Rebating hinges into hardboard-faced doors

[Handyman]

With doors made of "proper wood", it's dead easy with a chisel and a mallet. But with light-weight doors made with hardwood frame faced with moulded hardboard, I'm finding it a real bugger, as the hardboard facing makes it difficult to pare off the wood in the rebate. Any suggestions or comments? (And, no, I'm not going to buy a router and a hinge jig).

 

[masona]

I know what you mean, but I find having a very very sharp chisel grinded at a lower angle help. A flat turntable grinder are best for sharpening chisel, the only one I've seen was in the workshop when I did carpentry city & guilds. Not seen them since.

 

[nstreet]

How about scoring or cutting the hardboard with a sharp stanley knife first, you know where the hinge is going to be and the depth, so it may give a better finish.

 

[Handyman]

How about scoring or cutting the hardboard with a sharp stanley knife first.

Highly risky, as with some of these doors (especially pre-glossed ones from Homebase, of which I have to hang 5) one slip with the knife and the door surface is damaged. However, I will have a go at this.

I even thought of using an angle grinder and sanding away the hardboard edge, but the disk is too big to get square into the 20mm rebate width.

Careful use of a planer might work (at least it'll get the middle bit down to the correct depth). I'll experiment with that, too.

 

[breezer]

I was just wondering, if its hardboard / mdf you want to rebate it for a flush hinge, how are you going to fix the hinge to the door if you have made it even thinnner, must have some really short screws

 

[Handyman]

Breezer, these doors are essentially a hardwood frame faced with moulded hardboard (or mdf, these days - shows how old I am). The hinge rebate is on the edge of the door. When you look at the edge of the door, you see a strip of wood bounded on two sides with hard material (i.e. the mdf). The rebate for the hinge must start at the hard edge and extend about 20mm into the hardwood core.

 

[breezer]

i see, i was asuming the door was 100% hardboard / mdf

 

[masona]

Are you aware you can buy Hinge Butt Kits ? not sure if you can hire one.

See this.

 

[Handyman]

No, these are standard 6' 6"/2' 6" (in old money) internal doors.
(But of course, they don't use real wood any more, and require jigs and machinery to fit, rather than skilled use of hand tools )

Masona: See my original posting. I don't want to go to all this expense. There's got to be an easier (and cheaper) way.

 

[masona]

Ahh ! re-read your post and you don't want one of these !

I use a marking gauge and made the pin into a blade type and keep scoring it into the wood on the longest length of the hinge side and the thickness of the butt then finish off with a very sharp chisel.

 

[fitter]

I know you didn't want to go to any great expense but a router with side fence does a great job ( still have to square up corners with a chisel). Looking through screwfix cat. cheapest router plus cutter comes out at just over £30 and you end up with very useful tool.

I just put up 3 fire doors with moulded hardboard faces, 3 hinges on each took a few minutes each.

 

[Handyman]

I decided to go "back to first principles" and use a chisel. I need to get the job done. So, I sharpened my chisel (and kept it sharp throughout), and with careful use of a mallet to chip out the hardboard edge, I've solved the problem. Managed to chisel out 10 perfect (well, more or less ) rebates in an hour or so. Job done, and with no special tools, setting up, or extra cost.

But thanks to all for constructive comments. I will consider getting router now.

 

[DAZB]

When I have more than one door to hang I rebate the hinges with a laminate trimmer which is just a scaled down router . It is very easy to set and use and will cut a pair of hinges in about a minute and just leaves you to square up the corners with a sharp chisel. With it producing a preset depth the hinges will be a perfect fit every time. I find them so useful I bought two so my joiners can fly through hanging doors because they are also used for routing out the latch or lock face plates as well. You can hire one from HSS Hire shops for £16 so it won't break the bank either. Type in Laminate Trimmer in the search box at the HSS website .

http://www.hss.com/Fae.asp?sysPage=wsHomePage&wsCountry=UK&sysLanguage=[BASE]&resetToGroup=YES

 

[Handyman]

Now, this sounds a useful tool. I'll investigate further. Thanks, Daz.

 

[mildmanneredjanitor]

Just buy yourself, the cheap Ferm router and do it freehand.

At least that way you get a consistant depth of cut, also like Masona suggested, using a gauge is a very good method of marking the long edge of the hinge etc.. and just finish off with a sharp chisel.

I also have two of their cheap work benches, which makes holding the door upright easy and safe (essential when you are a one man band!)