Page 39 - Router Boss Manual

Cutting mortises
and tenons

You saw a couple of ways to cut grooves in flat
stock when we put the bottom panel in a drawer (see
pages 31 and 32), but there are times you need to cut
grooves in the edge of a piece of stock, such as in rails
(horizontal top and bottom pieces) and stiles (vertical
side pieces) on a paneled door. In this section we’ll
show how to cut the grooves, mortises and tenons for a
paneled door. The mortising techniques we show can
also be used for other projects such as mortising a ta-
ble leg to accept a tenoned apron rail or stretcher. With
every mortise, you’ll need to cut a matching tenon to
complete the joint. The Router Boss handles these tasks
with precision and ease.

To cut panel grooves or mortises, you’ll need a
flat clamping surface to hold the stock You can build
a simple mortising rail like the one shown here. Later
we’ll show you how to perform these same operations
even easier with our optional mortising table (see pages
44-48). Shop-built mortising
Depending on the project, the mortise may be cen- rail. For detailed plans,
turn to Appendix 3.
tered on the edge of the stock or, on thicker stock, may
be offset to one side. For our panel rails and stiles, we’ll
center the mortises.

Lay out the mortises
Paneled doors, whether flat or raised panel, typi-
cally have a 1/4” wide X 1/4” deep groove centered on
the edge of 3/4” thick rails and stiles. So the mortise
we cut will also be 1/4” wide. The mortises are cut in
each end of the stiles and our first step is to lay out the
mortises on the stile stock. Use a square or a mortising
gauge to mark the sides and ends of the mortises.

Clamp the stock to the work holder or mortis-
ing table, making sure the top edge is butted squarely
against the underside of the base plate. Turn the power
feed crank to position the stock under the router. With a
1/4” diameter bit installed in the router, move the rout-
er so the bit is centered between the mortise lines you
marked. Then tighten the router plate locking knob to
secure the router.

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