hinge removal/dutchman

[MTbassbone]

Hi all, I removed some louvered doors from doorways going to and from our kitchen, and am now left with the hinge mortises on the door jambs.  The door hinges were smaller, and I am concerned if I try to make a dutchman this size it will not look good or maybe not even hold.  I am wondering if it would be better to make the mortise larger either by hand (chisel) or with a router/homemade jig.  Anyone have experience with this type of situation? 

 

[hoedma]

Hi,

Not sure how to help you but I must say, as Dutchman I do not know what a dutchman is  [big grin]. COuld you enlighten me?

kind regards,
Mattijs

 

[peter halle]

[member=5644]hoedma[/member] , here is a link that you might find interesting:  Dutchman

Peter

 

[cpw]

Hi all, I removed some louvered doors from doorways going to and from our kitchen, and am now left with the hinge mortises on the door jambs.  The door hinges were smaller, and I am concerned if I try to make a dutchman this size it will not look good or maybe not even hold.  I am wondering if it would be better to make the mortise larger either by hand (chisel) or with a router/homemade jig.  Anyone have experience with this type of situation?

Painted or stained?

Either way, the patch should have glue area that is the entire back side surface; and is think and the door jamb shouldn't be stressed.

With paint, you should definitely be able to make it just blend in.  Though it may be easier to cover and sand it with Bondo or another wood filler rather than having to have something fit exactly.

 

[Crazyraceguy]

Hi,

Not sure how to help you but I must say, as Dutchman I do not know what a dutchman is  [big grin]. COuld you enlighten me?

kind regards,
Mattijs

It's realistically just an old fashioned term for a patch. The damaged area would be cut out and replaced with something matching. They are not generally structural or ornamental like a bow-tie would be, but the process would be similar. It's just a way to fix a larger piece without having to replace it entirely, blended in and hopefully not visible.

 

[Peter Kelly]

Hi,

Not sure how to help you but I must say, as Dutchman I do not know what a dutchman is  [big grin]. COuld you enlighten me?

kind regards,
Mattijs

The term likely originated in the era of tall ships where rectangular wooden patches in a boat hulls resembled the way in which Dutch sailors were known to mend their trousers.

 

[MTbassbone]

Thanks for the responses.  Yes, it will be painted.  What product should I use to fill the seams?  Plastic Wood?  I don't want the seams to crack and show through the paint.  I was thinking of routing out a larger area so I would get sufficient glue area and also so it is flat.  There are 8 of these hinges to fill.

 

[mino]

IMO this calls for routing and putting in a bigger piece.

The biggest issue is the thickness of the paint - you will need to, at least partially, compensate by "oversanding" and putting a couple thick layers of paint to at least approximate the thickness of the original paint "crust".

If this was at my place, I would do an initial patch-up, sanding over to the wood - not to the paint level - and a wider patch. Then paint it over a couple times with thick paint, over several months. Finishing with a new paint over the whole frame in 1/2 year or so.

That is, if I wanted the frame to look "as if it was whole from the get go". Depends on what you are shooting for.

Visually, the biggest challenge will be to avoid an obvious area where the paint is visibly thinner which will then be seen-through as "too perfect" on the otherwise curvy/liquid frame surface.

 

[cpw]

I definitely would want to get rid of that caked up paint from behind the hinge so that you just have the gap to fill, and can fill it to wood.

I find that Bondo filler is easier to work with than plastic wood.  It is creamier before it sets, so can get  a nice smooth surface; and then hardens very quickly so you can sand it.https://www.homedepot.com/p/3M-Bondo-12-fl-oz-Wood-Filler-30081/206680651

If you route out a more uniform area and create patches, you'll still need to fill the edges.

If it were my house, I would probably start with Bondo and see if you can get acceptable results.  You can always route out a larger section including the Bondo afterwards if you are not satisfied.

 

[peter halle]

After seeing the picture, I would get rid of the paint in the mortise, take a chisel and bevel the edges of the mortise and also the crack below, and then fill with body filler or wood filler.  Sand and paint.  Making a dutchman might be a worthy experiment, but with painted wood in this situation you are more concerned with blending it in.

Peter

 

[Vtshopdog]

+1 for beveling the edges before filling. 
Will reduce telegraphing of the seam.  Might be good spot to use some sandable primer before painting.

 

[rst]

I had an opposite situation.  My daughter bought a three bedroom house that only had doors on the bathroom .  I bought six panel doors, stained to match the original shellac (first job was as stainer in custom cabinet factory).  When I routed the jambs I routed out patches from when the house was built in 39.