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Tips & Techniques

Simple Technique for Round Corners

Use a Forstner bit to easily cut radiused corners when mortising locksets.

Issue 293 - Aug/Sept 2020
Article Image

When I mortise a lockset into the edge of a door, I drill the 1-in. hole and temporarily screw the latch in place. I trace the latch’s outline with a utility knife, being careful not to cut past the corners, and then I remove the latch and chisel out the wood. The process is easy with square mortises, but radius-corner latches are more difficult because it’s tough following the curved corners with a knife. Once I figure out that the corners have a 1/4-in. radius, I use a 1/2-in. Forstner bit to cut them.

—Todd Erickson, Inver Grove Heights, Minn.

Edited and Illustrated by Charles Miller

From Fine Homebuilding #293

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