Hinges for curved chest lid

[david kramer]

I'm building a chest with a curved lid and I seem to have designed myself into a corner. The lid was laminated and bent and is a little over 3/4" thick (pic below) and weighs about 6 lb. The chest is made from boards 5/8" thick (was supposed to be 3/4" but that's a different story ;)).

My plan was to use a piano hinge to attach the lid to the chest but looking at the cross section I don't think it will work. If I use a 1/2" piano hinge then the screws will have less than 1/4" of wood to bite into because they're so close to the thin edge of the lid. I'm looking for ideas on other hinges I could use. I thought about a knife hinge routed into the edge of the lid but it would need to be pretty heavy duty to carry 6 lb and wouldn't look great.

There's a million kinds of hinge out there, anyone have any better ideas?

Thx
David




309170

[Jamie Buxton]

Maybe a hinge with a bend in the leaf... The hinge you're thinking about has screws that would be at right angles to the bench top in your photo. Instead, how 'bout screws that are at right angles to the inside surface of the bent wood. For instance, maybe a strap hinge --- which has a long leaf. You bend the long leaf so that it wraps along the inside surface of the bent wood.

[Bruce Page]

Just an idea.. you can buy piano hinges without screw holes and drill a staggered/offset hole pattern yourself. It would be a bit more work, but doable. A blank aluminum hinge would drill fairly easily.

[Tom Giacomo]

Use exterior hinges, or you could frame the lid.

[Joe Kieve]

If I'm seeing correctly what you describe , you might use a 3/4" hinge instead of the 1/2". That would put your screws closer to the center or inside edge of the lid. You would then have to cut the case side of the hinge down to 5/8" with a die grinder. It would be similar to a drop leaf hinge where one leg is longer than the other.

[Al Launier]

How about multiple long-leaf "decorative" hinges (similar to these http://www.rockler.com/style-a-ornamental-solid-brass-hinges-polished-brass-br5-8-l-x-2-11-16-w-br158mm-x-68mm, but appropriate for your application) that you contour & attach to the outside of the curved lid & bend the other leaf 90° downward over the chest wall to secure the bottom. If desired, you could use brass flat head through bolts as opposed to wood screws.

[Jim Finn]

Use exterior hinges, or you could frame the lid.
This is exactly what I have done when mounting curved lids to about fifty trunks that I have made over the years. I attached a frame under the curved top and used externally mounted door butt hinges to attach that frame to the trunk.

[david kramer]

Thanks for the great suggestions everyone. I haven't decided exactly what I'm going to do but I think they'd all work great.

David