What is your method/equipment to install door butt hinges?

[woodbutcherbower]

100% agreed [member=57948]ChuckS[/member] - and you're completely right of course. I wasn't being in any way disrespectful to hobbyists - who create some wonderful work (see 'Member Projects') and gain a huge amount of pleasure from doing so. I made the post specifically because in past posts, the OP has stated that he wishes to do this for a living, he's asked a ton of questions which are always about equipment, but as such, this post again reveals that he's very, very early in the learning curve. Nothing wrong with that obviously - we all start from the beginning.

I just didn't think that costly gadgets which he'd maybe use once in a blue moon would be the best use of whatever financial resources the guy has, (or doesn't have as the case may be) - especially on a topic such as this where there's an infinitely more simple, low-cost solution - especially since he said in his recent OF2200 post that he already has an OF1010 and a parallel guide which comes in the box. Apart from one hand tool and something to hit it with, he already owns everything necessary to get the job done to a standard of perfection.

IMO a couple of hours learning how to use a mallet and a chisel will be of more use to him than he'll possibly realise at this point. At his stage, it's so, so easy to slip into 'all the gear, but no idea' territory. We were all trying to help in our own way as always.

Kevin

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[4nthony]

The Templaco guides are great, one template will handle the door, as well as the jamb. For bigger jobs, I'll measure existing hinge spacing and order a custom template to match the existing layout.

I watched my father-in-law, who has worked in the trades for about 50 years, install a slab door in less than 10 minutes using a Templaco jig. At the time, I thought it was a homemade jig so I set out to make my own based on what I remembered of his.

I made the jig but don't have any doors to hang so I never used it. I do need to add a small stop on the ends to mimic a door gap -- I think Templaco jigs use a small rubber bumper? -- and center the cutout so it'll work with both right and left swing doors (right now, it's set up for left swing). I'll probably have to use double-sided tape to secure it to the jamb.

I'm anticipating my future door projects to use pre-hung doors so I don't know if I'll ever get around to hanging a slab door but if I do, I'll get to see if this jig works!

 

[kifi]

Thanks guys. Seems like the consensus is that a jig is the best way forward. I respect Bradshaw a lot (one of the linked videos above), and also have just earlier seen an excellent YouTuber and pro Robin Clevet use jigs and router. I did a woodworking course couple years ago and we spent weeks using mallets and chisels, cutting dovetails etc. All that is nice, if you have the time!!

 

[Crazyraceguy]

I use the Porter-Cable one, because the company has it  [wink] but mostly because it has all three hinges connected and spaced so that there is no measuring. Tack it on and go, move to the jamb and do the same. Most of the hinges I see have radiused corners, so a pattern bit that follows the jig is super fast.
I might do one or two a year, no where near what Kevin does.

 

[Tom the Remodeler]

The Templaco guides are great, one template will handle the door, as well as the jamb. For bigger jobs, I'll measure existing hinge spacing and order a custom template to match the existing layout.

I watched my father-in-law, who has worked in the trades for about 50 years, install a slab door in less than 10 minutes using a Templaco jig. At the time, I thought it was a homemade jig so I set out to make my own based on what I remembered of his.

I made the jig but don't have any doors to hang so I never used it. I do need to add a small stop on the ends to mimic a door gap -- I think Templaco jigs use a small rubber bumper? -- and center the cutout so it'll work with both right and left swing doors (right now, it's set up for left swing). I'll probably have to use double-sided tape to secure it to the jamb.

I'm anticipating my future door projects to use pre-hung doors so I don't know if I'll ever get around to hanging a slab door but if I do, I'll get to see if this jig works!

Good memory 4nthony, yup the Templaco templates use a little 1/8" thick plastic bump at each end of the template to give the proper spacing between the door and jamb. Place the bumper against the head jamb, while you want the body of the template flush with the top of the door.

Like the Porter Cable jig, the stock Templaco jigs are symmetrical.

I had forgotten to mention the Hingemaster kit, but this is more of a professional, production-oriented setup....
https://norfield.com/tools-and-supp...e-prep-fixtures/mfg56100-hingemaster-kit.html

 

[luvmytoolz]

Although I generally subscribe to the maxim "the best mathematician is a lazy mathematician", I do love symmetry in work when things should be symmetrical, so having said that, I am a very jig oriented person, even if it might only get a small number of uses.

So if it's one door I'd just do it by hand and chisel, if it was one door every month or two I'd build a jig out of MDF similar to the attached pic which would be very trivial to make.

If it was a couple of doors a month I'd be buying the jig! That is if I didn't already have one! ;-)

If you don't have the confidence to wield mallets and chisels without possibly going off target which for the uninitiated is extremely likely, just make or buy a jig! There is no shame at all in using a jig, and they will save you time, they make the process dead simple, and they give perfectly consistent results every time!

The amount of fix-up work I've done on residential properties over the years rectifying crappy cutting/chiselling work is astounding.

 

[Holzhacker]

For 1 or 2 doors I'll chisel out with or without butt markers.
For multiple doors on a job site I use the Templaco jig. Bought the whole 4 or 5 pack of different sizes years go. Not expensive, easy to use, work well.
Obviously there are lots of options. More about which option you like best.

 

[jeh]

The Templaco jig is outstanding as is the company support. Their set is expensive for what it does, but where you make out is that when you have custom door hardware to install and they do not have a template they will make you one. I had a pocket door with dimensions different from the one(s) they sell. Emailed the sizes to them and template arrived a few days later. I also did a new install on 20+ doors in a historically accurate new home. The lock hardware was new, but was far from normal and the doors were ordered undrilled because of this. Templaco came through with custom templates for the strike plates and I had the templates for the other components. Take a look at their website and see how many templates they manufacture.

 

[Mini Me]

For actually holding the door, use two or more substantial blocks of wood and cut a trench into each one a bit wider than the door and use wedges to lock the door into the trenches. Very simple and quick to remove, lift the door off the ground and hit the pieces holding the door with a hammer.

 

[ChuckM]

About holding the door.

The one time that I worked on a door (yes one time only...so I don't have any door hinge jig), I held it stable with a pair of handscrews. I also use a handscrew to hold the small trim router table:

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Another use of the handscrews is to hold the torch and branding iron:

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[Frank-Jan]

I work mostly in the Netherlands, and I use a commercially available hinge jig that is easy to use and versatile.

It consists of several jigs mounted on an aluminum rail, There is enough room on the rail to position them for all standard door heights (201,5cm, 211,5 cm, 231,5 cm). The jigs are available for all standard size leaf hinges, and are also available with built in spacing if you are routing hinges for exterior doors when draft profiles are mounted afterwards.

I do mostly paint-grade work, and mount the jig with screws.

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[Coen]

No disrespect intended to anyone, but some of these methods are ludicrously overcomplicated for what is the most basic, fundamental, day #1 lesson #1 task imaginable. If you only have one door to do - a wooden mallet and a 25mm razor-sharp firmer chisel. Less than two minutes per hinge, and a tight, flawless result after a little practise.

If you have multiple doors to do - a quarter-inch router, a parallel guide and a 19mm hinge cutter, plus either your firmer chisel or a corner chisel to square the corners. Once the guide and plunge depth are set up - each one takes seconds. I can regularly hang 7-8 doors per day on site work, including locks and hardware. There is really no need whatsoever for complex and costly jigs and other gadgets.

The 1/4" can stay far far away. [tongue]

Buy hinges with rounded corners... the chisels can then also stay away.

Your 2-minute claim is probably after having done 200 of those.

 

[woodbutcherbower]

[member=8955]Coen[/member] Multiply that number by 15 and you'd be in the ballpark.

 

[Coen]

[member=8955]Coen[/member] Multiply that number by 15 and you'd be in the ballpark.

So the point is that after investing 150 hours practice (assuming average of 3 minutes) you end up being faster than grabbing the router and a template?

Really makes me think. If you install that many... you already have the jig. If you don't install that many, you most likely don't have the practice to do it that fast with the chisel anyway.

But to each his own. I don't even own a decent hand wood saw.

 

[woodbutcherbower]

[member=8955]Coen[/member] Read my post again. I said that the mallet and chisel are only appropriate if you have 1 or 2 doors to do. If you don't = a pencil, a router and a parallel guide are all you need - and which the OP already has. Give me a keen student, give me an hour - and I'll have him/her swinging a door whilst the other guy is still halfway through setting up his jig. That was the whole point of my reply to the OP. If he'd rather spend his money on a gadget than take honest advice from a guy who's hung 3000+ doors, then so be it. It's our money, we all spend it how we choose to.

Kind regards
Kevin

 

[Coen]

Doing it with the jig will result in a nicer cut, so it's not the same.

 

[Imemiter]

Rabbeted jambs and installed casings are the bane of hand-routing with an edge guide. That, and the fact that every hinge has to be measured. I apprenticed as a door-hanger hanging raw slabs in tract homes. One house after another. We'd come in to hang temp exterior doors first and I'd run around clipping interior door jacks to the king studs. I still have no idea why these guys weren't already using pre-hung doors. But even old school as my mentors were, they were all using the Templaco sticks or the Porter Cable equivalent.   

 

[Bencan]

Hey all

What is your method to install butt hinges on internal doors? I was thinking of using the OF1010 or the MFK700 with a jig like something from Trend (UK). Trend Door Hardware Jig and getting my hands on some copy rings and suitable bit.

Softwood doors.

Cheers
K

I personally use the trend Skelton jig and the of1010 if I’m hanging doors on new jambs. In existing jambs I’ll use the basic porter cable jig as I like to fit my doors to the old jamb then mark the hinges with the door sitting in the opening. The of1010 is always used, I have never used the 700 with either of these jigs

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