Cutting Mortises in Door Jambs

We are going slightly out of order here... here is our experience in door jamb mortise cutting.

To cut the mortises you will need a few things:

A Hammer
A Chisel the same width as your hinge

Remember... measure twice, cut once. Oh, yes... and measure again... and throw something at the wall because your hinges moved on you after you cut the mortise. That MUST be it.

First, score the edges of your mortise:


Then, chisel lines across the mortise using a chisel the same width as the mortise. Make the lines about 1/8 inch apart.


Finally, take the chisel, bevel side down, and gently tap up through your lines. They should come up quite easily.

As you can see from the picture, this was NOT what we tried first... we don't recommend simply whacking at the jamb with the hammer and chisel. (The chip at the top of the mortise is from THAT method.) The method we depicted DOES work, however, and gives you nice flat and smooth mortises.

Next.... UTTER FAILURE in door hanging. Stay tuned.