Replies

1. 
   joinerswork | Jan 02, 2009 10:52pm | #1

   hdgis,

   What kind of problems are you having?

   Cutting the recess for one of these can be a little nerve wracking, as you are cutting into endgrain, and there is little wood typically on either side of the recess.  I begin by cutting the recess for the heavy portion of the hinge leaf (nearest the hinge joint) deep enough so that I can start it, then scribe around the longer, thinner part of the leaf when I get it down on the edge of the leaf.  Then I cut the 1st part of the recess deeper, along with the part I just scribed around.  With the top clamped vertically (end up) in my bench vise, I like to pare in horizontally, from the rear edge of the top with a chisel slightly narrower (stay inside of the scribe/marking guage  marks, in other words) than the width of the hinge leaf, then very carefully pare down to the scribe lines vertically with a sharp, wide chisel. This is the nerve wracking part, as it is easy to split off a hunk of top if the grain is a little cross here. EEEK! Slow and steady wins the race in this situation.

   I like to have the little boss or step, where the two leaves of the hinge meet when it is folded, just a hair proud of the surface of the tabletop.  (You can set a marking guage to this dimension, to get a line on the end of the top showing where to stop.)This puts the two table surfaces just two hairs apart from one another when the flap is folded over, eliminating a chance of ending up "hinge-bound", and allowing a bit for the flap to bow or cup.  Likewise, I let the end of each segment of the hinge stick out a half of a sixteenth or so past the rear edge of the tops.  This leaves a gap of a sixteenth between the top and leaf when it is in the open position, not so big it looks bad, but big enough that if the leaf moves (warps) a little it won't rub as it is opened.

   Ray

1. 
   hdgis1 | Jan 03, 2009 01:52am | #2

   Ray,
   Thanks for response. Have had a go at it and am doing almost as you described. You are certainly correct in that this is one of those situations that 'slow and steady' wins. As for as hinge protrusion, I read one of the articles in here about card tables and it seems the gentlemen who did it rounded over the inside edges so that the top wouldn't bind. In my test piece (without rounded over edges and hinges set fulsh with back) it certainly did bind. Will work that out here in a bit. Exciting Friday night ahead!
   Chris

1. 
   joinerswork | Jan 03, 2009 02:04am | #3

   Chris,

   I didn't think to mention rounding those corners.  I generally knock the corners on most all finished surfaces, as a matter of course.  By the bye, the back corner of the "birdcage" on a tip and turn table, really needs rounding over for the top to be able to tip.  Same principle, but on a much larger scale.

   Ray