Q: Hi Richard, i have a question. I installed entry doors and the door company has been providing these types of roller catches for the entry door in combination with a back to back pull and a keyed cylinder. I don't have a mortise router, and I did not want to spend the money on the mortise since the door manufacturer already makes the pocket for the mortise locks when they are required but do not prep for the roller latches because we do that at the jobsite at time of installation. I bought a Souber Mortice Lock Fitting Jig and I ordered the accessory to drill off center since a lot of the doors we install are 2 1/4" and i can not center the roller latch since the strike is not long to accommodate the thickness of the astragal on the inactive door. My question is this, after I do the mortise for the body of the roller latch, I have been using a simple chisel to square out the mortise pocket but it is a pain in the butt. What would you recommend I use to square the pocket at the jobsite. Something I can use with a portable drill. I was thinking (but I have not tried) is to drill small holes in the corners before I do the pocket to make it easier to ue the chisel, but I am wondering if there is a better and faster way to square out the pocket. I would really appreciate your input on this. Thanks a million.
A: Here are some thoughts that I have on your project:
first I would invest into a corner chisel as seen here
:
Click Here
I have personally owned countless dozens of these very handy tools and find them to be a very reliable very fast and efficient way to go about squaring out the corners. I would not even remotely consider using a hammer and chisel to do the project even if you have to do them occasionally.
Regarding the squaring of the corners for the body preparation of the roller latch I've always just used a simple hammer and chisel and or if we have determined this an adequate means to square out that pocket to make the additional room necessary to accommodate the body of the hardware.
Regarding not centering the roller latch in the thickness of the door yes of course a thicker door would demand an extended lip strike which I would like for you to keep in mind as something that we can supply to you. I would argue that offsetting the roller latch in the edge of the door to account for the standard kip length would be less than desirable when it comes to installation as far as aesthetics go. Therefore keep us in mind the next time this project comes up in this requirement arises because we can indeed manufacturing for a roller latch application.
I am not familiar specifically with the Souber version of this light duty mortise pocket maker but can tell you that I have personally used the Porter Cable 513 Heavy-Duty Lock Mortiser and in fact on probably owned a dozen of these over my career as seen here:
Download File
but honestly I would not use any of those lightweight tools whatsoever because, while the cost of the heavyweight Porter Cable 513 is substantial you might be able to find them used and in my experience the older tools are superior in durability to the newer versions and can tell you that you won't have to make very many preparations to fully appreciate the financial investment in this tool - translation - it's going to be a tool that you'll have your entire career as long as, as an aside, you keep them away from the dust that mortising mineral core fire-rated doors creates. If you're going to mortise fire rated wood doors have an assistant hold a shop-vac to draw all the dust into it and away from the fittings and the glides and the posts of the tool because that will bring this too old to a premature end of life.
Back to your original question - you could certainly drill four small strategically-located pilot holes in those four corners where you're going to then mortise for your latch, making the amount of labor to remove that radiused corners of the pocket less - however I've done thousands of these and the thought really never occurred to me meaning i'm incredibly lazy so therefore my mind never registered it as a lot of work.