I built a Morley Mortiser

[Steven Woodward]

Thanks for introducing me to Philip Morley, and showing a Jig that I didn't know I needed until I saw it.

[Bruce Wrenn]

Thanks for introducing me to Philip Morley, and showing a Jig that I didn't know I needed until I saw it.

Also check out Woodsmith / ShopNotes mortiser, which uses router base as guide. Same basic method of construction, just different system for guiding cuts. After weighing both plans, I went with the ShopSmith version.

[Derek Cohen]

For comparison, here is the fixture I built. Inspired by one in FWW magazine, with a few mods of my own.













Regards from Perth

Derek

[Dwayne Watt]

I bought the Morley plans and then realized the limitation of mortise depth that comes with the 3/4" base. I modified the design which coincidently looks much like Derek's but uses the Morley-type clamp board. That extra clamp board length plus horizontal clamp grooves is useful for mortising chair legs and other odd shaped parts (or loose tenons on ends of boards). I happen to have the same router edge guide. Word of warning...that guide flexes just enough that one has to be be very careful to take relatively light passes. Also, taking the mortise ends to full depth initially is also a no-no. They never aligned perfectly with the rest of the mortise cut because of the inherent flex. The guide aspect of the Morley design eliminates this problem but mortise depth is the trade-off that I was not able to overcome.
The Match-Fit clamps have become my favorite accessory for table saw and router jigs.