Changing the hardware on five BR, bath and closet doors in part because I hate the color. The new strike plates are a different size than the old, which look like someone used a router or something and did a really nice job of cutting just the right groove in the door fram. I've never used a router, but my first attempte to use a chisel came out a little sloppy. How else can I cut out a notch for the strike plate?? Thx.
Most pre-hung doors today have routed recesses for hardware. Best bet is to learn how to chisel properly. It takes a little practice. First you mark out the location and score it with a utility knife. That makes for a clean outline. Next, is to sharpen the chisels. Brand new out of the box chisels need sharpening to do their best work. Lap the back flat, then work on the bevel. Using a bevel guide works best. You need a set of four grits of stones or you can use the "scary sharp" method of sand paper on a sheet of glass.
Once sharp, you can just go in by hand and scrape away the material. At best you need a very light tap with a mallet.
Well, you COULD heat the plate to red-hot, and burn it into place, but what you OUGHT to do is sharpen the chisel, and work more slowly, in smaller bites.
I use a router and a router template. The results look really good, much better than the hand made mortises I run into that require things like shims to get hinges to line up "close enough". The router template comes with a bit and costs about $20 at HD or Lowes. The router itself is a Harbor Freight trim router:
Thanks, but this looks like I need to take the door frame off to do it properly. Is there some way to use a dremel to do this readily???
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