How To : Mortise Door Hinge

A standard operation for anyone who retrofits doors into existing frames or must resize a door or opening to the available space, door hinge installations will crop up in the life of a woodworker or cabinetmaker sooner or later.

Most videos offer a benchtop demonstration on a piece of scrap wood.

In this video you will see how to mount a hinge on an actual door with two techniques - "old school" with a scribe and hand chisel and "new school with a router and template guide.

You can buy a commercial guide or make one out of thin plywood.

I used a piece of thin plywood for my template.

As always, remember this is a demonstration, not tutorial.

If you wish to do this yourself seek the assistance of an experienced woodworker.

For other tips and commentary or wildly improbable tales of Kamikaze Pigeons, Pottyology or Window Glazing visit my blog:

www.handyguy.wordpress.com

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• mortise door hinge
• carpentry
• door hinge
• door
• How-to
• DIY
• Do It Yourself
• doors

[HandyGuyKattermann]

@DoctorGarkle For better or worse each generation decides on the highest, best use of available resources.Romans thought nothing of clear cut forests to build bridges to conquer their enemies.

The British empire followed with their famous oak Ship of The Line and Yew Long Bow. In our time we barbarically mismanage natural forests with Smokey the Bear Fire suppression policies and use crop wood to build intricate high technology homes with service lives of fifty to 100 years. C'est la vie

[DoctorGarkle]

@HandyGuyKattermann Yeah, I tend to forget that what passes for wood these days (at least as sold by the big corporate home-improvement chains), is a far cry from the old-growth wood that once built the nation's homes. By the way, that is some amazing carpentry you show. I can't do that. I wonder how many people actually can. Very few I suspect.

[HandyGuyKattermann]

@DoctorGarkle "Old School" works well with "old school" materials- straight grain clear & better fir, cedar, redwood etc. With a filled core slab door made from finger jointed edge lumber and 3 ply veneer faces, "new school" is the way to go.....

[DoctorGarkle]

This (the "Old-School" technique) is one of the more challenging tasks in home improvement. It requires hand-eye coordination, careful measurement and planning. It's actually rather gratifying--at least it is to me.