Easy-made mortises for keyhole hangers

Keyhole hangers provide a strong, stable mount for frames, plaques, and shelving, but to make the fixture mount flush to the wall, the hanger needs to be mortised into the back of the shelf or frame. To do this, you need a two-level mortise: one to recess the hanger itself and a deeper one inside it for the screwhead that slides into the hanger. The quickest, most effective way to make the two-level recess is to drill concentric mortises with two sizes of Forstner bits, as shown in the drawing at left. The result is a wall-hugging plaque or picture frame. —Leonard Estrada, Gladstone, Va.