May 22, 2012

Posts Comments

You are here: Home / Archives for Joinery

Wooden hinges as art

January 19, 2011 By

My recent focus has been on making boxes, and also wooden hinges. The hinges must always be functional; but as a side benefit, they are also decorative and, done right, they provide wonderful shadow lines and a welcome element of surprise.

My long-distance friend and fellow blogger, Julio Alonso Díaz, has elevated the task of making wooden hinges for boxes to a new level. Julio is the man behind the blog El Taller Dominical (Sunday Workshop, according to Google Translate – http://artisanflamingo.blogspot.com). In the most recent entry to his blog, Julio shares with us how he makes beautiful wooden hinges. I will not include any details of his process here; instead, I invite you to visit his blog to read the article, using Google Translate. This link will open up Julio’s blog in the English translation; you can decide whether you wish to view the original version in Spanish by clicking on the radio button at the top-right corner.

An aside: Julio calls me names in his article — but I like it!

Here is one example of a prototype hinge Julio made — click on the image to enlarge it:

A beautiful hinge!A wooden hinge; photo courtesy Julio Alonso Díaz
(From his blog)

In his “…limited corner…” of a shop, Julio uses a mix of power tools and hand tools. With the power tools he does the bulk of the shaping of the joint; he also rounds the corners with a nifty jig, to allow easy rotation. Then he switches to hand tools, to create the details that make the hinges a distinct art form.

I hope you will read Julio’s article; but I also hope you will find a way to use his techniques, to incorporate details that will dress up your boxes. I know I will.

I look forward to hearing from you on the following:

  1. Do you ever incorporate wooden hinges in your work and in your boxes?
  2. How do you make your wooden hinges?
  3. Do you create distinctive hinges in your shop?
  4. Which tools do you find essential in making wonderful wooden hinges?

I invite you to read additional articles on this blog, on how I make wooden boxes using the F3 finger joint jig. Sometimes I use use only the D4R dovetail jig; other times I simply mount the F3 on the D4R and make special boxes.

— Al Navas

Filed Under: Blog, Box making, Finger joints, Joinery Tagged With: , , ,

Lid movement on a box with wooden hinges

December 10, 2010 By

I promised to work a little more on the wooden hinges, to see how I could improve the form, the shape, their appearance. This is what I finally glued to the box:

The finished hinge form.

The rounded and lightly lifting distal edges provide a nice shadow line on the lid and on the back of the box – a pleasing, subtle effect.

I frequently participate in some of the online woodworking discussion forums. I shared an earlier version of these hinges on WoodNet, and many questions/suggestions resulted on whether the bottom of the lid would drag on the edge of the box, in this hinge configuration. I had a gut feeling it would not; but some suggested it might.

To be safe, I rounded over the bottom edge or the lid, along the edge where the hinges attach. I also recorded a short video, to see for myself and to share my findings. In this hinge configuration the lid lifts right off the box easily, without dragging on the edge of the box. Did the roundover do this? Or did the high location of the pin cause the lid to lift like it did? I will have to go back and try a lid without the roundover, to be sure.

In the meantime, watch the video below, and let me know what you think:

  1. Is there cause for concern that the lid will drag on the box if the edge is not chamfered or rounded over?
  2. Is the location of the hinge pin responsible for the lid lifting cleanly, as we see in the video?
  3. If someone fully understands the mechanics involved with this hinge design, please share it in the Comments section. Thanks!

Download this episode in Quicktime format
Duration: 2:17 minutes
Size: 16 MB

— Al Navas

.

Filed Under: Blog, Box making, Design, F3 finger joint, Finger joints, Joinery, Leigh jig, Video Tagged With: , , , ,

Fail-safe miter joints for boxes and picture frames

November 30, 2010 By

A shoulder injury two years ago forced me to make a lighter crosscut sled than the much larger, heavier sled I had used for many years. But now that my shoulder is much better I have found a new use for the lighter sled: miter cuts for small boxes. However, mitered crosscuts result in thin and fragile edges on the sides of the kerf area, where the table saw blade runs.

I came up with a solution: make a replaceable insert for the miter crosscut sled – and simply replace this insert as needed. I cut off and removed some plywood from the sled, and sized and inserted a new, removable red oak insert. After setting the blade angle precisely using the Wixey Digital Angle Gauge, I cut the new kerf in the insert at exactly 45°:

Crosscut sled to cut miters on box sides.

I use a wood block to get repeatable length on the box sides:

Detail of removable insert on crosscut miter sled.

The same afternoon I also made a 45° frame sled, fashioned after Gary Rogowski’s picture frame sled, as it appeared in FineWoodworking.com. In the following photo I am confirming that the 90° angle is accurate. The thick walnut fences are screwed tightly against the MDF reference triangle I had screwed to the plywood base:

Close-up of MDF triangle used to align and set the 45° miter fences.

Also shown in the previous photo are short blocks on each walnut fence; these will allow clamping of extension wings, for various attachments.

In the following photo I show the picture frame sled in use. One side of the miter joint is cut on one fence, and the second side is cut on the opposite fence – this way, the miters will always be perfect, as any angle errors are canceled out:

Sled used to cut 45° miters on frame sides.

I now share my results. First, the the miter corner on the little box I featured a while back, in the article Letting the wood speak:

Mitered corner on a small box.

I will also be making some picture frames. My first test using the picture frame sled shows a perfect miter:

First miter corner test on a frame - the frame is still on the frame clamp.

I am finally confident that my miters will be perfect!

I would love to hear from you:

  1. How do you currently cut your miters?
  2. Are you happy with the results?
  3. What improvements would you make to get better miters?
  4. Are you already cutting miters with a variation of these sleds?

— Al Navas

Filed Under: Blog, Box making, Design, Jigs, Joinery, Miter Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Page optimized by WP Minify WordPress Plugin