Mortise Questions

mrhart · Post by **mrhart** » Sun Nov 25, 2012 10:42 am

The latest project requires a mortise of 1" x 3/4" through a glue up of left-over maple flooring. So its not a deep hole, less than an inch. I bought a new forstner 3/4" bit and a new 3/4" Pfeil chisel. I was tinkering around on a test piece and its pretty hard stuff. And drilling 2 holes that overlap that much may not be the best idea. Could someone outline their step by step process for doing this? I need to make 8 holes in the maple and then 8 more of the same in some walnut.

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Sun Nov 25, 2012 11:15 am

Layout your mortise then drill a hole at each end. Drill out the section that was left. Sharpen your chisel and clean up the mortise with it.

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Sun Nov 25, 2012 11:45 am

Drill each end alternatively with shallow depth. No more than 1/8" til you determine deeper will work.

Clamping the workpiece is necessary since the center will not contact the center of the 'current' hole until its depth matches the previously drilled one.

More accurate description: Drill one hole to 1/8" depth. Move to the other end and drill 1/8" deeper than the first. Repeat. The last operation prior to drilling through needs to be very slowly fed.

Take the same approach with the chisel(a little at a time).

If possible, drill half way through and flip over and drill from the back side so 'breakthrough' occurs in the center rather than an outside surface.

fjimp · Post by **fjimp** » Sun Nov 25, 2012 12:46 pm

Keep the chisel scary sharp. I recently assisted my daughter in making an apartment ready for renting. One task included adjusting door hardware so the latch worked on three doors. I discovered my chisel dulled very quickly and I had not taken a sharpener with me. Sharp chisels are essential. Jim

mrhart · Post by **mrhart** » Sun Nov 25, 2012 5:27 pm

I drilled all the holes on the ER with the new 3/4" bit. Nice.

Then did the layout with a pencil on the outline of the future mortise. My 3/4" chisel I believe may be too big for the task, it would be the right size for final clean-up but I think maybe a 3/8" would be better to get the corners ect. I saw a small crack start when I was using the 3/4.

Would that make sense?? I think I need another tool?

beeg · Post by **beeg** » Sun Nov 25, 2012 6:23 pm

mrhart wrote:
Would that make sense?? I think I need another tool?

It ALWAYS makes SENSE that ya need ANOTHER tool.

mrhart · Post by **mrhart** » Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:16 am

Should I be using a narrower chisel?

JPG · Post by **JPG** » Mon Nov 26, 2012 10:55 am

mrhart wrote:Should I be using a narrower chisel?

What on earth makes you think that?:D

1/2" oughta work.

benush26 · Post by **benush26** » Wed Nov 28, 2012 3:20 pm

fjimp wrote:Keep the chisel scary sharp. I recently assisted my daughter in making an apartment ready for renting. One task included adjusting door hardware so the latch worked on three doors. I discovered my chisel dulled very quickly and I had not taken a sharpener with me. Sharp chisels are essential. Jim

Amen to the scary sharp! and I agree with that another tool is a good thing

But as far as needing to go to a smaller chisel. you might want to watch this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NYpxhYHM ... ure=relmfu