Mortising bed rails

[Edward P. Surowiec]

I would like your advise on how to cut mortises in the ends of bed rails.
The stock is hard Maple 4/4 X 6 X 84" and I need to cut a tight/accurate mortise 1/8" deep X1/4 X5". I do not have a horizontal router and would appreciate advise on mortising the end grain, such as jigs for horizontal routing or fixtures for accurate chiseling in end grain.
Thanks
Ed

[Thomas Pender]

Ed - this is an exercise I have done several times, but I am confused by your dimensions and your purpose. While it is possible to mortise and tenon bed rails into posts, you should be talking 1.5" plus of tenon to make it work (with maybe - at the most, a 1/4" reduction on the size) and I would want more than a 5" wide board on the rail - really like 6"+ and more than 4/4 - even with maple. (I have used 7" white oak with 6/4 stock - with a 3/8" reduction (collar) over engineered sure, but until you have seen a bed rail failure caused by children jumping on a bed . . . )

Normally bed rails are fastened to posts with hooks like you can buy at Rockler and you mortise in the hook and the receiver into the rail and post respectively. I strongly recommend this method. I use a 1/4" Amama 1/2" diameter dado bit with a rub collar and a template to do this - have used the same template several times - square off the mortise with a chisel and drill out the holes for the hooks with a 1/2" Forstner bit - need to use good screws.

That being said, if you check out Pat Warner's website he has a jig he sells or you can get plans for for cutting big tenons. (I built my own out of MDF and toggle clamps - works wonderful with the rail clamped into a vise on my bench.) It requires a rabbeting bit on a plunge router to work and it cuts the smoothest best dimensioned tenons I have ever done - various rub collars on the bit determine how big the tenon is off the the size of the stock. (Note I have two different versions - I upscaled one for larger boards and use a large Whiteside or MCLS bit with lots of rub collars.

[Frank Drew]

Ed,

I'm going to accept that your design requires a shallow mortise in the rails. Since you don't have a horizontal mortiser (the ideal tool for this operation), I guess you'll have to rig up a template jig for your router, and either mount and clamp the work vertically and stand on your bench or on a ladder to make the cuts, or, somewhat more awkwardly, mount the work horizontally and manipulate your router in that orientation. Awkward, but doable, and of course easier with a router that doesn't weigh a ton.

Alternatively, you could use a small trim router freehand, maybe getting to the 1/8" depth in two passes so that the router doesn't get away from you, cleaning up to the line with a chisel after you've wasted most of the recess.

[Danny Thompson]

This is a case for a small router plane or a very sharp chisel used bevel down.

[Michael McCoy]

It sounds like you are using the hardware where you do a shallow mortise for the male hardware??? I made a set of bunkbeds and ordered a router plane to do the mortise. Before it arrived it took me a bit to stop over thinking it and wound up doing it with a router and a rabbeting bit with a bearing. It wasn't a problem to lay out the mortise and just chiseled the ends square.

[Edward P. Surowiec]

Thank you for your replies. I guess that I was not clear in my original post. I am cutting the mortises so that the metal hardware ( maie and female) hooks and holes can be mounted flush with the surfaces of the headboard and rail.
Ed

[Rod Sheridan]

Marking knife and chisel would be a good solution.........Rod.

[Marty Paulus]

Simple router jig that slides over the end of the board, collar on the router and a sharp new bit. The jig may take some tuning but that can be done on some scrap. If the corners need to be sharp then sharpen up the chisels or buy a corner chisel. Should not be overly difficult and the jig shouldn't take long to build.