Tried a plunge router bit for hinge mortises, wish I did this sooner

Been cutting hinge mortises with a chisel for 7 years, finally grabbed a 1/2 inch spiral bit and used a template. Cleaner cuts in maybe 5 minutes per door instead of 20, but the real win was zero tearout on some oak that always gave me grief. Anyone else switch to router-based mortising and never look back?

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nora_wells5814d ago

That "zero tearout on oak" line really got my attention, since oak was the reason I finally broke down and bought a router template kit myself. Before that I spent years fighting the grain with chisels, and the switch cut my hinge work down to under half the time with edges so clean I barely needed to sand. Now I just set the depth stop once and run all three passes, and it honestly makes me wonder why I waited so long.