Shopsmith Forums

I need to create three evenly spaced 3/8”x 3/8” square through mortises centered on a ¾” x 1” x 23” rail. I’m using white oak hardwood for this project. The mortises are meant to emulate a traditional Greene & Greene detail feature used during the Arts and Craft era. I don’t have a stand alone mortising machine or a drill press mortising attachment. I have a set of sharp Marples wood chisels but don’t want to free hand square through mortises. I’m looking for even and consistent square mortises. Looking for suggestions on how this could be done without the specialty type tools.

One way that I thought of would be to rip the rail down the middle of the 23” length, then clamp the two pieces face to face and use a dado blade set at 3/16” and cut square grooves across the top edges and the glue the two pieces back together. My concern is a visible glue line.

Suggestions/ideas/comments are welcomed. Thanks.

One way to do this is to drill a 3/8 hole dead-center where you want the through mortise, then square the corners with your chisel. Chisel in from the 'show' side. If both sides are 'show' sides, just chisel in 1/2 way from each side. Oak can splinter easily, so make sure your chisel is extremely sharp and take your time.