Gift certificate/door mortising jig
I have eight doors to install in a house I’m building myself 4 days at a time over 3 years, and I’m getting to the trim stage now. My family gave me a 100 dollar gift certificate to Amazon which I plan to use at the Tool Crib. I would like to build the jambs from my cypress and install solid wood 6 panel doors. Is it worthwhile to buy a door/jamb mortising jig, and if so, which one? Is this something that with due diligence a moderately skilled amateur can do? Thank you.
I already have a 1604 Bosch router.
Replies
There are lots of posts about mortising kits. I have a Lee Valley setup, but a lot of the pros here prefer the Porter Cable.
Do you have enough future business to justify buying a kit, instead of making your own templates?
Quality repairs for your home.
Aaron the Handyman
Vancouver, Canada
Or you could up the PC one and get the Bosch templet guide. But I'm with Aaron, make the jigs you need yurself and save the bucks fur something that will do the heart good....Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming.... WOW!!! What a Ride!
if I said once I said it a thousand time....Templaco, is the way to go...
Darkworksite4:
El americano pasado hacia fuera ase la bandera
Lots of well made templates that are very specfic. There's gotta be two dozen Templacos at least to cover what one Bosch will do. The Bosch is a lot less money.
Either is great for the serious door hanger doing boat loads of doors...Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming.... WOW!!! What a Ride!
I have hung well over 1000 doors and never felt the need to buy a template kit. I did look into it once when I bid on hanging 63 pairs of 8 to 10 foot high french doors. I did not get the job,somebody under bid me by asking 1/3 my price. He then misshung all the doors, fell off a ladder and broke both his legs. The last I heard the carpenter and customer were suing each other in court. Back to your question, I think you should buy the Porter Cable 309 router-trimmer, then make up a longer rectanglar base in 1/4 plexi. This is the nicest setup for routing hinges and strikes. Installing hinges is the easy part, getting a nice reveal around the door, figuring what to do if the door gets hinge bound or working with warps in the frame, that's where the lack of experience takes a lot of time to correct.
8 doors?
How comfy are ya with the router?
Me ... I'd do the layout by hand .. not all that difficult.
Just some simple ... careful ... measuring. Mark the hinges using the hinges themselves to pencil around ... then scroe the pencil line with a sharp blade.
Now ... just use your router ... freehand.
If you are comfortable with the tool ... it's no big deal to get within a 64th or so of the line.
hog it all out ... then cut with that sharp blade ... have a nice sharp chisel sitting near by to scare the doors with ...
8 doors and jambs ... make a nice relaxing day out of it.
Just remember to add an 8th when measuring down the jambs.
If you aren't that comfy ... and would like to be .... hollowcore door blanks can be bought for about $25 .. and there's plenty of room all over those 4 sides to get the hang of things.
Just a thought.
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistry in Carpentry
Thank you for the info and advice. I feel comfortable with a router but I stink at freehand. The blank sounds like an excellent idea. I guess I know that I could do this with a chisel after tracing the hinges, but I like playing with power tools that give a sharp,clean bed for the hinge to lay in just like it was a sleeping baby. When I've done this by hand before I get a dreadful lumpy misshapen mortice.
freehand ?
you go.
a fellow daring carp told me that's always been his style, too....
made me feel over-tooled ( is that a word ? )
so i tried it myself on some oak scrap blocks. the mortising bit caught some wild grain on the second mortise and wasted it.
i stood there imagining myself having a nice relaxing door hanging day ( like you said earlier ) and having to deal with a blow out in a custom oak door.
freehand shmeehand
hey, i'm glad it works for you......
carpenter in transition
Here's how I would do it.
Cut your jamb legs to length.
Clamp the hinge side jamb to the door leaving length at the bottom to raise the door off the floor and at least 1 inch above door to attach head jamb. The jamb should be flush with the hinge side of the door.
Using a try-square score across the door and the jamb at three locations to mark the tops of the three hinges. A tiny notch is all you need.
Now take the two pieces apart. Set your try-square to the depth you want the hinge mortice to project across the thickness of the door. Score a good deep line with a utility knife for the three sides of the mortice using the try-square to guide the knife. Use the hinge to get the mortice the right height. Chop it out with a chisel. It's not that hard. The try-square will help you to get the same size mortices on both the door and the jamb. Put the hinges in and attach the door to the jamb.
Cut the head jamb to length allowing for reveal on the latch side of the door (a nickel works well). Assemble the jamb on the floor by screwing thru the jamb legs into the head jamb using your nickel to space the head jamb above the door. Stand your pre-hung door up in the opening and run a screw thru the hinge side jamb into the framing at each hinge. Adjust the jambs with shims to get an even reveal all around. Nail it off in the opening. Nail on the door stops, which will cover those big screws you put at the hinges, and you're done.
That sounds like an excellent idea. Kind of like having my own home made preassembled door/jamb.
These things are daily routine for you,but when I do them they are large satisfying victories. Therefore when I express my gratitude to you on this forum I sound to myself like a weeny sycophant, but I am sincerely grateful. To an amateur it gives me pride when I look at the things I've done to my own house. I've got FHB and Breaktime to thank.
My daughter is going with me this trip to the house, and she is computer savy. I'll see about taking pictures and showing my progress.