I was recently commissioned (by my wife) to build a mirror frame that would hang on a tiled wall above a bathroom vanity in our home. Since this was to be a permanent fixture that would never be taken down, a simple length of wire hanging on a picture frame hook was out of the question. I needed a solution that would affix the mirror frame to the wall firmly.

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My initial thought was to affix two keyhole escutcheons to both rear faces of the frames two vertical stiles. On the tile wall, I would use a pair of plastic screw anchors to attach the screws. The keyhole escutcheons fit over the screws and provide a firm attachment-in fact, the “firmness” can be controlled by how far from the wall your screw heads protrude. This idea certainly would have worked but it required multiple mortises – one to accommodate the screw head, and another to house the escutcheon itself. No thank you.

During a chance visit to a local woodworking supply house, I happened upon an easier, quicker solution-a keyhole route bit. This $15 bit can create a solid keyhole for simple mounting in less time. At first glance, it might seem as though a plunge router would be the way to go with this bit, but I found the bit so dainty-and my plunge router so large, that I went a different route. After marking the back of my frame for the start point of both keyholes, I drilled out a starter hole that was just slightly larger than the diameter of the keyhole bit at the drill press. Next, I used my trim router to finish up the cut. With the edge guide in place, I set the keyhole bit into the pre-drilled hole, turned on the router, and cut the slot. The result was flawless, and you can bet I’ll be using this technique for future projects.

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