Mortise Jig

[Dave Anthony]

I recently had a project that required a large number of mortise & tenon joints, and decided to try loose tenons. This is a jig I made from scrap. Certainly not a thing of beauty, but it works quite well for end, edge, and face mortises. Since you only need to mark the center of the mortise, layout is quick and easy. The stops which control the width have wood inserts which fit in the T-track to keep them from rotating, the edge guide of the router controls the Y axis, and the Z axis (depth) is adjusted via plunger depth.

140 (1280x960).jpg141 (1280x960).jpg142 (1280x960).jpg143 (1280x960).jpg

[william watts]

like your jig very much. I just completed a mortise jig that works on the same principle of using an edge guided router. I am using pipe clamps to hold the work in position, they are fussy, clunky, and heavy. The lever clamps seem like a good solution do they clamp tight enough?

[Dave Anthony]

The toggle clamps work fine for an edge mortise, even when there is only one clamp usable (on the end of a long piece for example). For end mortises I rotate one toggle 90 degrees and add a small Bessey. For face mortices (kind of odd, but I recently used this to join front & side panels) I add a clamp that is part of my sacrificial table saw fence setup (the blue thing). Works quite well - as long as you hold the router edge guide tight to the jig . The two "ears" are used to clamp the jig to the bench for end mortises on longer pieces.

[william watts]

Thanks Dave. I will go with the toggle clamps. I have never needed to cut end mortises and only once face mortises for a thru mortise arts & crafts stool.

I cut a 100 grit sanding disc to shape and stuck it to the jig face, that helps a lot with holding the work in place.

[bruce erdman]

Face mortising is a large part of many of my projects. I accomplish them on my Delta 17 inch drill press.DSCN1476.jpg