Hello everybody – I’ve just finished a display cabinet using Brusso 3/8″ straight knife hinges installed as shown here http://www.whitechapel-ltd.com/tech/straight_knife_hinge.shtml
The doors are made of ash and are 9″ x 28″ each. They are frame and panel doors, so they are not heavy at all.
The problem I’m having is that one of the doors has suddenly become hard to open. Or I should say, it doesn’t swing open as smoothly as the other door. I had the same problem when I was building the cabinet and thought I might have gotten some dirt in the pivoting part, so I used a replacement hinge and it opened smoothly.
Has anybody else encountered this problem before? Is there a fix? Thanks in advance for your ideas.
Kim
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Replies
You've probably already checked, but I'd look for rubbing between wood parts. Perhaps something has moved a little since you fitted the door. You can sometimes cure a rub with a thin washer on the pin in the lower knife hinge.
Hi Jamie - thanks for your thoughts on this issue. There's no problem with wood parts rubbing against each other - I double-checked just to be sure.
I removed the hinges on the door that's causing a problem and found that I have to use considerable pressure to open and close them. I guess I'll just go ahead and order new hinges because it looks like I got stuck with bad hinges. Or maybe I should take out the file and work on the pins.
Edited 7/5/2006 7:41 pm ET by kmetzger
I don't have any solution since the hinge seems to be sticky, itself. But I'm curious..... are these hinges coated with that nasty clear-coat. I got some hinges from Whitechapel with that stuff on them and talk about ugly...... I like my brass uncoated... let it patina along with me.
I have had exactly the same problem with a couple sets. I am wondering if the door is not perfectly hung, if the hinges get 'torqued' by the door and wind up slightly bent, if they are just a bad set, or if there is some other problem? I have one set that are completely locked tight - they cannot be moved by hand anymore. When I took them out of the cabinet and dropped in a new set, the doors went back to working perfectly, no sign of the new set binding up at all. I am confused. But plan to take them back to Lee Valley and get a new set. On that note, I read this interview by Krenov done in 2004 (http://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/oralhistories/transcripts/krenov04.htm) where he says "Brusso [Brusso Precision Hardware] makes a hinge, but it’s lousy. I talked to them. I said, “I don’t want to have to read a newspaper between the way the door fits in there, you know. Get that washer thin.” They don’t care. They say, “We make 10,000 of them and we’re not going to listen to you, old man.” So that’s all right. But we’ve got somebody that makes beautiful hinges." I agree with his comments, I have used the Brusso hinges in several cabinets and find that they make too big a gap on the top and bottom. Anyone know where Krenov gets his hinges made?Dan
I didn't mean only who Krenov gets his hinges from, I meant is there someone else other than Brusso who is making nice ones, preferably with a thinner washer.Dan
Hi Daninvan, Lee Valley has some knife hinges that are less expensive than the Brusso ones, they are ok but not quite as nice. Anyway I sure like the look of the knife hinges but they can be fussy.Good luckTroy
check to see that the leaves of the hinges are level. i have installed some offset knife hinges and they weren't right-on square (flat to the carcase and the door) - they were tough to open and 1 set also "groaned" from the friction. have also used some fine sandpaper on the posts followed with a touch of grease.
jerry
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