Routing for Door Hardware

[Superman]

I'm not sure what terms to use in searching for information on this. Hoping you guys can help me. Door hardware sometimes requires some sort of routing. The striker plates that get installed into door jams are flush with the surface of the door jamb because a very shallow rectangle has been routed to accept those plates. Similarly, the edge of my door also needs similar shallow rectangular routing to accept the door lock hardware tongue thingies.

I have a Dremel tool. Three, actually. One has a small spinning shaft, one takes a round blade about 3" in diameter and another vibrates which can operate a triangular sanding pad or certain cutting bits. I do not want to buy a friggin' router if I can help it.

Advise me please.

[TimT]

Just get the attachment for the dremel that converts it into a router

Plunge router



I used this attachment since it was all they had in Homie D, and I needed it now

[id10t]

There is a $20 kit with plastic templates and a couple of different hole saws to use on a drill. Pin in place, mark, cut/dremel/chisel/drill/whatever out. Pin the other in place, marks center point for drilling handle hole. Other side does lock works hole. Works great. Even an id10t like me can do it (I've replaced every inner door in our house at least once, and several of them 3x... I have destructive kids). Part I have trouble with besides the precise placement is cutting the bottom/top to fit, always end up screwing something up, and the lowes folks won't do it for me even with exact measurement and a promise of no-take-backs ....

I end up using/needing to use - circular saw (trim top/bottom to fit height wise w/ carpet, etc), hand planer (fix width, usually less than 1/4"), chisel(s) and hand drill to cut/saw from template, and template kit.

[john walker's workshop]

Sharp wood chisel and a hammer. Yeah, old technology.

[Superman]

Originally Posted by john walker's workshop

Sharp wood chisel and a hammer. Yeah, old technology.

Honestly, I'm thinking this. Chisels and a box cutter to create the borders.

[craigster59]

Originally Posted by john walker's workshop

Sharp wood chisel and a hammer. Yeah, old technology.

This. A few pops to outline the strike plate, a few horizontal cuts and chisel out the material. Hand shave it to smooth.

[wilnj]

Originally Posted by john walker's workshop

Sharp wood chisel and a hammer. Yeah, old technology.

Yes, unless you’re doing more than a few doors, this is the way to go.


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[TimT]

Sharp wood chisel and a hammer. Yeah, old technology.

Yes simple. However a lot of new hardware comes with the leafs of the hing that have a radius

[Nickshu]

Originally Posted by TimT

Yes simple. However a lot of new hardware comes with the leafs of the hing that have a radius

This is where I have had trouble doing it by hand. I guess a chisel that matches the radius would be the ticket but I have never seen one (but have not looked either).

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[look 171]

Originally Posted by Nickshu

This is where I have had trouble doing it by hand. I guess a chisel that matches the radius would be the ticket but I have never seen one (but have not looked either).

Sent from my Galaxy S9 using Tapatalk

5/8" gouge, not a chisel for the radius. That looks like a 5/8" radius hinge. I have never been a big fan of radius cornered hinges. I like the traditional sq. corners. If a router is needed, use a 5/8" bit and a template.

[look 171]

hammer and a chisel would be my choice if you don't routers set up to do this.

[john70t]

Originally Posted by id10t

There is a $20 kit with plastic templates and a couple of different hole saws to use on a drill.

Careful- those big toothed 'hole saws' will skip and bounce and jump around and totally mess up the door with unpainted hardwood and metal facing.

I used the above Irwin template for the first time and the Shlage deadbolt did not work for some reason.
Everything looked like it lined up per the template but the thing did not work.
(vertical was way off, not backset, fwiw)
I've installed about 20 other locks successfully using patience and eyeballing it.

If the hole is totally screwed up, you can mortise in a flush plate and glue reinforcement wood into the missing space) but it will look very commercial ugly without a nice plate.

[wdfifteen]

Originally Posted by Superman

Honestly, I'm thinking this. Chisels and a box cutter to create the borders.

That's the way I do it. Watch a Youtube video to see the proper way to use a wood chisel. The box cutter does the radii.

[DanielDudley]

Originally Posted by Superman

Honestly, I'm thinking this. Chisels and a box cutter to create the borders.

That will serve you. A new and sharp chisel should only cost a few bucks. Using the chisel with a small hammer like a wood carver might will be easier for you to control than to try to use your hands to push it. Chopping straight down into the wood perpendicular to the grain will tenderize it and help to control the depth of your cut.

If you are going in from the side, turn the blade so it is flat side down, and use the flat edge as a guide as you go in. If you are coming in from the top, turn the angle down and hold the angled portion of the blade parallel to the surface. Tapping the chisel is a lot easier to control than pushing the blade, which puts a lot of stored energy into a sharp tool. A little at a time. Shavings come off easily, chunks do not.

I'll bet that there are a million tutorials on YouTube.

[DanielDudley]

Originally Posted by john70t

Careful- those big toothed 'hole saws' will skip and bounce and jump around and totally mess up the door with unpainted hardwood and metal facing..

Not to mention your hand, if anything gets away from you.

[Zeke]

"I'll bet that there are a million tutorials on YouTube."

There are a lot but most of them are pretty amateurish.

One thing that is helpful when you have to do this by hand is to locate and screw the striker plate on top of the jamb surface. Double check that this is where you want it and then heavily scribe around the strike to establish your cut. Remove the strike and use the chisel every 1/4" to make a cut as deep as the thickness of the strike (not much as most are around 3/32nds). Rake out the chips and clean up by entering the mortise from the edge leveling out the mortise.

When I'm doing little strikes like those for flush and surface bolts, I always screw them down first to establish the location. If you need to make an adjustment, this is the time to do it. Fill the holes you just drilled with a small dowel or fat toothpick and re-do.

[Zeke]

Funny this thread popped up today. Last night just for G & G's I did a YT search for "hanging a new door in an existing jamb." There were a total of 5 videos and 2 of them were by Norm Abrams. Of the other 3, one was a joke and the other 2 said to lay the old door on top of the new one and trace and transfer all the dimensions, etc. As a pro door hanger, any time I did that the door came out not as good as it would have if I started from scratch. I quit that method in the 70's.

And what if you don't have the original door? I've never made a video but if I did, it would be a tutorial, even a treatise, about door hanging. It's not too hard but very few understand it in modern times.

I've hung well over a 1000 doors. Fooked a few up too, but I seem to have done pretty well when the expense of the door got up there. Hanging a $5000 door will get your attention. I might take a few hours on one like that.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by Zeke

Funny this thread popped up today. Last night just for G & G's I did a YT search for "hanging a new door in an existing jamb." There were a total of 5 videos and 2 of them were by Norm Abrams. Of the other 3, one was a joke and the other 2 said to lay the old door on top of the new one and trace and transfer all the dimensions, etc. As a pro door hanger, any time I did that the door came out not as good as it would have if I started from scratch. I quit that method in the 70's.

And what if you don't have the original door? I've never made a video but if I did, it would be a tutorial, even a treatise, about door hanging. It's not too hard but very few understand it in modern times.

I've hung well over a 1000 doors. Fooked a few up too, but I seem to have done pretty well when the expense of the door got up there. Hanging a $5000 door will get your attention. I might take a few hours on one like that.

Funny. I try that tracing trick and had mixed results as well. I just rather hang the dang thing and do it my way. So you take it off a few more times, big deal. I hired this loud mouth union door hanger a couple years ago. He couldn't hang himself if I made a noose for him. I haven't come across too many that can hang a door or window with a continuous 3/32 reveal. Forget about asking for the 2.5 degree bevel on the door's edge.

[Zeke]

Both edges.

[Scott Douglas]

I have a good appreciation for just how hard this is to do re: hang a new door in an existing jam.
When our daughter last came to visit from Japan, she and our granddaughter got caught in the bedroom the baby was trying to go sleep in when the door knob mechanism broke. We were lucky our daughter was in the room at the time. We tried taking the knob off but couldn't get the 'bolt' to retract. We opened a window and I climbed in and removed the hinge pins, no way that door was opening. So I proceeded to destroy the door by ripping out the 'bolt' portion.
I called my friend who is a wood working type to help (actually do the job) putting in the new one. Only took us about 3 hours or so. Turned out nice and I couldn't have done it by myself. I have no patience when it comes to working with wood.