I've been upgrading my home recently and am at the stage that I've already hung 2 bedroom doors. I've been chiseling out the door hinge placements by hand and have found that it takes great skill to do this right. I know that jigs exist for routers but does anyone know of a good technic for chiseling OR is there any special power tool specifically designed for this? I can't justify buying an expensive router for this job.
Thanks.
One of the small handheld electric routers is the fastest way to do it, but I like doing it by hand. Much more enjoyable and far less noisy. As long as you're not doing a bunch of doors at the same time. If you are doing a bunch, and want to get it over with, no question the router is the best way to go.
I use chisels and some specialty hand planes. router plane
First off I look at it this way, if you don't do a whole lot with a router then buy a cheap one. You can get a Black and Decker for about
39.00 and 10.00 for a fluted straight cutter and you can get a jig for about 70.00 so for 119.00 you can do your doors and then you will have a router for future use and when your neighbors kid kicks in one of their doors you can be the hero and route out the replacement door. Also take the number of doors you have and divide it into the cost of the jig and router, so if you have 10 doors then it is worth it to spend 10.00 per door
If you have trouble keeping the same depth, cut a hair shallow and then pare the whole mortise with a wide chisel. Alternatively, use a rasp. Could help to mark the depth on the chisel with a marker too.
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Just wondering if one of those laminate trim routers would do the trick like this one:
Good advice but step one is missing. Sharpen the chisels. Even brand new from the factory need to be honed. Makes a huge difference when it is easy cutting.
Don't you think the wood chisel is one of the best tools you can have? Damn, it's versitile...
best tools you can have?
Oh yeah I use mine for the following:
Screwdriver Paint Can Opener Pry Bar Splitting Wedge Door Holder Open Hell sometimes I even use it for cutting wood
My framing square also does alot of the same things
Sure and so will the much cheaper version from some place like Harbor Freight (like $20). BUT, you will still need a jig of some type to get accurate cuts. You can build your own jig. Freehand is really tough to control. Though now that I think about it most people would do about as well free hand as they would with a chisel.
I've just replaced 5 doors in my house, and had to mortise a lot of hinges. You can get results that look like they were done at a factory if you screw the hinge on the door/jamb in the proper position after careful measurement. Then take a Stanley knife and trace around the hinge to the depth of the hinge. Remove the hinge and chisel it out. You'll have a nice sharp line for the hinge.
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