Shoutout to the guy who showed me his janky router template setup

I used to spend like 40 minutes marking and cutting hinge mortises with a chisel, which always left me with a shaky hand and uneven depth, you know? Then last week I was on a job in Austin and this older carpenter, Bob, just pulls out a scrap piece of plywood with a router bit guide bushing screwed into it, totally cobbled together. He said he's been using the same template for 15 years, and I watched him knock out five door hinges in under 10 minutes with zero mistakes. I went home that night and built my own version, not even a fancy one, just some MDF and a straight edge clamped on. Now I'm wondering why I suffered for so long, but hey, at least I can chisel a mean mortise if the power goes out. Has anyone else found a simple jig that totally changed their workflow?

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felix_bailey454mo ago

You said "router bit guide bushing" but I think you mean a guide bushing that goes in the base of the router, not on the bit itself. The bit just spins, the bushing is what follows the template edge. But yeah, I built something similar for cutting dovetail joints on drawer fronts, just a piece of hardwood with a slot routed into it and a stop block clamped on the end. It saved me from having to hand cut every joint and my fit is way more consistent now. What kind of hinges are you usually cutting, the full mortise or the smaller ones?

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craig.parker4mo ago

Why would you want to get it done in 10 minutes when taking your time with a chisel lets you actually feel the wood and catch mistakes before they're permanent? A jig just speeds up bad habits if you're not careful.

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