# Old School Mortised in Butt Hinge



## Waldschrat (Dec 29, 2008)

*The Start; layout*

So here is my second blog series, for lacking of a better term, the "old school butt hinge." 
It does not have to be old school, but it is. Why? It takes time, practice, skill, and work to make this almost lost style of hinge work.

Thats why we are here, to learn wood working, practice makes perfect, and I will now introduce the hinge:










Of course there are left and right hinges… so pay attention.

This is the typical straight leaved hinge. You notice the holes, they are what hold the hinge in, with screws, either from inside, so you do not see them from the outside, but one could also put the screws outside. The only thing.

Be Brave! You have practically one chance to make these perfect. To quote a hero and mentor of mine:

Try not. Do or do not, there is no try.

Ok the skeptic, may be sitting there, arms folded saying, "yeah, right, skill? its just a hinge!" Well, I can only say, its very difficult to correct a falsely mortised in hinge. just that simple, and if the screws holding in the hinge are not accurately drilled the door hangs crooked, thats all she wrote… if its for a customer, you can count on making a new door.

But the reward of having a very sleek, and uncommon hinge is well worth the effort and patience.

You will need these tools:
Hammer
Mortising chisel
Clamp
Pencil
measuring instrument
awl
screw sinking tool

Parts/materials needed:
butthinges,
screws, that fit the holes but short enough not to go through door

Ok, I had to build in a door on an exisiting frame, and already existing hinges. So unfortunatly in this blog I am actually only doing half the work as the the old hinges, the male piece, is already in the door frame, and my job was to build a new door, and since the old door must remain complete, I must put in the new female half of the hinges in the new door to match the old ones. The procedure is the same for both halves of the hinges, so actually you are not missing much other than that, when working on the door frame, you can not work on the bench.

Another thing I would like to point out, is that since I had made the mortises in the door before I had made the pictures, so for the sake of taking pictures, I made another mortise out of a left over scrap… its the same work again so nothing missed.

Ok now I will start the procedure here:

First step is to hold the new door up to the already built in hinges… old or new, to mark the edge of the hinge so w know where to start the mortise, do the on the upper edge of the hinge in the wall to the edge of the door… use a sharp, soft pencil, if the pencil is too hard you might not find the mark again. (note that you will not have the male piece, its already in the door frame… )










Second step, to to the work shop with the door and hold the female hinge on this line and mark the other edge, so now we have the width of the hinge. Since this is a door that has a relief going around, we have to transfer these marks to the inside of the relief:










Your new best friend, the mortising chisel










It must be sharp, and the back side polished to an almost mirror










And it must have a straight back… you might notice that this is slightly bent, which is not good, but for this relatively shallow hinge it should not provide a problem, we just need to make shallower cuts.










Ok now we are ready to start cutting. I will post this in another section of the blog. So please be patient!


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## Dennisgrosen (Nov 14, 2009)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Start; layout*
> 
> So here is my second blog series, for lacking of a better term, the "old school butt hinge."
> It does not have to be old school, but it is. Why? It takes time, practice, skill, and work to make this almost lost style of hinge work.
> ...


6 ours and still waiting you realy put the patients under stress :--))

no kidden 
but I realy look forward to see what
you come up with

Dennis


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## Waldschrat (Dec 29, 2008)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Start; layout*
> 
> So here is my second blog series, for lacking of a better term, the "old school butt hinge."
> It does not have to be old school, but it is. Why? It takes time, practice, skill, and work to make this almost lost style of hinge work.
> ...


patience! Adventure, excitement, a Jedi craves not these things.

ok ok, I will get on the next chapter of the blog, I have to help someone move tonight from Starnberg to Partenkirchen, and do not think I will get time until the weekend.


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## Dennisgrosen (Nov 14, 2009)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Start; layout*
> 
> So here is my second blog series, for lacking of a better term, the "old school butt hinge."
> It does not have to be old school, but it is. Why? It takes time, practice, skill, and work to make this almost lost style of hinge work.
> ...


( sorry but I don´t think I ever will enter the neveu of being a jedi in the woodworld


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## dvail12 (Jan 1, 2013)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Start; layout*
> 
> So here is my second blog series, for lacking of a better term, the "old school butt hinge."
> It does not have to be old school, but it is. Why? It takes time, practice, skill, and work to make this almost lost style of hinge work.
> ...


Thanks you for posting this. I found it by sheer luck. I have seen this type of hinge application on a number of antiques. I have now an instance where I need to perform such an installation on a reproduction piece. I have a number of mortising chisels, but have never seen the one you used. Was it a lucky find at a tool auction, or is it still being manufactured?

The hinges used in your blog are flag hinges that you offset yourself. Is it always done this way? Are there long leaf butt hinges made for this purpose?

Thanks in advance if you can offer any assistance.

DVail


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## Waldschrat (Dec 29, 2008)

*The Mortising*

So, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we just finished laying out where the butt hing is going to be mortised in. Now we need to do the actual mortising. This can actually be fun! well as long as the mortising chisel is sharp and nothing goes wrong, for example mortising in the wrong spot, or crooked or cracking the door frame. Which brings me to my next point. We need to put a clamp on the area we are going to be working on, or else our beautiful, perfectly fitting, emaculately joined door frame, will look like, ... well, I can't think of anything witty at the moment, but it will not look pretty.

I try to keep scraps, or cutoff pieces from the cheeks of through mortise and tennon joint and put them in a small box next to the bench. They make great packers so we do not put dents in the wood from the clamps.

(keep in mind I have already mortised the door, we want to hang and this is just an extra scrap piece with the exact same cross section and rebate, for showing purposes, so in reality you would have to fix the door ein the bench hooks or clamp it to the side of the workbench)










So we beginn by setting the mortising Chisel on the line or marking we made earlier, and hold it flat agains the rebate. Note: If you door happens not to have a rebate then use a guide block and clamp it down to the door frame.

And we lightly at first pound on the chisel with a hammer, and go to the other line and do the same and go back and forth until we have some "holes" in a line. We flip the Mortising chisel so that the mirror side is facing us , away from the rebate, and do the same, lightly at first.



















Ok so we keep this up and with a medium force, with a bit of feeling, not brut force. The chisel is after all only made out of tempered steel, and is thin. We keep doing this until we are about 5 mm deep. Then comes a bit of a different technique. We angle the chisel around 30 degrees and pound it in and flip and pound it in, back and forth between the marks or width of the hinge we would like to mortise in.



















You will beginn to notice that the little "hooks" on the front of the chisel are pulling out the wood fibres and dust from the mortise



















Now just a reminder before we get carried away in our mortising frenzy, (I know once you get going its kind of fun) we need to alway think of keeping the mortising chisel going in to the wood straight, so the hinge is straight, and that we do not, with our wiggeling of the chisel when we are trying to free it, that we do not "mash up" where the mark is. It just doesn't look good. And if we are going to go through the effort then we should at least make it look we knew what we were doing, even if we didn't. ;-) thats my trick anyway!

Just to illustrate what I am describe.










Ok so, moving right along… we are pounding away, having a great time. All good times come to an end. So how deep do we need to chisel? of course we could measure the hinge from the pin to the edge of the leaf, and measure the hole, or we could do what I like to do, and thats just simply holding the hinge leaf with the chisel and make a visual approximation, and thats close enough for rock and roll.










In the picture you should be able to draw an imaginary line from the about the last row of "teeth" on the chisel and see thats about the depth we need, plus a little more so make sure nothing is in the way, because as you can see the cutting edge is set back a bit from the points of the chisel and thats where behind that the teeth start, the teeth are what removes the material so thats pretty much where the usable "mortise depth" is cut.

Ok now we have reached the depth that we need.










Lets try that hinge, see if she fits!










That looks pretty good.

now, I would like to demonstrate what happens with out clamps on the side










Yeah, I know, its like looking at a train wreck. But that is most likely what happens if you forget the clamp.

I will post next on how to mount and fix the hinges.

Well, I hope that you all enjoyed reading through this, and hopefully found it interesting enough to look out and wait for the next chapter in this blog… "so stay tuned same bat time, same bat channel!"


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## Dennisgrosen (Nov 14, 2009)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Mortising*
> 
> So, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we just finished laying out where the butt hing is going to be mortised in. Now we need to do the actual mortising. This can actually be fun! well as long as the mortising chisel is sharp and nothing goes wrong, for example mortising in the wrong spot, or crooked or cracking the door frame. Which brings me to my next point. We need to put a clamp on the area we are going to be working on, or else our beautiful, perfectly fitting, emaculately joined door frame, will look like, ... well, I can't think of anything witty at the moment, but it will not look pretty.
> 
> ...


great toturial you have done
even I can follow the steps
so if I can understand it
it´s a very well done
from me thank´s one
more time for sharing 
some of the secrets

Dennis


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## patron (Apr 2, 2009)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Mortising*
> 
> So, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we just finished laying out where the butt hing is going to be mortised in. Now we need to do the actual mortising. This can actually be fun! well as long as the mortising chisel is sharp and nothing goes wrong, for example mortising in the wrong spot, or crooked or cracking the door frame. Which brings me to my next point. We need to put a clamp on the area we are going to be working on, or else our beautiful, perfectly fitting, emaculately joined door frame, will look like, ... well, I can't think of anything witty at the moment, but it will not look pretty.
> 
> ...


this is very interesting ,

but i sure am glad 
we don't have to do that 
with every hinge now ,
i may have looked for 
different work long ago !


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## JAGWAH (Dec 15, 2009)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Mortising*
> 
> So, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we just finished laying out where the butt hing is going to be mortised in. Now we need to do the actual mortising. This can actually be fun! well as long as the mortising chisel is sharp and nothing goes wrong, for example mortising in the wrong spot, or crooked or cracking the door frame. Which brings me to my next point. We need to put a clamp on the area we are going to be working on, or else our beautiful, perfectly fitting, emaculately joined door frame, will look like, ... well, I can't think of anything witty at the moment, but it will not look pretty.
> 
> ...


Years ago I had to repair a 19th century French wardrobe cabinet. I rebuilt the knife-hinge side of the door and face of the cabinet. I wish I had, had this tool. It was a difficult task mortising a 3" verticle slot 3/32" wide and 1 1/4" deep. First time I had ever seen that kind of hinge.

I may never have to do that type of work again but I think I may need to get a set of these.

Excellent tutorial, thanks.


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Mortising*
> 
> So, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we just finished laying out where the butt hing is going to be mortised in. Now we need to do the actual mortising. This can actually be fun! well as long as the mortising chisel is sharp and nothing goes wrong, for example mortising in the wrong spot, or crooked or cracking the door frame. Which brings me to my next point. We need to put a clamp on the area we are going to be working on, or else our beautiful, perfectly fitting, emaculately joined door frame, will look like, ... well, I can't think of anything witty at the moment, but it will not look pretty.
> 
> ...


Excellent blog Nicholas clearly photographed and explained. I would like to find a rasp chisel like you have.


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## TopamaxSurvivor (May 2, 2008)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Mortising*
> 
> So, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we just finished laying out where the butt hing is going to be mortised in. Now we need to do the actual mortising. This can actually be fun! well as long as the mortising chisel is sharp and nothing goes wrong, for example mortising in the wrong spot, or crooked or cracking the door frame. Which brings me to my next point. We need to put a clamp on the area we are going to be working on, or else our beautiful, perfectly fitting, emaculately joined door frame, will look like, ... well, I can't think of anything witty at the moment, but it will not look pretty.
> 
> ...


Interesting!!


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## JAGWAH (Dec 15, 2009)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Mortising*
> 
> So, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we just finished laying out where the butt hing is going to be mortised in. Now we need to do the actual mortising. This can actually be fun! well as long as the mortising chisel is sharp and nothing goes wrong, for example mortising in the wrong spot, or crooked or cracking the door frame. Which brings me to my next point. We need to put a clamp on the area we are going to be working on, or else our beautiful, perfectly fitting, emaculately joined door frame, will look like, ... well, I can't think of anything witty at the moment, but it will not look pretty.
> 
> ...


*Nicholas*, Did you custom make your chisel? If not what brand name or supplier do you use? 
Thanks Bob


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## Waldschrat (Dec 29, 2008)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Mortising*
> 
> So, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we just finished laying out where the butt hing is going to be mortised in. Now we need to do the actual mortising. This can actually be fun! well as long as the mortising chisel is sharp and nothing goes wrong, for example mortising in the wrong spot, or crooked or cracking the door frame. Which brings me to my next point. We need to put a clamp on the area we are going to be working on, or else our beautiful, perfectly fitting, emaculately joined door frame, will look like, ... well, I can't think of anything witty at the moment, but it will not look pretty.
> 
> ...


Whoh, thanks first of all for the positive responses.

*Jagwah*, your work would have been made a lot easier, if you had some of these chisels. But Patron has a point too… there are machines that do this kind of work, I have never had one in the hand though… I do not know where one could even buy one. I do not know the make off hand, I will have to look closly at the stamped in name. No, I did not make this, nor do I posess the skills to make such a tool, although I wish I did. That chisel is probably older than the guy on your profile pic. (no intended insults if thats you, by the way, I really wish I could grow a nice beard like that.) Speaking of beards…

*Jim*, Did you call it a Rasp Chisel? well obviously you did, but this was a more rhetorical question… my point being I thought they were a kind of or called in English a mortising chisel (I have failed to find the term even in the new Langenscheidt building trades dictionary). Such tools are believe it or not, not too hard to find, they are at flea markets all the time. Should I keep my eye out for a pair? We do not have any such markets now in the winter, but in summer… well let me know, maybe I can arrange something.


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## Waldschrat (Dec 29, 2008)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Mortising*
> 
> So, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we just finished laying out where the butt hing is going to be mortised in. Now we need to do the actual mortising. This can actually be fun! well as long as the mortising chisel is sharp and nothing goes wrong, for example mortising in the wrong spot, or crooked or cracking the door frame. Which brings me to my next point. We need to put a clamp on the area we are going to be working on, or else our beautiful, perfectly fitting, emaculately joined door frame, will look like, ... well, I can't think of anything witty at the moment, but it will not look pretty.
> 
> ...


*Dennis*, I will keep posting, I am glad you are able to understand it all… but I think you are a much better handworker than you let on! ok well I gotta get back to the my studies… I am just started school to finish off my education. Today was my first day of school.


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## Dennisgrosen (Nov 14, 2009)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Mortising*
> 
> So, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we just finished laying out where the butt hing is going to be mortised in. Now we need to do the actual mortising. This can actually be fun! well as long as the mortising chisel is sharp and nothing goes wrong, for example mortising in the wrong spot, or crooked or cracking the door frame. Which brings me to my next point. We need to put a clamp on the area we are going to be working on, or else our beautiful, perfectly fitting, emaculately joined door frame, will look like, ... well, I can't think of anything witty at the moment, but it will not look pretty.
> 
> ...


someone has to ask and say the dum question)
for those who wont 
and the only dum question is those that ain´t said

congrat´s with I believe the last semester or ?


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## JAGWAH (Dec 15, 2009)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Mortising*
> 
> So, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we just finished laying out where the butt hing is going to be mortised in. Now we need to do the actual mortising. This can actually be fun! well as long as the mortising chisel is sharp and nothing goes wrong, for example mortising in the wrong spot, or crooked or cracking the door frame. Which brings me to my next point. We need to put a clamp on the area we are going to be working on, or else our beautiful, perfectly fitting, emaculately joined door frame, will look like, ... well, I can't think of anything witty at the moment, but it will not look pretty.
> 
> ...


Nicholas, Thanks and ya that old guy is me. When I did my hinhe i used a 1/16" drill bit, the used a home made mortising chisel made from a piece of sheet metal and then sand papered the slot.

Awh to be young and learning anew, I envy your training.


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## JAGWAH (Dec 15, 2009)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Mortising*
> 
> So, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we just finished laying out where the butt hing is going to be mortised in. Now we need to do the actual mortising. This can actually be fun! well as long as the mortising chisel is sharp and nothing goes wrong, for example mortising in the wrong spot, or crooked or cracking the door frame. Which brings me to my next point. We need to put a clamp on the area we are going to be working on, or else our beautiful, perfectly fitting, emaculately joined door frame, will look like, ... well, I can't think of anything witty at the moment, but it will not look pretty.
> 
> ...


Here ya go *Nicholas*


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## patron (Apr 2, 2009)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Mortising*
> 
> So, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we just finished laying out where the butt hing is going to be mortised in. Now we need to do the actual mortising. This can actually be fun! well as long as the mortising chisel is sharp and nothing goes wrong, for example mortising in the wrong spot, or crooked or cracking the door frame. Which brings me to my next point. We need to put a clamp on the area we are going to be working on, or else our beautiful, perfectly fitting, emaculately joined door frame, will look like, ... well, I can't think of anything witty at the moment, but it will not look pretty.
> 
> ...


best to you in your course completion , Nicholas .

i bet if you found some of these in flea markets ,
some would like to have them here on LJ's .


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## JAGWAH (Dec 15, 2009)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Mortising*
> 
> So, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we just finished laying out where the butt hing is going to be mortised in. Now we need to do the actual mortising. This can actually be fun! well as long as the mortising chisel is sharp and nothing goes wrong, for example mortising in the wrong spot, or crooked or cracking the door frame. Which brings me to my next point. We need to put a clamp on the area we are going to be working on, or else our beautiful, perfectly fitting, emaculately joined door frame, will look like, ... well, I can't think of anything witty at the moment, but it will not look pretty.
> 
> ...


The hinge I had to deal with I've found is called a French Fiche Hinge. Commonly used in creole armoire construction. I found everything but a name for those chisels. Nowadays they make them offset. Here's what one of them look like.

http://www.whitechapel-ltd.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=219HFB4L&Category_Code=cabhng


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## Waldschrat (Dec 29, 2008)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Mortising*
> 
> So, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we just finished laying out where the butt hing is going to be mortised in. Now we need to do the actual mortising. This can actually be fun! well as long as the mortising chisel is sharp and nothing goes wrong, for example mortising in the wrong spot, or crooked or cracking the door frame. Which brings me to my next point. We need to put a clamp on the area we are going to be working on, or else our beautiful, perfectly fitting, emaculately joined door frame, will look like, ... well, I can't think of anything witty at the moment, but it will not look pretty.
> 
> ...


Thanks guys… *Patron *I will keep my eyes open to any for sale chisels.

*Jagwah *you probably already saw this, but I thought i would post it anyway… In German these type of hinges are called "Fitch" or "Fisch" hinges… and this comes from French, way back when, and just changed a bit to fit the German language. Thanks for the link I will check it out! And the beard! I look good! ;-)

*Dennis*, Unfortunately I am not in my last semester. I have one and a half years to go! As you know, I am already a Journeyman, I am going to get my "Meisterbrief" so Masterlevel, which is full time school, but then I have the right to own my own business, and I can have apprentices


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## Dennisgrosen (Nov 14, 2009)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Mortising*
> 
> So, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we just finished laying out where the butt hing is going to be mortised in. Now we need to do the actual mortising. This can actually be fun! well as long as the mortising chisel is sharp and nothing goes wrong, for example mortising in the wrong spot, or crooked or cracking the door frame. Which brings me to my next point. We need to put a clamp on the area we are going to be working on, or else our beautiful, perfectly fitting, emaculately joined door frame, will look like, ... well, I can't think of anything witty at the moment, but it will not look pretty.
> 
> ...


It slip my brain but still congrat´s that you go that way
I looking forward to hear when you get your meisterbrief
but don´t bee to hard on your new apprentices ha ha ha )
I´m sure you will be a great teacher for the youngs you take
under your wings

Dennis


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## brianl (Dec 18, 2009)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Mortising*
> 
> So, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we just finished laying out where the butt hing is going to be mortised in. Now we need to do the actual mortising. This can actually be fun! well as long as the mortising chisel is sharp and nothing goes wrong, for example mortising in the wrong spot, or crooked or cracking the door frame. Which brings me to my next point. We need to put a clamp on the area we are going to be working on, or else our beautiful, perfectly fitting, emaculately joined door frame, will look like, ... well, I can't think of anything witty at the moment, but it will not look pretty.
> 
> ...


Waldschrat,

This series is amazing, thanks for all of the detail. You are a very good teacher. One day when you have apprentices they will be very lucky.

Brian


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## Waldschrat (Dec 29, 2008)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Mortising*
> 
> So, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we just finished laying out where the butt hing is going to be mortised in. Now we need to do the actual mortising. This can actually be fun! well as long as the mortising chisel is sharp and nothing goes wrong, for example mortising in the wrong spot, or crooked or cracking the door frame. Which brings me to my next point. We need to put a clamp on the area we are going to be working on, or else our beautiful, perfectly fitting, emaculately joined door frame, will look like, ... well, I can't think of anything witty at the moment, but it will not look pretty.
> 
> ...


Thanks guys, for positive feedback! I am happy when people enjoy reading what I write or find what I have written about interesting! I will finish the next section of this blog hopefully soon! Its weekend again, I will try and make time today, I appreciate the patience from all who waiting on the next one!

Now with me its "back to work!"


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## xylosapiens (Jul 3, 2008)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Mortising*
> 
> So, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we just finished laying out where the butt hing is going to be mortised in. Now we need to do the actual mortising. This can actually be fun! well as long as the mortising chisel is sharp and nothing goes wrong, for example mortising in the wrong spot, or crooked or cracking the door frame. Which brings me to my next point. We need to put a clamp on the area we are going to be working on, or else our beautiful, perfectly fitting, emaculately joined door frame, will look like, ... well, I can't think of anything witty at the moment, but it will not look pretty.
> 
> ...


Nur eine Frage/Tip: wäre es nicht sinnvoll eine Reihe kleine Löcher zu bohren? Ein Paar der Prinzipen welche Ich in meiner Tatigkeit "entdeckt" habe (Ich meine eigentlich selbsterlernt) sind 1) so weit wie möglich auf Kraft zu versichten und wenn es unbedingt nötig ist,2) immer auf die Schwächen zu achten: normalerweise ist immer eine schwächere Seite vorhanden. Schönes Tutorial.


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## MidgardWarrior (May 3, 2011)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Mortising*
> 
> So, where did I leave off? Oh yeah, we just finished laying out where the butt hing is going to be mortised in. Now we need to do the actual mortising. This can actually be fun! well as long as the mortising chisel is sharp and nothing goes wrong, for example mortising in the wrong spot, or crooked or cracking the door frame. Which brings me to my next point. We need to put a clamp on the area we are going to be working on, or else our beautiful, perfectly fitting, emaculately joined door frame, will look like, ... well, I can't think of anything witty at the moment, but it will not look pretty.
> 
> ...


*Waldschrat* - Thank you for this wonderful tutorial. Good luck with your studies. I wish we had the same type of opportunities with woodworking training here in South Africa. Mach's gut, und nochmal vielen Dank fuer dieses schoenes Tutorial.


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## Waldschrat (Dec 29, 2008)

*The Montage: part one the Fitting*

The Montage, (building in and mounting for those who are curious what "Montage" means) of a butt hinge door. I like to use the word Montage, because it comes off the lips easier and is a great general term used to describe, all "on site" work, mounting, fixing, cleaning up , whatever necessary to complete the build in. Just a personal thing probably… anyway, this is about mouting in, aligning and fixing the door with a butt hinge.

In the last blog we covered how we "let in" or "mortised in" hinge in the door. Now, we can do this two ways… we can go on ahead, with our door still clamped in fix the hinges with the screws, which is risky, especially since we are, in this specific project, mating new door and hinge leaves with old frame and the old hinges. So option two is do this on site.

If we have mortised new pieces in the frame, and we are 100% certian that the hinges in the frames are straight… we can avoid unecessary work on site( montage work). This is a good thing normally, because it always impresses customers, when the profi comes in and mounts his work, quick, effortless and with minimal dust and mess, then leaves. Sometimes, as in this example its unavoidable… as usually the case when re fitting elements that are built in to old houses or fixtures. As I mentioned, unfortunately we can not avoid this here.

First things first… this is definetly not new for those profi's out there, but its always good to sit and think about the steps I have to go through and tools I will need for the montage of the door. For me it saves time to have a tool box/tote that is portable where I can easily carry in one hand that has the tools I would need for the building in, fixing and a light clean up… the rest can stay in the truck/van/whatever transportation.

For this job we need:

Drill bits (drill index)
Cordless drill
Bits (for screws)
Screws for hinges (checked for size before leaving shop)
Pencil, sharpener, eraser,
Screwsinker
Small hand broom and dust pan
Folding rule or steel rule
Hammer
heavy wood block or portable vise, or chunk steel.

So lets take a look at the old door









So we see that this door is well made, has a couple coats of paint and is built around 100 years ago (circa 1912 when house was built), but no longer to the new design of the kitchen and should be replaced (not thown out, but stored, thats why we needed to build new hinges in the new door, so we do not destroy the old one takeing the original ones out).

With the hinges inserted and the old door removed and pencil in easy reach we want to mount the door and see how it sits in the frame.










then we mark the hinge on the front so we can see how deep it needs to sit in the frame so it closes nicely and sits properly (not crooked).

Sorry about the blurry photos, its not easy one handed! ;-)










Ok hinges marked on the edge where they go into the frame, this is important that we do this as accurate as possible.

So from the front it looks pretty good,










but whats this, from the side the door does not close properly, well thats very likely when its an old house and every thing has settled a bit over the years. Especially in areas where earthquakes are present! California for example.










So what do we do? The easiest and best thing is to bend the hinges a bit, a few, well place, love taps oughta' do the trick! Thats why we brought along our hammer, heavy wood block, chunk of steel or in available a portable vise.

We have to clamp the hinge EXACTLY on the line we made across the front of the hinge so that we "kink" it exactly at this point. Its imporant we do this right the first time, because the hinges will only take so much pounding and bending before they surrender themselves to the scrapheap.

This is an area (bending hinges to fit) that, ironically, takes some feeling. Too much and its not good, too little it means another trip to the vise. We need to bend the hinge so its not obvious and looks good, and gets the job done. no problem.










So here is the finished product, with a nice, from the factory looking, clean, crease in the hinge leaf… we need to put it in and see how the door closes again… with a a little luck, and dash of skill, it should fit like a hand in a glove!










Ok now the door


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## patron (Apr 2, 2009)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Montage: part one the Fitting*
> 
> The Montage, (building in and mounting for those who are curious what "Montage" means) of a butt hinge door. I like to use the word Montage, because it comes off the lips easier and is a great general term used to describe, all "on site" work, mounting, fixing, cleaning up , whatever necessary to complete the build in. Just a personal thing probably… anyway, this is about mouting in, aligning and fixing the door with a butt hinge.
> 
> ...


great tutorial ,

like i said earlier ,

i sure an glad we don't use these hinges anymore !

mortising leaf hinges is enough trouble .


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## Waldschrat (Dec 29, 2008)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Montage: part one the Fitting*
> 
> The Montage, (building in and mounting for those who are curious what "Montage" means) of a butt hinge door. I like to use the word Montage, because it comes off the lips easier and is a great general term used to describe, all "on site" work, mounting, fixing, cleaning up , whatever necessary to complete the build in. Just a personal thing probably… anyway, this is about mouting in, aligning and fixing the door with a butt hinge.
> 
> ...


Thanks David, but you know what, its worth it! well I think so anyway. I believe one just has to get used to work/designs like this one, then its just everyday at the office type stuff.

Thanks for following the blog though!


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## Dennisgrosen (Nov 14, 2009)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Montage: part one the Fitting*
> 
> The Montage, (building in and mounting for those who are curious what "Montage" means) of a butt hinge door. I like to use the word Montage, because it comes off the lips easier and is a great general term used to describe, all "on site" work, mounting, fixing, cleaning up , whatever necessary to complete the build in. Just a personal thing probably… anyway, this is about mouting in, aligning and fixing the door with a butt hinge.
> 
> ...


Hello Nicholas
It´s realy a great blog you have done 
on this subject
this is one of those that no skilled people (like me) can read and think
I can do that
becourse you made such a fine picturebook to your writing I don´t think
there is no one who will come in too much truoble if they ever had to 
fix one of those old hinge/doors
you are absolutly a cabacity in teaching other people how to do it
so I don´t think you need the scool before you can have apprenticees 
under your wings

Dennis


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## Waldschrat (Dec 29, 2008)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Montage: part one the Fitting*
> 
> The Montage, (building in and mounting for those who are curious what "Montage" means) of a butt hinge door. I like to use the word Montage, because it comes off the lips easier and is a great general term used to describe, all "on site" work, mounting, fixing, cleaning up , whatever necessary to complete the build in. Just a personal thing probably… anyway, this is about mouting in, aligning and fixing the door with a butt hinge.
> 
> ...


I appreciate that very much Dennis!

The main thing is that you have fun reading and that probably I can help someone who is interested in woodwork. But there is much I still need to learn, in fact I do not think one is ever finished learning.

Thanks again, I will keep posting!


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## HorstPeter (Aug 27, 2010)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Montage: part one the Fitting*
> 
> The Montage, (building in and mounting for those who are curious what "Montage" means) of a butt hinge door. I like to use the word Montage, because it comes off the lips easier and is a great general term used to describe, all "on site" work, mounting, fixing, cleaning up , whatever necessary to complete the build in. Just a personal thing probably… anyway, this is about mouting in, aligning and fixing the door with a butt hinge.
> 
> ...


Amusingly I found this posting through google when searching for Fitscheneisen. I'm looking at/buying some tools from someone locally (his late fathers tools) and on some photos I got I saw those "weird chisels" and remembered seeing one a while ago on the net and managed to remember the name Fitscheneisen after some hard thinking.
Thanks for this tutorial blog on this forgotten tool. I'm kind of tempted to get them, but I might have to prioritize some others right now. Certainly seems like something that is good to have and could even be used for other purposes.


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## Waldschrat (Dec 29, 2008)

*The Montage: part two the Fixing*

Door fits, hinges ready, so far we're smiling! everything 5 by 5

Now, we just have to fix those hinges. Yes, now accuracy is of greatest importance. This is the time where we have one shot (again!).

So we have to insert the hinges again and turn the door on its face (the outside) so we are looking at the rebate side. We then using a pencil make a mark on the back side how far the hinges need to be, take the hinge out and line up the mark with the edge of the frame (inside).



















So now take a pencil and mark the holes where they need to be drilled for the screws.










By the way, we do this all for both bottom and top hinges.

Ok another thing I would like to point out is that for your on site (montage) tool tote two things definetly should be bought and left just for this pupose: a good drill index, and nicely varied bit set, these are mine… I just wanted to share this because nothing is lost easier than bits and drill bits, and this is something I hate to do and you probably all are familiar with, namely, "where did that bit go, ah man, cant find it!"



















So put the proper drill bit in your drill, in this case since the screws are 3.0 mm diameter, we need around a 2 mm bit, 2,5 will work better with hard woods.

We have to make sure we do not drill though the front of the door, I like to "choke up" on the drill bit. By this I mean I mount the drill bit far inside the chuck of the drill so only the depth of the hole is what sticks out of the front of the drill. This is a fast and fool proof method of a depth gauge in small situations like our door project here. Of course you can use masking tape or an actual 'drill mounted' depth guage, but this is quicker and works great. Hey, each to their own! Or as the Navy SEAL's say, KISS (*K*eep it *S*imple *S*tupid!)










Now drill those holes!










Ok now to make this a profesionel piece, we should sink the screws so they are exactly flush with the frame.

I perfer this kind of sinker, it cuts instead of "rubbing" out the wood… it works great, but are not cheap so keep an eye on it, or it will grow legs!










I have a stubby bit holder, and I find they work great, save space and if a good quality one like this WiHa model, are comfortable to use.










You can do this with a drill, but I like doing with the hand, i want this to look good and the extra 3 minutes it takes are worth it.










So after I have checked that the holes are properly sinked and the screws pass, I grab the proper bit,










And carefully turn in the screws, of course with the hinges inserted.










That looks good.










The finished back. You see here the real beauty of these hinges… well the fact that you do not see them! Just the screws… As mentioned, in theory you could use dowels, or nails, in fact nails were used back before screws became a mass produced product or available.










From the side










Mounted










So thats it… the door closes properly and is straight. Well almost, Its missing the knob. This is a relatively easy task, now all the fun work already finished. ;-) I have a couple tricks though that make this job quick and easy… but I will post them in the final blog of this series. Thanks for reading and I will get on the next one soon!


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## Dennisgrosen (Nov 14, 2009)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Montage: part two the Fixing*
> 
> Door fits, hinges ready, so far we're smiling! everything 5 by 5
> 
> ...


Sorry Nicholas I realy don´t know how this sliped thrugh with out notice
but as I have said before you are a great teacher 
thank´s for taking your time to make theese picturebook toturials
and share your knowledge with us weekendwarriors )

how is it going on school can you ceep up with the teachers ….LOL
hope it goes well

stay tuned and take care

Dennis


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## a1Jim (Aug 9, 2008)

Waldschrat said:


> *The Montage: part two the Fixing*
> 
> Door fits, hinges ready, so far we're smiling! everything 5 by 5
> 
> ...


Thanks for the blog


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