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budge1_gw

Ta Dah! - almost: need carpentry help

16 years ago

I can't remember if it was this forum or kitchen forum, but I was asking for advice about an antique cab for my kitchen. The one I bought just wasn't working so I decided to make one. I found the antique glass doors and built the box around them. I love it. Sorry for the lousy pics. My arms are literally shaking from trying to hang this thing. The doors will be stripped when the weather warms up and I can do in the garage.

The problem is trying to mount the dang doors. They are mortised hinges and they keep binding. I've spent the last 2 hours trying to fix the problem and am at my wit's end. I think I may need to move the hinges out a little bit. If I plug the screw holes and redrill, will it hold up? How do I plug the screw holes? I'm working the most basic of tools. Any suggestions most appreciated.



Comments (6)

  • 16 years ago

    You did an awesome job! My question is do you need to dig out a bit more wood to give the hinges more space? I'd try that before I'd fill the holes and re-drill since it won't be as solid of a hold as solid wood is.
    It really does look neat. I bet you are thrilled, well other than the hinge trouble. That has to be frustrating.

  • 16 years ago

    Unscrew the hinge slightly(on the cupboard side, not the door side), tilt the hinge out, shim it with a thin piece of wood. Viola!!! GOOD JOB!!!!! Love your new cab!!!!!

  • 16 years ago

    Can you describe what you mean by binding? Are the doors not closing together correctly or is the hinge edge of the doors hitting the frame?

  • 16 years ago

    Thanks guys. I've tried digging the mortise deeper and shimming - good ideas, but neither seemed to do the trick. It is only one door that's not working properly, but I can't sit back and admire the cab until I fix that one dang door.

    Annz, I think it is that the door frame closest to the hinges is hitting the shelves on the inside. It also seems the door frame is too close to the frame of the cab at the bottom edge (near the hinges), but I'm not sure if this is a prob or not. Of course I made the cab perfectly square not realizing that the doors are a teeny bit out of square.

    I've just filled the screw holes with dowel and wood glue. Hopefully, it will hold when I redrill - unless you have any other ideas/options?

  • 16 years ago

    I would file the shelves down before I'd move the hinge. If you move the hinge forward, are you going to be happy seeing the exposed metal?

    Since you plan to refinish the doors, and they're not square, I'd also sand down the areas that are binding.

    Keep in mind that if the fit is tight now, it's going to be tighter once you paint.
    For more feedback, you could see what the folks over in the woodworking forum have to say.

  • 16 years ago

    Thanks Annz. The offending hinge (at least I think it's the problem), is set back about 1/8" further than the others, so I don't think metal will show. I should have been more careful to make it right the 1st time around.

    Great idea to sand down doors when I refinish.

    The cab is already painted and I think when I strip the doors, i'm going to leave them stained (they are the same colour as the lower cabinet) so hopefully I'll have more room once the 3 coats of old paint are off them. They were painted right over the varnished wood, so I think (fingers x'd) that it will be a fairly easy job.

    Thanks again, I will give an update when I have something to report.