Anyone built this mortising jig?

[Dennis Aspö]

I've been looking at loose tenon joinery but unwilling to buy a domino and having two routers already I'd rather go with what I have. I found this jig with free plans and I've already printed the plans.

Don't know when I will have time to make them, I am assembling a small octagonal patio table right now and wanted to joint them using loose tenon joinery but I don't think I'll have the time so I'll just make a big spline like Norm Abrams did when making a similar table. Still it will have all kinds of uses to make floating tenons in the future (and in the past, too...) so definitely a jig to have.

Here's the jig in question:
http://www.crestonwood.com/mjig.php

[Russell Smallwood]

Interesting jig

Reminds me of this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=USPF70cbLHQ

Which is the next mortising jig I'm going to make. The idea of the router riding on rails is really intriguing to me. It's also one of Phil Thien's creations

http://www.jpthien.com/mj.htm

[Jim Dwight]

I built something functionally equivalent and it worked fine. The one I made was U shaped with the bottom open in the center. So if you are doing the end of a rail you can stand it up, like the example jig, but if you are doing the side of the leg you lay it down in the U and have the two edges for support. Not clear to me which is a better configuration although I wonder a little about the linked one for legs.

I got better, cleaner, mortises out of my plunge router with a spiral up cut bit than I do with my hollow chisel mortiser. The mortiser takes less time to set up, however, and makes less noise. I don't think the smoother sided mortises from the router are stronger from the tests I've found but it certainly doesn't hurt the strength either.

[Jamie Buxton]

To do the job that jig is doing, you don't need a jig. A plunge router with an edge guide will do it.

[Ray Newman]

Jamie Buxton is on the right track.

For a simple mortising jig utilizing a plunge router and edge guide:


http://www.finewoodworking.com/how-t...orking-eletter

[Dennis Aspö]

That one looks even simpler to build yeah, thanks for that.

[Jim Dwight]

I've made simple little jigs several times for this where I use a template guide. The center slot gets made by cutting a piece the right width for the guide and gluing it between two other pieces - at the ends where the mortise is not located. So you have a slot in the middle the same size as the template guide and a little longer than you want the mortise. Another piece of scrap gets screwed to this piece on the bottom side that positions the slot where you want the mortise and is clamped to the workpiece. Then you just plunge in and route with the router guided by the template guide. They only work for the one mortise size but are very easy to make up and use.

I stopped using my U shaped jig when I got my hollow chisel mortise. It worked and had stops like the FWW jig. It also took a bit of time to get the workpiece clamped into the jig and to get the router set up.

Lots of ways to do this, you just have to pick a way, try it, and then decide if you like it or want to try another way.

[Dave Anthony]

I made this:
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthre...Jig&highlight=

I works quite well for end, edge, and face mortises.

[glenn bradley]

Similar to the ShopNotes issue 64 one:

Capture.JPG

[John Cole]

I built the shopnotes version and it works well

[Rick Lizek]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RQcClMWeh4
Build this one. I would never even consider a vertical router in a mortiser.

[Dennis Aspö]

I do think if I was going to make something that complex I'd make Matthias Wandels slot mortiser, or his pantorouter. Maybe I will do that, I just completed this octagon glue up using big splines, so not in a super hurry anymore.