Hinges-why are there so many? why are they so confusing?

[dennis thompson]

Everytime I make something with doors I obviously have to order hinges for it. I find all the different types of hinges completely confusing. I just did a search on Amazon for cabinet hinges & got over 6,000 results! Does anyone offer a PHD in hinges? Am I the only one confused about hinges?
Dennis

[Conrad Fiore]

Skip Amazon and find yourself a few suppliers that you can call for questions. Almost all of my hinges are mortised butt hinges and I use people like Whitechapel and Horton Brasses. When I have a question about a hinge I can get someone from there on the phone and get the straight skinny.

[Todd Burch]

Very good advice from Conrad. I do the same thing. I use Horton Brasses for but hinges, and Blum for Euro concealed. I have made dedicated jigs for mortising Horton's hinges and I can install them very fast. Choice and installation has become a no-brainer.

[Van Huskey]

Another approach is to get a couple of hardware catalogs such as Lee Valley where you can see the hinges clearly and get better descriptions. Amazon is a place to shop once you know what you want buying anything off Amazon from just the pictures and descriptions they have is a crap shoot.

[Sam Murdoch]

Agree with all the above suggestions. Good hardware companies are invaluable sources of information. White Chapel has tutorials in their catalog to walk you through the use of some of their more unusual hinges. Order some catalogs and study - Hafele, White Chapel, Horton Brasses, Lee Valley, Top Knob, Blum, just to name a few. And - when using a new to you hinge - it is always worth doing a mock up to help you understand how the thing works. I am one that can not always see the 3 dimensional aspect of a hinge and I have been bit by that mental flat spot a number of times. Also, get your hardware figured out before you build your piece. Folks often save the hardware selection until they are well into a project and the next thing you know you end up redesigning or worse yet rebuilding. Understanding hardware, and specifically hinges, is a case where knowledge is true power. Don't get discouraged. :)

Sam

[Larry Edgerton]

Hinges I don't have a problem with, its women that confuse me......

Larry

[Sam Murdoch]

It won't get easier and unfortunately there are no catalogs to study on the matter - the understanding part - that is. :D

[Peter Quinn]

Well, If its cabinet hinges as in kitchen cabinets, a call to a good supplier will sort some things out. I've been using Woodworkers Hardware or Cabinet Parts lately, and I found its easiest to call them and tell them what I'm looking for, they tell me which hinge fits my application. Mostly it depends on the thickness of the door, the type of installation (inset, partial overlay, full overlay, etc), the degree of swing required, etc. If its solid brass stuff for furniture applications thats a little more straight forward, most of the variation is in color and size. And there are butt hinges, SOSS hinges, scissor hinges, barrel hinges., etc.......different installation methods but they all do the same thing, swing around a point.

Hinge selection and installation is the "working" part of woodworking. The tolerances are typically very tight, some hinges are specific to certain applications, there is no one clear source of information to sort out the whole world of hinges for you. I like perusing web sites and catalogues that specialize in hardware, like lee valley's hardware book, white chapel, the blum site, WWhardware.com, etc. In order to earn that PhD in hinges you are going to have to do a lot of studying, and some field expirments. Try ordering some samples, and installing them on a mock up door, or even just a plywood slab simulation of a door. Read the spec sheets for those that come with one. Don't get frustrated, it wont help. DAMHIK

[Robert Chapman]

I use Blum hinges almost exclusively and they are engineering marvels. But every once in a while I'm not sure of instructions for fitting a new [to me] Blum hinge. That is when Sam's advice about using a mock up is right on the money. Saves a lot of time spent trying to correct the final product.

[Robert Chapman]

I don't recomment the mock up in this situation.

[Larry Edgerton]

Baer Supply has the best catalog in this respect that I have seen. Each hinge has a drawing and specs on the same page. This is a commercial catalog, very large, and as a homeowner I am not sure you can get one, but for you pros it is a nice reference and a good company to deal with.

Larry