Hand Plane Cabinet Hinges?

[Steve Mathews]

Lost me at glass doors for a piece of shop furniture.

Just following the design and plans from a more experienced woodworker than me. It wasn't made with the best of materials so it won't bother me to try something different after gaining some experience with the cabinet. I thought the glass panel was a good idea to display what was inside. I'll see how it works out. I especially liked the idea of closed cabinet to keep dust at bay and hopefully to help with rust prevention. I'll be inserting some desiccant containers inside for that.

[Norman Pirollo]

My piano hinges are surface mounted. The hinge assembly is a thin profile so I didn't see an advantage to mortising even one leaf. The gap between door and case is very small. I do like the idea of placing a gasket around, might steal that idea In about 1 year, I haven't had any dust enter whatsoever since there is no airflow in that area and I don't generate as much dust anymore working using mostly hand tools. Also forgot to mention there are embedded magnets installed to keep the doors shut. This makes the doors quicker to open without a latch.. and keeps them positively shut. Norman

[Joe A Faulkner]

Piano hinges make sense for a door that doubles as tool storage and therefore needs to carry a bit more load, but for your traditional style cabinet with inset cabinet doors, butt hinges make the most sense to me. If the doors were overlay, I might suggest knife hinges, but for this cabinet, I think butt hinges are the way to go. My tool cabinet uses piano hinges, but the doors are similar to Norman’s cabinet and double as storage compartments\chisel and saw racks.

[steven c newman]

Piano hinges, aka Continuous Hinges...
Drills, Standby rack.JPG
One of the 2 doors on my Tool Cabinet....both filled with tools, both use the "Piano Hinges"
Plane Til, project post, both doors opened.JPG
Plane Til...the glass in the doors is PlexiGlass...both doors use piano hinges...
Plane Til, project post, 1.JPG
Closed up...and....
The Five Cent Tour, open for business.JPG
The Tool Cabinet...

[Joe A Faulkner]

. …
The plans called for H style hinges that are surface mounted. That might be an option to consider

The H style hinges also go by the name non-mortise. They are easier for setting an inset door so you have a uniform gap at the top and bottom than using mortised hinges. You might even find some with an oval hole on the jam side of the hinge so you can adjust top to bottom before drilling for the fixed holes. Side to side is just as fiddly as a mortise hinge. Essentially the gap on the hinge side will be the thickness of the hinge and the gap opposite the hinge depends on the door width. If the handle side gap is too small, you just plane down the door width, but if it is too large, you either live with it or make the hinge side gap wider by using some type of blocking(shim of some type, maybe even flat washers).

[Richard Coers]

Read the title, thought pulling a curl off a hinge would be tough!!!

[Robert Engel]

I took the doors off and mounted them either side.

MUCH more functional!

IMG_0478.jpg

[steven c newman]

AND...dusty...why I keep mine closed....and, I have a LOT less room in my shop...

[Steve Mathews]

I took the doors off and mounted them either side.

MUCH more functional!

IMG_0478.jpg

I really like the looks of your cabinets and it doesn't look much taller than mine. Do you find the planes difficult to reach? What is the height of them and how high are they mounted above your workbench?

[Joe A Faulkner]

I’m going to guess that is not a workbench, but rather a counter top, and Steve has the luxury of a bench he can access from all sides. Looks like a vise handle just opposite the base cabinets and counter.

[Jack Dover]

Are those MHG chisels next to Narex mortisers?

[Jack Dover]

It seems like it is capable enough but my original plan was to wall mount it above my work bench. Unfortunately it will be too high to reach some of the planes so it will probably have to sit on the bench. I may make another one with better materials with a slightly different design so it can be wall mounted.

Hinged doors over a workbench will drive you crazy pretty much on the first day. My conclusion is that hinged doors should be reserved for shops with lots of space. Swinging doors require unobstructed area in front of the cabinet and also to the sides of the cabinet when there are tool holders on the doors themselves. Same applies to drawers, it's kinda aggravating when you need to get that special marking gauge or something from a drawer, which is blocked by a piece being built right on a workbench.

[mike stenson]

This is why I went to a chest. I still have the drawers under my bench, but they get used for storing other things. Next bench, will not have anything under it. It was a huge pain, all too often I'd find I had to remove my work from its workholding to grab a tool I'd forgotten to take out before hand. I can't leave things out, the dust just causes rust.

[Jack Dover]

It's not dust I think, it's temperature changes and humidity. Metals have a higher specific heat capacity, so they stay cold longer than surrounding air and that causes condensation. Leave a tool in a drawer for sufficiently long time and it will rust too. Lie Nielsen tools rust like crazy when new until an oxide layer forms on a surface (maybe that's why they provide so many rust inhibiting socks, covers, etc.).

However there's a good remedy: a rag-in-a can type of applicator, lightly oiled and a dab of paraffin. "Lightly oiled" means a few drops of machine oil a few days ago, mostly to dissolve paraffin. Just wipe a tool, esp. places where it might have been in contact with skin, and it won't rust at all. It also won't get into wood if you forgot to wipe a tool before using - an advantage compared to oily rags.

I have about a dozen of these applicators around the shop. A few heavily oiled with a good dab of paraffin is in my storage, but the one on a workbench is dry to a touch. Apparently paraffin creates a film only a few molecules thick, but it's enough to prevent moisture contact and hence inhibits rust.

Eventually a tool will oxidize, but that's a different type of oxide: it's black as opposed to red rust and it's stable. So if your favorite chisel or a plane has darkened, don't shine it up, it actually provides better protection.

[mike stenson]

It's dust for me. Trust me.

My grandfathers (and their brothers) were all tradesmen (fishermen, heavy machinery mechanics, millwrights, and cabinetmakers) , I was raised with an oiled rag used every time you touch a tool. One exists in every tool box in my shop, and is always used. If the dust sits, it doesn't matter. Dust contains salts, salts cause rust with moisture and there's always moisture. Keeping dust off of tools is why we have tool boxes. I'm also well aware of the dark rust that is general iron and steel patination.