Door Hinge Mortise Template

[Steve Gojevic]

Does anyone have a recommendation for a router template for door hinges? This is for home use only. I am replacing a bunch of doors at home and a template would speed things up a lot.

An online search shows a Porter-Cable, Milescraft and a Ryobi.

Last year, I bought the Milescraft from Lowes. It is the kit that also does the door jambs and the striker plate. It worked OK, but after I used it I noticed several of the templates were broken in the kit (must have been dropped during shipping). I returned it to Lowes, but they didn't have any more so I took a refund.

I could just buy another kit just like it, but if there was a better one (within reason price) I would buy it.

Steve

[John TenEyck]

You can make one in about 20 minutes from a piece of Masonite and short section of hardwood. I've been using the same one for at least 20 years. I use a 1/2" mortising bit in my router with a 5/8" collar, so the template is 1/16" larger all around than the hinge leaf.

John

[John Huds0n]

I have this one from Woodhaven along with their router bit. They come in different sizes (You provide the piece of wood it screws to)
http://www.amazon.com/Woodhaven-8536-3-1-Hinge-Radius/dp/B001TQEJNS

Money well spent

[John Schweikert]

Doing it freehand is far easier than it may seem. I did two doors recently. When cutting only 1/16-1/8" deep with a good mortising bit, there's very little issue to pencil the hinge space and freehand it.

Otherwise as said above, make a simple jig from scrap wood.

[Tom M King]

The thing I don't like about most templates is they put screw holes in the open. I have a Sears jig from the 1960s that clamps to the door. I keep it set up for interior doors. For the jamb, I made one out of plywood, and hardened the working template edges with epoxy. That jig is twenty some years old, has hung hundreds of doors, and still works perfectly. I made it to attach to the jamb with screws that end up behind where the stop will go. Another advantage of the simple flat jamb template is that it can be adjusted for plumb in old houses regardless of the wall being out of plumb.

You probably can't find one of these old Craftsman door jigs, but if I didn't have this one, I'd make one that clamps to the door out of plywood. Rubber faced Quick-Clamps would work fine. I have some lock and strike templates I made out of Baltic Birch that clamp to the door, and screw to the jamb (also behind the stop location).

I actually like having separate templates for the door and jamb, so there is no time spent doing a changeover. We can hang all the doors in a house in a day, and everything fits and shuts perfectly. With the hinges mounted flush with the surfaces of the door and jamb, it will automatically give you the eighth clearance there. Bit depth determines mortise depth.

My old door jig requires a router bushing. Today, you can get better results with a template bit, so I'd just make new jigs for a template bit. You can use the door jig to make the jamb jig. It's really easy to make a jig for a template bit, since the pattern is exactly the same size as the mortise you want to cut. I'd make one for left hand, and one for right hand hung doors, since each will need a stop on the open side of the mortises to give exact finished size.

1/8" is good for clearance at the top of the door, and on the hinge side. Put a stop on the top of the door jigs, and adjust the length of the jamb jig to keep off the top of the jamb giving the clearance over the results of the door jig.

I bought the cheap Milescraft lock and strike plastic jigs years ago just to make my good jigs with. They worked fine for that purpose, but I've never used them again. I also keep dedicated routers set up for each different job, so it goes really quickly for us, but then I do this for a living.

[Jerome Stanek]

I like the porter cable one that I use it uses pins instead of screws.

[Peter Quinn]

You can make one in about 5 minutes that will rival anything you can buy, all it takes is a table saw with some type of sled, a piece of 1/2" MDF about 3 1/2" wide by the height of your door, and a top bearing pattern it, 1/4" cutting height works best IME. You will need the pattern bit anyway with most jigs. If you are using the existing hinges, first check to see that the spacing is consistent. If the house is newer and they are factory hung doors you may get lucky and they are all the same. The way I do them every hinge spacing requires a distinct template, which works best for making new pre hung doors and jambs or in cases where existing hinge spacing is consistent, but on only a few units you could make distinct templates for different openings quickly enough. I've done it on a job site 8" portable in less time than it took me to type this paragraph.

Taking one door as an example, leave the hinges on the jamb, remove the existing door, tape a 1/8" shim to the jamb head, butt your piece of 1/2" mdf to the shim (this creates your door to jamb head gap, clamp the mdf to the hinge plates, and use a sharp utility knife to scratch the exact location of the hinges on this "story pole". Back in the shop, figure out the depth the hinge plates go into the jamb, or take one hinge off and set a tri square to this depth either from the door you already took off or the jamb. Raise your table saw blade to this height, usually at least 1/8" less than the thickness of the door in question is typical so the hinges have a shoulder as a locater. connect your two scratched lines with this depth marking...now you can see what to remove to make the story pole into a template. I usually waste as much material as possible from this cut out with a band saw or jig saw, then use a hand full of passes to carefully cut the two shoulders, then clean up between them. Verify the hinge fits snuggly between these two shoulders, verify the template spacing against the jamb with the hinges still on it. If you get off a little you can make corrections with a little of the shelf edging heat tape. If you get off a lot....pay more attention! Its really very simple. Clamp this template to the new door and route away, make sure you carefully mark the hinge locations so you get the swing correct, the open side of the mortise on the templates will be flush with the inside of the door being hung.

If you re making the jambs over too, its even easier, just pick your spacing and use the template to route both doors and jambs, remember to create the 1/8" space between jamb head and door with a shim when placing the template.

If you remove the door stops you can screw the template to the jamb in place by locating the screw holes behind the stops and route the jambs in place. I do this sometimes when hanging new doors on old jambs where I'm going up one size in hinges, such as if installing thicker doors, or if the old hinge pockets were a mess on the jamb. I have never considered buying a jig, the good ones are very expensive and you really have to be a professional finish carpenter for that investment to start to make sense IMO, as a mill wright making new prehung doors I wouldn't buy the templates either because my $.29 MDF jig is actually as or more accurate than a $400 jig over a set of 40 doors, and who wouldn't rather have $399.71 left at the end of the job?

[Jim Dwight]

I make my own. I have been using a 1/4 shank 1/2 inch diameter router bit with a 1/2 inch top bearing in my little Bosch Colt. My template is the same size as the hinge. You need to use a scrap 5/8 or thicker but I usually have some. I have used a guide bushing before and then you just make a larger opening to compensate. I normally just make cuts on my table saw to make the template. It doesn't matter if you go a little past in each direction. With a 1/2 bit, a hinge with 1/4 radius corners fits perfectly. A 5/8 rounded corner would indicate a 1 1/4 diameter bit. A square corner hinge requires a little chisel work.

If I am doing one door, sometimes I just screw the hinge to the door and trace around it with a utility knife and then route out the material. You have to be careful but when you get close to the knife mark the material will lift. Probably best not to try and get it all and just do a little chisel work.

For multiple doors I like to make a full length jig.

I fasten the jig to the door and jamp with my pin nailer. On a stain grade surface, the pin holes might show but paint will hide them completely. It holds well enough for the routing.

[Jerome Stanek]

I got mine when I was hinging hundreds of doors and jambs that were different sizes. set it up and cut either 3 or 4 hinges at one time.

[Tom M King]

I know this thread is about templates, but a chisel still gets the best call once in a while. When chiseling hinge butt mortises, you learn real fast why "Butt chisels" are short. On the jamb, the top of the bottom mortise, and bottom of the top mortise require a short chisel.

[Jim Andrew]

I have a Stanley I bought new about 40 years ago. Uses pins, have to be careful they do not come loose as you use it. 2 pins per hinge. Tack it to the jamb, move to the door. Has adjustable stops for 1 3/8 and 1 3 /4" doors.

[julian abram]

I've used the Porter Cable template on a few doors. Pretty simple to use and seems to do a good job, inexpensive seems like about $30 at HD. The mortising bit that came in the kit was sorry, I threw it away after few uses and bought a Freud bit.

[Steve Gojevic]

Thanks everyone for the great replies!

I have free-handed the mortise with a router before, but since I am doing a bunch of interior doors, I was lookinf for something faster.

I think I will make a full-length template that also spaces the hinges as several posters have described. All I need to buy is a pattern bit for the router.

Steve

[Jeff Bartley]

Steve, I make my own jigs just like most have reported. Since you need to buy a pattern bit I'll encourage you to buy a 'lock mortise bit'. I can't remember the make but it's a 1/2" down shear spiral bit with a bearing at the shank. Leaves really smooth edges and I've found it very useful for other routing tasks as well.

[roger wiegand]

I also just make one out of thin plywood when I need one. It's faster and easier to just put one together from scrap than to try to find the parts of a seldom-needed commercial jig. Plus the doors and hinges I'm working on are frequently not a standard size.

[mreza Salav]

Here is the one I made to do the hinge mortises for all the passage doors I made. I made another (similar) one for the entry door I made. It gets clamped to the door so no screw holes:

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One thing to be careful is to use the same jig for the jamb you will may have to flip it upside down (unless you remove the vertical piece that you use to clamp it). In that case (if you flip it) you have to make sure your spacing of the mortises are pretty accurate.

[Tom M King]

Mreza's looks a lot like mine. I just use the first one to make the other two, and they come out perfectly when the first one is made carefully. To me it's easier to just make a left, right, and jamb template than to provide for switching one back and forth.