41 VIDEO HOW TO CUT RECESSED RAIL POCKETS*

In this video tip I want to show you some premium details for doing a good

job on your porch posts. Here's the post here, there's the pyramid top. These tips

apply whether it's a short post along the edge of stairs or whether the post

extends right to a roof holding up a veranda. First thing to take a look at

here are the chamfered corners. There's also that pyramid top made with four

cuts from a handheld circular saw. And these rail pockets here, that's mostly

what I want to talk to you about. This is a mortise that's been routed into the

porch post with the rail fitted right inside. To understand how this works take

a look at the jig that makes this possible. It's a plywood jig and the

shape of the hole in the center is exactly the size of the rail that you

want to fit into the mortise. This shape here. Now this router bit is very

important too. It's a flush trim bit which means that it has square cutters

and a bearing. The bearing is key because it runs around the edge of the opening

in your template. You plunge this down into the wood. It straddles the wood. The

cutters plunge into the post and then you run the router around the outside

with the bearing following the edge of the plywood. This makes a cut in the post

around the perimeter and then you just work the thing back and forth freehand

to remove the waste in the middle, leaving you with the mortise that you

need in order to insert the railing in. Now this has got to happen during

assembly. The post has got to be raised with the pocket cut and the railing

fitted in as the two come together because you can't get them together any

other way