Spare The Hammer And Spoil The Mortise

This little tool will save you time when you’re mortising latch plates by hand. Rather than aligning the latch plate and cutting around it with a utility knife to score an outline, you just stick the Latch Mortiser into the bolt hole, align the face, and give it a few whacks.

Don’t be shy with the hammer; Templaco makes this 1″ by 2-1/4″ rectangular mortiser from “tough stuff,” so they claim it’ll take a beating. Sharp edges on all four sides outline the mortise, so now all you have to do is finish it with a chisel and some sweat.

Templaco’s Latch Mortiser will run you $17.

Latch Mortiser [Templaco]
Street Pricing [Google Products]