Tried using a palm router freehand to carve out a hinge mortise and ended up with a hole shaped like Florida

I was in a hurry on a closet door install in Phoenix last Tuesday, figured I could skip the jig for once, and now I have a 3/4 inch deep groove that looks like the Gulf Coast instead of a clean rectangle for the hinge, has anyone else had a tool fight back this bad?

3 comments

3 Comments

shane1709d ago

Florida's not bad, next time you'll get Texas with that router.

wade_anderson9d ago

@shane170 nailed it, at least you didn't end up with the whole country of Texas in your door. I heard a guy on a podcast say he did that once and just called it "modern art" and hung the door anyway.

thomas.river8d ago

Well, that's brilliant! I actually did something similar with a chair I was trying to refinish. Ended up routing a hole right through the seat and just called it a "rustic farmhouse repair" and sold it at a garage sale for twenty bucks. @shane170 is spot on about Florida being manageable though - I had a buddy who once took a chunk out of his kitchen counter while trying to install a new sink and just glued it back in and called it character. People will buy anything if you call it intentional, I swear. The podcast guy with Texas in his door is my new hero though - that's way better than my chair hole. Wonder if he charged extra for the "art piece" or gave it away.