88 mortises cut in about 10 hours.

[B. Brinkley]

Just thought I would share my mortise technique with those who are interested.

I recently built a Morley Mortiser jig to use my plunge router. I really like his design as it is very quick to set up and mostly because I get repeatable accuracy time after time. I did modify mine from his original design. Instead of using a 5/8" guide bushing, I just set up some fence stops to guide my router. My old Ryobi router has a nice flat cut into the side of it's base which makes it very easy to register against a fence and with my setup using two fences the router base is captive and so it is pretty fool proof to cut a straight mortise.

I am building two large bedside tables out of some antique longleaf pine that is about 200 years old. I am using reclaimed wood from roof beams from an old dairy barn. It has it's issues, mainly it's rosin rich and hard and brittle with a lot of nail holes and damage. I have built several furniture pieces from this wood and it finishes beautifully using shellac and hand waxing. It's a pain to work with and it's tough on cutting edges, but the end results look great and it has a lot of family heritage in each piece.

Anyway, enough yammering, so on to the mortises...

Here is the mortise jig. I am really liking the Matchfit Clamp setup as it allows for quick clamping of all sorts of shapes and is very quick to set up and use.

You can see the two small fences I have added to guide my router. The adjustable stop blocks on each end control the width of the mortise. I have pre-cut some shim blocks that allow me to quickly set these stop blocks to standard mortise widths such as 1" or 1 1/2" etc. I just set the stop blocks and go without having to think too much which is a good thing.

What I really like about Morley's jig is that everything is set up using just a single center mark which saves a lot of time. Here you can see the center mark that is circled.

Here is a centering bock that allows me to place it into the slot and center the jig to the mortise location. It is then removed and set aside, usually getting lost in my pile of shavings on the bench. I really need to paint it orange or something.

You can just see the mortise inside the slot with everything centered around that one point. I then tighten all of the knobs and lock everything down. I am now ready to cut the mortise.

My ole faithful Ryobi is ready to go to work. I have had this router for around 20 years or so and it just keeps ticking. I am tempted by all of the shiny new routers now, but she just keeps hanging around.

This is a good shot showing how the router base registers between the two small fences. By using two fences I don't have to worry about it wandering and drifting in the cut.

Finally here is the end results. Clean and accurate mortises ready for a floating tenon.

I hope this may help someone. I was a mortise cutting fool today, but I got it done much quicker than I thought I would.

 

 

[Coop]

Although your description is very precise, I’m usually a tad slower than the average woodworker on here! 

How does the jig attach to the work piece. Sorry if I missed it.

[B. Brinkley]

No problem Coop. I probably should have covered that in my post. The piece to receive the mortise is clamped under the top table using the Matchfit clamps in the clamping pad in view in the first photo. The picture is not that great, but the Matchfit pad is the piece with the dovetail grooves in a grid pattern. This allows clamping both vertical or horizontal pieces such as table legs or aprons etc. Hope that is a bit more clear.

[Coop]

Thanks! I guess I have never heard of the Matchfit clamp. I just watched a couple of their short videos. Those are a neat deal!

[wtnhighlander]

Thanks for posting this. Along with another router mortising jig I recently saw in another member's post, I now understand the use case well enough to attempt some floating tenons in my next project.

[pkinneb]

Nice job!!

[Coop]

1 hour ago, wtnhighlander said:

Thanks for posting this. Along with another router mortising jig I recently saw in another member's post, I know understand the use case well enough to attempt some floating tenons in my next project.

Floating tenons are really pretty cool. I used them in my door build. As I don’t have the larger Domino, it saved me from having to cut the attached tenons on the rails. My jig for the mortises, unfortunately wasn’t as nice as OP’s but required very, very  minimal sanding. And it’s pretty cool too, making your own tenons. 

[B. Brinkley]

23 minutes ago, Coop said:

Floating tenons are really pretty cool. I used them in my door build. As I don’t have the larger Domino, it saved me from having to cut the attached tenons on the rails. My jig for the mortises, unfortunately wasn’t as nice as OP’s but required very, very  minimal sanding. And it’s pretty cool too, making your own tenons. 

I have made a batch of tenon stock in standard widths and planed down to standard thicknesses. I then round the edges using the router table. I usually make it in lengths of about 2 feet and then I just cut off whatever length I need on the bandsaw.

[Coop]

I did the same and I went as far as putting the glue relief grooves in them.

[R Chandrasekar]

Good idea to have a length of floating tenon that can be cut to size. Is there any specific wood that is ideal as a floating tenon? What woods to avoid?

[Coop]

I used the scraps I had but someone mentioned to use the same wood as the project. 

[Tpt life]

I am not sure same is required, but the more glue surface interaction, the more I would want species with similar expansion coefficients. 

[Coop]

I kind of see your point but with tenons this small and the fact that that they are not exposed to the relative humidity,  but encompassed inside a much larger piece, and the fact that I used epoxy, I doubt there will ever be a concern. 

[wtnhighlander]

Do Festool dominos come in different species?

[Coop]

Life and Festool’s a Beech! 

[Woodenskye]

1 hour ago, wtnhighlander said:

Do Festool dominos come in different species?

They used to be offered from festool in sipo and beech.  Not sure if sipo is still available.

[gee-dub]

On 12/31/2020 at 7:45 PM, Coop said:

I did the same and I went as far as putting the glue relief grooves in them.

I do as Coop does.

[Mick S]

 

 

Nice job on the jig and the description. I built one of Morley's mortisers a couple of years back. I wound up modifying it because of the loss of depth that results from the bit going through the top piece before it ever contacts the workpiece. You lose ¾" right off the bat. I kept the Morley base design and added ideas from a Fine Woodworking video and Derek Cohen that uses a runner in a slot and the micro-adjust fence for my router.

Here's a quick video of a couple of my students using it. In this one Aviva is using it to cut a keyhole slot.

 

[wtnhighlander]

@Mick S, was that drilling operation to make a starter hole for the router bit, or something else that I couldn't see?

[Mick S]

2 minutes ago, wtnhighlander said:

@Mick S, was that drilling operation to make a starter hole for the router bit, or something else that I couldn't see?

Yes, because she was using a keyhole bit. They don't bore very well even though technically they can. With keyhole bits, I usually drill out the starter hole and use a ⅛" endmill to clear the slot before switching to the keyhole bit. I've broken a few before going to that method.