Hinging MDF

how about edge banding it with a ¼” strip of wood or something?
glue the wood to the mdf and then screw the hinge into the wood?

-- I love the smell of sawdust in the morning!

Maybe use strap hinges so the screws would be in the face of the MDF and not the edge.

-- Jason - Aim High!!

We always added a couple of inches of hardwood to the hinge edge. Either tongue & groove or biscuits on to the mdf. and sand flush. We used this system on large mdf doors some of them 1 1/2” thick, never had a problem.

-- Lynn "If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right". Henry Ford

Why not use European cabinet hinges? Think of the top of the hamper as the cabinet door, and then you would be screwing all fasteners into the face of MDF. They are designed to allow clearance of the overlapping doors when opened, so it shouldn’t create any binding issues.

Good luck!

-- David from Indiana --

European cabinet hinges – Great idea. I hadn’t considered that.

I like the adding of strip of hardwood to the back edge of the hinge. I think that’s what I going to try and use the piano hinge. I’ll make sure my plane is nice and sharp too so that I can flush it up.

Thanks!

-- Chunk's Workshop pictures: http://spadfest.rcspads.com/thumbnails.php?album=135

How about drilling for wood plugs where the hinge screws go. Then glue the wood plugs.

Lots of great ideas here. Thanks for asking the question Chunk.

Jerry

-- Jerry Boshear, Professional Kitchen Designer, amature woodworker.

Here’s what I did and it turned out great.

Disclaimer: I do a lot of work by the TLAR (That Looks About Right) method.

So I have a lot of little piece of walnut in a pile on the floor from days pasts. I got a couple of pieces a milled them down. I didn’t measure it but I think it was about 1” wide and 1/2” thick when finished. Then I cut a rabbet on the bottom side of the top just so the hardwood set about 1/64 proud. I glued them in the rabbet and used my block plane to flush it up all around.

The rabbet may seem like an unnecessary added step but I didn’t want to be able to see the joint from the top. Now the top looks like one piece and I have a nice piece of hardwood to hold the screws. Now the only joint that will be seen is in the back on the edges, someplace that will never be noticed. So in a way, I used a combination of plugging and adding a hard wood edge.

Now for the final coat of paint! Thanks to everyone for the great tips.

Chunk

-- Chunk's Workshop pictures: http://spadfest.rcspads.com/thumbnails.php?album=135

Send pics! Thanks.

-- Vicki on the Eastern Shore of MD

On MDF I just squirt a little bit of Super Glue in the hole when I drive in the screw. I haven’t had any problems.

-- You can get more with a kind word and a 2 by 4, than you can with just a kind word.