speaking of mortising---watzit?

Frank Fusco

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The item below was inherited from my father. But, first, to answer the unasked question: No, he never taught me anything about woodworking. Refused to. I learned to operate a broom and how to kill alley rats with bricks.
Anyhow, I'm sure this is some kind of tool used for squaring corners for mortises. It is spring loaded and the black part is a square cutter. I've never used it, and it looks unused, but I presume you drill a hole then place this in the corners and give a whack to cut square. It is 7/8"X7/8". Any further enlightenment would be appreciated.
 

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You guessed right, you lign in up in the corner and smack it with a hammer, then voila, square corner. I use mine after I have routed out a section of whatever, then follow up with this corner chisel.
 
The item below was inherited from my father. But, first, to answer the unasked question: No, he never taught me anything about woodworking. Refused to. I learned to operate a broom and how to kill alley rats with bricks.
Anyhow, I'm sure this is some kind of tool used for squaring corners for mortises. It is spring loaded and the black part is a square cutter. I've never used it, and it looks unused, but I presume you drill a hole then place this in the corners and give a whack to cut square. It is 7/8"X7/8". Any further enlightenment would be appreciated.

You got it Frank, its a gizmo for squaring off round corners. Probably the reason it looks unused is because it doesn't work very well - at least I could never get a good clean straight cut with mine, which is buried somewhere in my shop.:doh: :doh:
 
They are marginally useful as long as the parts actually align. Many do not. I received one as a present made by Lee Valley by a well meaning person one year. It happens to work very well. But by the time I've dug it out of the drawer, I would be done by using a chisel alone.

I did use it for squaring the corners for some hinge plates a few times if for no other reason to honor the giftee--it was used on their present the next year.

Take care, Mike
 
to the best of my knowledge when stanley introduced the hinge jig used with a router these little guys where included in the package so as to square the round cornered mortise for the square cornered hinges that where available at that time....now both the portercable and bosch jigs include one but they`re seldome used today `cause most door hinges have the corners clipped with a 1/4" radius so as to fit right off the bit.....i have one that lives with my door hangin` tools `cause even today most ball bearing door hinges and all custom ones i`ve seen have square corners and for this purpose alone the corner chisels work well.....tod
 
Thanks guys. And a bit of history too. I'll just keep it in the little drawer where it has been for the past six years. Who knows, one day I might need to clean up a corner. Nah....not me. :rofl:
 
They do work BUT you have to take them apart and hone the flat to a keen surface and then only use them for squaring the corners on hinge recesses on doors not in excess of 1/8" (something that is not eyeballed too well). If you mortice your hinges with a router and then you can clean up the corners but don't expect a precision job, just a quick and easy job (we all know what quick and easy does to a project) You can route the inside of faux rails & stiles and then clean out the corners but a chisel does a better job.
 
I read the original magazine article Travis, most people have no idea what it is. Its a door lock mortiser, remember those narrow cast iron door locks that fit way down in the old fashioned doors. The handwheel clamps are to center it on the door, Your drill 2 holes at the end of the mortise for the notched rods to go down into, position the mortiser in the center, there are limit guides for these notched rods to hold them to the inside of the holes. The notched rods pull the shaving up outa the hole as the chisel cuts and the rods cycle up and down. Those mortices are rather deep and this machine will cut the deep mortice required in a matter of minutes. I have one of them. Mine is in good shape, I had to replicate one of the rods, but it has been used a lot, it came out of a cabinet shop originally.
 
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