Hinges - Woodworking Talk

Stick · 11-20-2007, 09:02 AM

Ok, I have a hinge question. I'm making a large Military Retirement shadow box (25 X 35) with a cabinet door style front. What type of hinge should I use? I really want to hide the hinge, but a Blum style hinge is too big for the door frame. I thought of a piano hinge, but not sure how much of it I can hide. There's also the Newbie thing here as I've only installed door hinges before, so I'm not even sure how to install a piano hinge. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

cabinetman · 11-20-2007, 09:13 AM

These hinges are called "invisible hinges". They get mortised in and are about the least visible hinge you could use. It takes some accurate mortising, and they work great.

mdlbldrmatt135 · 11-20-2007, 09:17 AM

There's also the Barrel type: http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?p...Barrel%20hinge

Stick · 11-20-2007, 04:36 PM

Thanks for the hinge ideas. Do any of you have experience with either of these? The barrell hinges look really easy, but I'm not sure how they would hold up a 35 X 25 cabinet door with glass. I might give the invisible hinges a try. I'll run up to my local Woodcrafters and see what they have also. Thanks again.

mdlbldrmatt135 · 11-20-2007, 08:04 PM

The soss hinges take time to route.IMHO as long as they're not alot of stress on them they're OK.. A Furn. company I worked for use them in some of the conference tables we built (to hide the Data comm stuff in the center of the table) We usually had a small lip to reinforce them, when in the closed position (they laid on the top when open)

Stick · 11-21-2007, 09:08 AM

I'm going to look into the Soss hinge. I'm worried about the weight of the door, but I think if I put three hinges on the door instead of two it will be plenty. They aren't cheap though are they....

cabinetman · 11-21-2007, 10:04 AM

The barrel hinges are easier to install by only having to drill holes. I didn't suggest them as they didn't seem as substantially strong enough as the type that gets mortised in. After using both, the arms on the barrel hinges seemed to be inferior to the "concealed" type.

Neither of the types are adjustable, but a very minor adjustment can be made to the mortise before screwing them down.