# Q on mortising- fixing a door



## Devildog (Apr 20, 2008)

hi all
once again, I'm looking for some advice.
I'm fixing an old teak door, which was assembled with 1/2 mortise/tenon.
I've never made a mt before, so now is the time, I guess!

Here's the thing: 
I bought the 1/2 mt drill/chisel for my drill press, but it's only 7cm long.
The old tenon is about 12cm long.

Should I chisel the mortise to be 7cm deep and then cut the old tenon short to fit?
(will this be strong enough?)

Or, if I keep the tenon at its current length, how do I go about getting the mortise all the way through the wood (presumably from the other side) without screwing it up? Seems like a lot of possibility for error....

pic attached!
thanks!


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

I would mortise as deep as possible, and cut the tenon accordingly. Actually, the tenon should be slightly shorter, as you don't want it to bottom out. Depending on your drill press, the HC mortiser for DP mounting doesn't compare with a dedicated mortiser. I've had some that worked OK, and others that didn't.












 







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## Devildog (Apr 20, 2008)

thanks for the response...
so, if I want to make the mortise as deep as possible... any tips for how get a deeper mortise than the 7cm the HC mortiser affords?
(a dedicated mortiser is not in the budget for now... besides, we only have a total of about 10 doors to make)

I could make them go all the way through by going in on the other side... I'm just worried I won't align them quite right. 
any clever ways to facilitate that?


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## Big Stud (Dec 2, 2011)

Get a mortising chisel and dig it deeper by hand? That would be a good way to sharpen your hand tool skills. I have done entire mortises with a chisel with good results. just take your time and try to keep the chisel square to your work,


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## wooddude (Jun 14, 2011)

i would suggest finishing the mortise with a longer forstner bit in a drill press and finish with a chisel.
looks to be a thru mortise?


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## firemedic (Dec 26, 2010)

I dont use a power mortiser, i use Narex mortise chisels. Despite that I agree with C-man... Cut as deep as the the power chisel wil go and cut tenon accordingly. It will be plenty strong enough.

Thats assuming it's not a through tenon. If that's the case use careful layout and cut from each side.

~tom. ...oh to find my sanity...


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## lawrence (Nov 14, 2009)

if it is a thru mortise then go as deep as you can on one side then switch bits to a drill bit that fits tight and drill thru at both ends of the mortise you just made and that will give you positive guide lines on the other side


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## Devildog (Apr 20, 2008)

Hi everyone
thanks for the responses
I couldn't find a proper sized forstner bit to cut through the other side, so I kinda winged it going in on the other side, and was off by about a millimeter. 
but that's what mallets are for, right?

so, as a first try it was ok, and the door, when smacked back together, was straight, rigid and aligned. 
Then we sent it to be glazed, and oddly they screwed something up and now the door is not even remotely square.... off by like 2cm... like they cut the stiles for some reason. very strange. we'll take it apart tomorrow and inspect. I suspect they even cut the glass crooked to match what they rendered into a crooked door. It's all very mysterious. 
At the end of the day, we learned a lot, but will likely start over on this one. Much of the wood in the door was in bad shape anyway. Luckily, we ran into some teak planks for a decent price, so we have the stock.


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## cabinetman (Jul 5, 2007)

I was wondering what all that fancy high tech wiring is all about?
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## Devildog (Apr 20, 2008)

ha! we actually have no electricity at the house yet, so we run a heavy extension cord to the neighbor's. The white cord is scrap that we use at night to power our lone fluorescent bulb, under whose light we eat take-out dinner and imagine what a great house we're eventually going to have.

half the house has been wired, but we haven't got a meter yet, because of a few bureaucratic hurdles here.


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## Midlandbob (Sep 5, 2011)

Do you have thick enough stock to resaw the rail open so you can make a mortise like a wide dado and put the board back together? The cut line would not show I've done this to make large through mortises on a workbench or trestle table.


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