Handtool Cabinet Hinge Advice

[Samuel Green]

Hi all,

I am building a handtool cabinet to store all my handtools and want to maximize the storage. It is very basic as I re purposed an old book shelf my grandfather built 60 years ago. I build the doors to store things like chisels, saws, marking tools, etc. It is pretty deep and I would like to have 3 "walls" of storage on each door. My trouble is how to store tools on the outside of the inside of the door (I'm not even sure that makes sense to me at this point but bear with me) The main part of the cabinet has tools that come all the way to the front so i need to inset that door a bit to accommodate. Any advice here would be greatly appreciated! The photo of the hinge below is my initial thought. (sorry the photo is sideways, not sure how to rotate it)

Thanks!
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[Jerry Miner]

I wish I understood what you are asking.

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[Mark Wooden]

Piano hinges are whats needed. You would need at least five of what you have pictured and alignment would be a pain- plus the pins on those are kind of loose.

[andy bessette]

The unnecessarily complicated hinges shown will likely flex too much. Keep it simple. If there will be a lot of weight on the door use heavy duty hinges, whether butt or piano style.

[Samuel Green]

To make sure I have space I think I am going to use this idea. Ill add a piece of wood to the inside of the door so I can inset it a bit to give space for the tools on the outside. 362419

[Jim Becker]

That last picture is a very nice design, Samuel. Notice the "beefy" hinges for the main doors...that's important. The hinged door inserts carry less weight and you can proportionally adjust the hinge weight accordingly. The only thing I don't like there is that the main hinges are one color and the others seem to be a different color...my anal side would have issue with that!

[Dave Sabo]

Jim, your monitor must be super high res. Looks to me like all the hinges are dark in color. I suppose its possible that the door hinges are black and the smaller interior ones oil rubbed bronze .

But, I certainly can't tell that from the pic.

That detail would bug me too. I am also assuming that anyone who spent the time making that cabinet with the curved spoke-shave holders, box joints, and figured drawer fronts would also make sure that the hinges matched pretty close in finish too ?

[Jim Becker]

The smaller ones look lighter to me, Dave, but I certainly could be mistaken. (iMac monitor is 27-inch (2560 x 1440))

[Ray Newman]

Jim Becker: M. Pekovich in Fine Woodworking, #237, pp 32-39, built the cabinet in Post #5 from 7/8" thick stock- 13 7/8" deep, 28" wide, 42" tall. Plans available from FineWoodworking

[Phillip Mitchell]

If you're a member of Fine Woodworking's online site, you can view the multi-part video workshop for that tool cabinet. As Ray stated above, it belongs to Mike Pekovich and seems to be well thought out and attractive.

[Ray Newman]

P. Mitchell is 'dead-nuts-on' about the build videos on the tool cabinet. The 15 part series on building the North Bennet Street School Toolbox is also very informative.

[Robert Engel]

*Piano hinges*

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[Sam Murdoch]

... but if you don't align all the slots on the screws Jim Becker's head will spin :D.

I prefer the beefy butt hinges -no good reason though other than aesthetics - and yes they should all be the same finish (installed with torx head screws to avoid the mental discombobulation :)).

[Samuel Green]

Thank for all the advice guys! I will post pics here when i complete it.

[Jim Morgan]

I installed piano hinges on the outsides of my tool cabinets and put sticky-back felt tape on the edges of the cabinet and the doors. The felt makes closing the doors much quieter and helps keep dust out. In my case, I made the cabinets out of maple plywood, so the tape also covered up the raw edges.

[Jim Becker]

... but if you don't align all the slots on the screws Jim Becker's head will spin :D.

Don't laugh too hard...it's true. ;)