Mortise Door Jamb With Chisel

First score the edges of your mortise.

Mortise door jamb with chisel.

Fortunately cutting out this mortise isn t nearly as difficult as it sounds. Hinge mortises on a door are often cut by machine with a router and straight bit but you can cut mortises by hand using a hammer and chisel as well. While the latch plate and strike plate are the same length the issue is the door stop nailed to the inside of your door jamb will interfere with the top of this tool and not allow you to create the mortise for the strike plate. Unfortunately ryobi teams answer is wrong.

Then gently tap the back end of the chisel with a hammer or mallet pushing it into the door. To cut hinge. Finally take the chisel bevel side down and gently tap up through your lines. A mortise is a recess or hollow space cut to fit a specific item such as a door hinge or a lock mechanism.

Hold the hinge jamb along the edge of the door and lay out the hinge locations on the jamb. Test fit the plate as you work to check the mortise depth. They should come up quite easily. To do a good job cutting mortises the chisel needs to be razor sharp.

Remove the waste wood with the chisel bevel side down held nearly parallel to the jamb. Mortising for a door hinge allows the hinge to install flush with the surface of the door edge or face. You can not use this for the strike plate. Doors must be mortised to make hinges fit properly.

Tap a chisel into the scored outline. In some situations a mortise is required for the door to close properly. The top of the door should be just slightly more than 1 16 inch below the edge of the rabbet or dado. Place the edge of a sharp chisel into any of the mortise outline grooves.

Make the lines about 1 8 inch apart. It allows the hinge to fit flat and flush with the edge of the door inside a shallow cut. Then chisel lines across the mortise using a chisel the same width as the mortise. You ll need to cut a mortise a small shallow recess in the wood of the door and doorjamb for the latchbolt and strike plate to rest.

Mark the mortise locations with a sharp pencil. In other cases a mortise is merely cosmetic. Use a bevel edge chisel and hammer to square the corners of the mortise if the faceplate has square corners. The hinge mortise allows the hinge to be mounted flush with the jamb and door so the door will close properly.

Using a router attachment remove the wood between the pencil lines drawn on the door edge to create a mortise for the faceplate. How to mortise hinges on a standard interior door.