# What Kind of Hinges Are These?



## DrPuk2U (Feb 15, 2012)

I am currently (slowly) remodeling a pole-barn into a shop. One of the items inherited with the shop is a set of cabinets - lower and upper - about 72" in length. They were in a shop used for both wood and metal work and not apparently neatly. They were once very nice oak cabinets but now painted white and filthy. I dismounted them from the wall and took out all the drawers and shelves that would move. And removed the doors.

And that's where this gets interesting. The hinges are VERY interesting. The door part of the hinge consists of a hinged arm which has a captured screw which goes into a brass plate. The brass plate sits in a special slot cut in the side of the stile. The other side of the hinge is similar, with another captured screw and brass plate. The whole set up is very elegant but implies special hardware and tooling to match.

Here are some pictures.




























So far, nobody I have shown it to has seen anything like it. I suspect it is European-influenced, high-end, large-volume cabinet shop work. Have to have special tooling for cutting the slots and, of course, the special hinges. Probably the same company sells the hardware and a tool to cut the slots.

So, anyone know what kind of hinges are these?


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## psoper (Dec 11, 2018)

I have not seen those since the 80's. Many cabinet shops tried them but they had a short life. The problem was as soon as the screw loosened, the door would fall off.


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## jdmaher (May 4, 2011)

I have those crappy things in my house (built 1990). With the mess that the slotting machines made of the face frames, I've never figured out a way to replace them with something better.

There's a comparable kinda thing on Amazon here.

Of course, I don't know if what Amazon has is the same size, etc. I think I've also seen the things at my local Home Depot.


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## DrPuk2U (Feb 15, 2012)

Thanks for the quick answer guys. Couldn't find much in the way of instructions on how to cut the slots for both sides of the hinge. Looks tricky so you'd probably need some very nice jig.


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## maymee (Sep 3, 2010)

Here is the cutter to go with JD Maher's Amerock hinge. Woodworker's Hardware has it 441.81.


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

As others have said, these were very popular in the 80'2 to early 90's. The advantages were that 1) they were cheap (about $0.65 each in 1986) and 2) they were fast to install (a door could be punched in a couple of seconds using a semi-automatic machine)

I found this hinge still for sale on the Wurth Louis and Company website here in Phoenix.


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

They also sell a screw mounted version of the same hinge


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## DrPuk2U (Feb 15, 2012)

Thanks for the feedback, everyone.

@maymee, I see how that cutter could cut the "slot" but there would have to be a first pass with a straight router but to cut the clearance for the screw shaft itself, wouldn't there?

@ds you mentioned a "semi-automatic" machine. Any details?

To be clear, I am just curious. The cabinets I have are intact and functional. I'm just cleaning and repainting them. I find it amusing to have these hinges but I have no intent or desire to replicate the work.


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## DrDirt (Feb 26, 2008)

not sure their name… that is what our Kitchen has, and the house was built in 1992


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## cabmaker (Sep 16, 2010)

They are called demountable hinges…....if you need some…..i have several hundred


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

One version of this machine punches both ends at the same time. Just lay the door on the rails and push it into the bits.










This is just a arbitrary machine I found on the interwebs…

Makes for quick work.


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## DrPuk2U (Feb 15, 2012)

Thanks. Getting closer. Would still like to see a more or less complete video (or series of stills) of how a double-demountable is installed, i.e. how all the slots are cut and kept aligned. I was guessing it would be via a machine like the above but I'd still like to see more details. Not that I am planning to CREATE any such mountings. Just curious.


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## DS (Oct 10, 2011)

I've installed thousands of these. We would lay the cabinet on its back and mount the hinge to the face frame first.
With the hinge tab perpendicular to the cabinet face, you could lay the door into the tabs until they bottomed out, slide the door against a spacer block placed on the face at the bottom, then tighten with a screw gun.

Paid my dues on these things for a couple of years when I first got into the biz.
These fell out of favor sometime in the mid 90's.

Viva la 6-way adjustable Euro hinge!


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## DrPuk2U (Feb 15, 2012)

Well, I got all the doors rehung, drawers in, etc. I am now understanding why these hinges fell out of favor. Two of the hinges (so far) have turned out to have bad threads on the door side (face frames are all fine). So the screw to tighten them won't tighten all the way and the door is loose. So I have to replace at least two of them. I've ordered a pair from Amazon and we'll see if they are the correct replacements. Hope so…


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