds. Unfortunately in the UK we are not allowed to use dadoe sets on table saws so will have to go with the standard blade. Great videos thank you for your time making them. I really enjoy them.
my first mortises were cut with a chisel. it took me 3 days to cut them all for my table. i used this method last week and it took me 11 minutes to cut all my mortises. thanks so much for this video!!
+Richard Wagner HAHA! There is a certain joy to cutting mortises by hand but when you have a lot of them to do it's hard to beat the speed of a router.
Its not hard, it's impossible
Unless you're Paul Bunyan.
Excellent video. Great work! Cant wait to go home and try!
What a great explainer you are!
Very clearly described. Are you using a spiral upcut or downcut bit, for those of us who are new to this?
Dave Knecht This gets confusing. You'll want an upcut bit, which lifts the shavings up out of the slot. Since you are mounting the router upside down, an upcut bit pulls the shavings downwards!
Thanks going to route some old cabinet doors so I can insert glass with this method
I use a stop block at the short end to speed up the process.
Paul Jalbert Good idea!
Besides making this mortise method more accurate, stops also make it much safer.
Also, to ensure that mortises are in precisely the same location on identical pieces (such as the stiles of a frame or door), you can use stop blocks to define BOTH ends of the mortise. (If necessary, you can add a longer auxiliary subfence on the router table in order to have enough length on either side of the bit to position the stops.) For a typical frame with mortises at both ends of the work piece (and width equal to that of the bit), you cut all mortises with the same reference face contacting the fence and make two stop set-ups: one for the mortise on each end of the work piece. If required, you can make additional set-up(s) for mid-rail(s).
Wow I am really glad I found this!
Thanks, good job explaining the process.
excellent and to the point - thanks bud!
Very nice way, imo. I try to do them by Hans as much as possible, but still interesting. Now for the tenon...!? Cheers
I'm quite sure you want an up-cut bit (not down cut), so it removes the cuttings and pulls them out of the mortise.
It's more complicated than that. A down cut bit provides a cleaner cut at the surface, which is important for a mortise since that's where the fit should be tight. A downcut bit can also be more stable during a plunge cut. If you use an upcut bit, it will tend to pull the workpiece toward the router, which may be too grabby for precision plunge cutting and which may also make it more difficult to pull the workpiece back up when you are done cutting the mortise. The downcut bit will tend to push chips into the mortise, but those easily pop out when you are done.
Hi. Thanks for all your great videos. I was thinking whether or not to get a hollow chisel mortiser to build furniture but came across this video of yours. I cannot see a video on making the tenons though. Is there one? Regards Lee
I have several videos concerning the making of doors or cabinets in which I discuss the tenons. Unless you have a huge production run the easiest means is on a table saw and you can use either a regular blade or a dado blade . The stock is held against a miter gauge and registered against a scrap of wood clamped to the fence before the blade area. Check out some of the door videos.
Good one ! thank you ! very helpful !
you could do this with a drill press right?
With a drill press you could set up a fence and drill a series of holes in a line, then us a chisel to clean up the sides. It works, but it isn't much faster than using just a chisel. If you own a router you'd be much better off going that route for speed and accuracy.
This method I find very slow with deep mortises in very hard timber like I mostly use,for example recycled iron bark from here in Australia.With hard timber you can only take out a small amount of timber in depth at a time due to the stress on a router bit if it goes too deep,so I usually take only up to 15mm maximum out with each pass so the router height needs to be adjusted several times for a deep mortise and so slows things down.Nice vid though if you are using softwood.Cheers
True, hardwoods put greater stress on the tool. I still find this method faster than a dedicated morticer or the drill press method, though, even in difficult woods. It's important with hardwoods to have a powerful router (usually marketed as "3.5 horsepower" in the states) and high quality bits. The quality and sharpness of bits does vary a lot among manufacturers. And, using a spiral style bit as shown in the video is also helpful. I can typically remove more like 20mm of material in a single pass through a hardwood, although I may slow down my rate of feed.
enduringcharm
I agree about the spiral bits being better. I do like to use the router table when I make smaller pieces of furniture out of recycled hoop pine or silky oak but still need to use a drill press with forstner bits for the very dense old hardwoods I use to make larger pieces due to the density of some of the timbers I use and the router table I find too awkward when working with lenghts 3ft and over.I am presently making some large window frames for my house I am building using 80 year old iron bark timber which is so hard It's almost like working with steel,all tools need to be so sharp or you just can't work it.
Very interesting
How do you achieve the matching tenon?
Kerrigan M I have intentions of making a companion video on that, but I haven't had time yet. There are lots of ways to make tenons, including by hand. Using a table saw is probably one of the most common methods though. There are also router jigs you can use. I've got to get to that video!
enduringcharm Please don't be too long !!!!I'm about to buy a bench top. Great vid Thank you.............Happy days
MrRichot
I have a video coming up in the next week or so about making cabinet doors on a table saw. That video will also include information about tenons, so that should be of some help to you.
enduringcharm Great stuff look forward to it ///SUBBED
Good job thanks
Thx for sharing
Nice!
Thankyou
Actually, I think you want an up cut spiral not down. This will pull the chips out of the mortise.
Mounted on a router table, gravity will do some of the work of chip removal. Also, there are differences in the cut. A downcut bit will leave a clean top edge, an upcut but will tend to leave a more ragged top edge.
How can you have 5 quarter stock lol
It's an industry term. 5/4 stock refers to 1 and 1/4 inches, which actually measures 1 and 1/8 inches thick since you are buying it kiln dried. If I specified 12/4 stock I'd be looking for 3 inch thick boards, which would also measure a little less. Just to make things more confusing, most lumberyards and box stores these days don't carry anything above 5/4, or at least it will be a special order. So, we often turn to niche sawmills or other local providers. There, if you specify 12/4 you will typically get the full three inches since it is air dried.