Sawdust on the Floor

I was looking over the past couple of articles on the vanity  for our bathroom overhaul, and I noticed that I had glossed over one important item, installing Blum style European hinges.  I know that I acknowledged the design change from full inset hinges to the Blum hinges.  But I failed to talk about “What makes these hinges so special”.  So here goes.

Consider the full inset hinges that I normally use.  Other then the placement of the hinges, there are absolutely no adjustments that can be made to the hinge, to improve the fit of the door.  Once the mounting screws for these hinges are in place, you’re stuck. Some times the door just fails to hang properly, or won’t close completely.  This can be caused by several factors. The hinges may be installed incorrectly, they could be twisted or bent.  Or the door may have a small amount of warp or twist.  Or the edges of the face frame may not be 100% parallel to each other, sometimes something as simple as sanding can cause this particular problem. No matter what the particular problem with the fit of the door, your only choice is to try to either shim either the door itself or maybe the hinge.  Sometimes this works, other times you can end up making a new door. 

On the other hand, Blum hinges have adjustments that can correct for almost any problem other then a warped or twisted door.  I don’t know of any hinge that can correct for a bad door.  On the Blum hinges I installed on the vanity, there were three adjustments per hinge.  The adjustments are simple to make, turning a screw the face of the hinge  will either move the door up/down, right/left or in/out.  So it’s as simple as installing the hinges, and then adjust the fit of the door.  

Before you ask what may seem like a logical question,  if the Blum hinges are so great, why don’t I use them for every project?  Well there are several reasons.  The first consideration is appearance.  Blum hinges are always hidden.  Some projects almost demand that the hinges show.  I can’t imagine a reproduction of a queen Anne style dresser without the hinges showing.  Sure the Blum hinges would physically work, but  they would destroy the look of the project. 

The second issue is the cost.  The full inset hinges I used in the kitchen project cost around $3.00 per set.  The Blum hinges can cost upwards of $16.00 per set.  While the $13 delta doesn’t seem like a lot on a simple project that uses only two sets, our kitchen cabinet project used a total of 46 sets of hinges.  That’s a difference of $598.00. Depending on your budget, this can be a real deciding factor. I know a lot of people are absolutely surprised by the costs of the hardware for a project. Our choice for the inset hinges was based on appearance more then budgetary, but the $600 difference was still a compelling factor. 

And the final consideration is the actual installation of the hinges. Each Blum hinge is actually two separate pieces. One piece gets mounted to the carcass of the cabinet or stile of the cabinet face frame, depending on the design of the cabinet.  The other one gets installed on the vertical stile of the door itself.  Other then determining the location for the first (frame) side of the hinge, there is nothing difficult about it.  It is simply surface mounted to the frame or stile with two screws that come with the hinge. 

The second part of the hinge that is mounted on the vertical stile of the door takes a little more effort.  This side of the hinge fits into a 35mm diameter hole that must be drilled into the stile.  For those of us that are not comfortable with the metric system, that’s a 1 3/8″ diameter hole.  This hole must be drilled to a depth of 12.5 mm or 1/2″.  Some  Blum  style hinges come with a paper template that can be used as a guide for the hole placement.  I have always been some what leery of the template.  It’s nothing more then a thin piece of paper that requires you to create a fold in the template to simulate the edge of the stile.  You then place the  paper template on your door, holding the folded edge of the template over the edge of the door and mark the center point of the hole from this template.  Too much room for an error in my mind.  If you were only installing one hinge, I guess this would be accurate enough, but I don’t recall seeing many single hinged doors.  I prefer to take the time to transfer layout measurements supplied with the hinge  to my door. Since I normally will space hinges an equal horizontal distance from both the top and bottom of the door, I have developed a simple method that works for me.  I use two adjustable combination squares.  I adjust one for the horizontal center line of the holes, and the other for the vertical center line.  This method also works great if you have more then one door to hang.  

Unless you happen to work in a cabinet shop, or have access to a  cabinet boring machin, the only safe and accurate way to drill the holes for the hinges is on a drill press equipped with a Forstner bit.  The reason for this is due to the physical design of the bit.  The Forstner bit  has two cutting points, the center spur and the outer edge of the bit.  Ideally the center spur, which extends a little past the leading edge of the outer ring,  will enter the wood first and act as a stabilizer for the bit, while the outer edge actually does the cutting.  The problems come when the opposite occurs.  If the outer edge of the bit hits the wood first, all bets are off.  Best scenario, the bit will walk across the surface of the wood.   While this can ruin your work, it’s far better then the second scenario, where the bit catches in the wood and throws the wood across your shop, or the drill gets caught is and is ripped from your hand. As the diameter of the bits get bigger, this problem only amplifies itself.  If you are into the math behind this, as the diameter of the bit increases, the angle that the bit can be off from 90° decreases before the edge of the outer ring contacts the wood.  (Remember high school trig class).  Honestly guys, there is no way that you can hold a large forstner bit stable and at the correct angle with a hand drill.  Large forstner bits should only be used with a drill press. 

Which type of hinge is better?  One is inexpensive, easy to install but offers no adjustment.   The other is 3-4 times as expensive, takes more effort to install yet provides easy adjustments. Well….. , I guess that if the Blum hinges look right on your project and your budget allows the added costs, I would go that route.

For more information on or to purchase any of the products discussed in this post, please click on the highlighted links and images in the post.

 

Related posts:

1. Woodworking Projects – Bathroom Vanity Design Changes
2. Woodworking Techniques and Tips – Be Careful of What you Sand