(dramatic music)
(upbeat music)
Marc: We're gonna put our cabinet parts
on the side for now.
We'll get back to those in a little bit,
and I want to turn my attention to the legs.
As much as I'd love to take the leg blanks
and just make our curves and call it a day,
we actually do have to think ahead again here.
We have to think about how are these legs
gonna attach to the cabinet sides?
Do we wanna do any joinery there?
Also, what type of hinges are we going to use,
because the hinges are gonna actually be installed
in the legs and also on the doors, of course.
I put some thought into it.
Originally, I was gonna go with knife hinges.
Then,I gave it a little bit more thought
and decided, "You know what?
"Let's go talk to the people who know the
"most about this stuff.
"Let's go to Woodcraft and see if anybody can help us out
"with some of the hardware for this project.'
That's exactly what we did,
and I think you're gonna enjoy this segment.
Check it out.
We're here with Frank at our local Woodcraft store,
and I brought him a sample -
well, it's kind of a sample -
of the cabinet, the gadget station that we're making
to show him the scenario and why it's unique.
Basically, I wanna just get his advice
on what hinges he might recommend,
what other options are out there,
and what things - more traditional hinges -
might not work in this scenario,
'cause it is kind of a unique set-up here.
In most cases, a door, even if it's an inset door,
it's usually flush with the front.
In this case, we've got a curved front leg here.
That makes it not only not flush,
but very difficult to figure out
what type of hinge you need.
Frank: Exactly.
Marc: If you could, get us started
with a few recommendations.
We'll cover some things that may not work.
I see some things here that I've never used before,
so I'm really anxious to see what you've got.
Frank: Four different things that you need to consider
when you're choosing your hinges -
one of the first and foremost, I think,
especially in doing a project like this,
is aesthetics - how good's it look.
After that, you need to look and see
what the functionality is.
If you're dealing with doors that are heavy,
obviously you can't use slight flimsy hinges.
They can't handle the weight.
The next one is cost because some of these hinges
are fairly inexpensive.
A couple of these are like three or four dollars a door,
and others are coming up to 26, 30 dollars a door.
If you start dealing with a couple of doors,
you're getting into some money.
It's something that people usually don't look for.
The other part will be just how much work
does it take to put 'em in.
Some of these hinges we're gonna talk about
are very easy to install.
I think anyone could just pick 'em right up,
and others we're dealing with some pretty
complicated mortising work,
a lot of hand tool work.
It's not something
that you're just gonna throw together.
It's gonna take some time,
and it's gonna show your craftsmanship.
Marc: Would you say that, as a person is
developing a strategy for their project,
and designing the project,
that the more they know about hinges
and what options are out there for them,
they should really start to think about that
before the final design,
because you can make one slight little change
that could make a real difference,
in a hinge that's incredibly difficult to apply
versus one that's easy.
You should probably be thinking about these things
early on in the process.
Frank: Exactly, and also thinking about
just the basic model of how the door works,
because is it gonna be an inset door,
which is what this is,
or is it gonna be sitting on the base?
Marc: Like an overlay.
Frank: They all have their advantages
and disadvantages.
The disadvantage of this one is that,
if you make any mistakes,
if the alignment isn't perfect, it stands out.
In this case, just like you said,
you're set in this direction.
You're not gonna go another way,
so we need to find the right solution for your door.
Marc: This is one of those cases
where I did the opposite of what I just
recommended doing.
I designed this based on -
I made it look exactly the way I want it to look,
and said, "Okay, now what hinge can I use for this?"
Which can bite you in the butt sometimes,
but I think in this case we've got some good options here.
I'll put this down so it's not in our way.
Frank: Let's talk about some of the hinges that are available.
I don't think necessarily they're all suited
for this project, but let's talk about them.
I'll talk about one of my favorites first.
This is commonly called the Euro hinge.
It was meant for cabinetry and you'll see a ton of it.
Any time you look in the kitchen or garage cabinets,
you're gonna see a lot of these.
They're very strong and what I like about them is,
even though they look very complicated for installation,
they're actually very easy.
For ten bucks, you can get a very usable template,
and the forsner bit you need
to make the section out here.
Let's call it a hole. (laughs) Very complicated.
Marc: The round hole.
Frank: One of the things I like about 'em,
it's not only easy to install but they're easy to adjust.
All of these, if you make a mistake on most of these hinges,
you start over again.
You redo your door, or you're gonna re-cut it,
here, you got adjustments up, down, backwards and forwards.
All of these adjustments are available to you,
so if it's a little off, you can correct it.
That's what I really like it for,
especially at the beginning.
Marc: And doors don't always stay
in the same position that you started out in.
As the seasons change, things might warp a little bit,
and I've actually done adjustments on doors
where they've moved over the course of a few seasons.
Those six-way adjustable hinges
are just fantastic for that.
Frank: Exactly, you gotta deal with wood movement,
and sometimes you end up where a door droops a little bit,
especially if it's a large heavy door.
This just makes things easier.
They'll handle a lot of abuse.
That's why they put 'em in kitchen cabinets,
because cabinets actually get a lot of use.
Marc: Right.
I guess the only drawback with those would be
the more industrial, commercial look.
Frank: Exactly, they are not pretty.
Obviously from the outside, you can't see 'em.
You're blind to it but the second you open it,
it says, "Oh, that's a very nice cabinet you made there, Marc.
"That's very impressive." (laughs)
Marc: Yeah, they're great, very functional,
just not as nice as some of these other options.
Frank: The next one I'd like to talk about is
just a simple butt-joint but this is mortised.
That means the only work you're gonna do here is,
you're gonna do alignment and you're gonna screw them in.
That's a big advantage over every other one of the ones here
because you're gonna have to do some sort
of mortising work, some fancier work.
Here, all yoo really need to do is lay it out properly.
This is probably the most common hinge right here.
It is the standard butt joint hinge.
This is what you'll see a lot of,
especially in older cabinets.
This is what they used almost exclusively.
How you install it is up to you.
There's a lot of different ways.
Most of the time you see decent craftsmanship,
you're gonna see two mortises, at least -
one on the door and one on the casework.
The biggest mistake I see people making is
they can obviously look at the hinge itself,
and they mortise that out,
but they forget that you have
to include the pivot point because that alters.
There's a little gap there.
You have to make sure that lines up and that's straight.
Otherwise, it really shows.
We talked about this earlier on the project,
'cause I think this is what you initially had in mind.
Marc: Yeah, initially, until I came in to the store today.
Let's definitely cover these.
Frank: These are really nice hinges.
They're beautiful.
You're not gonna see a lot of them
because actually when you put it in the case,
you're only gonna see a little section of the hinge.
One of the downfalls is the craftsmanship it takes
to put these knife-and-offset hinges in.
It's a lot.
You're gonna mortise both the door and the casework,
and it's not just a nice little, pretty, straight cut.
You're gonna have to deal with these offset hinges.
Marc: My cabinet broke.
Frank: Exactly.
Marc: Speaking of good craftsmanship,
don't use CA glue to glue your joints together.
It's just a sample.
You can see in here why I was leaning
toward this design because the hinge
Marc: would be installed in that fashion, Frank: [unintelligible]
Marc: like that so it just seemed like the most logical thing.
Yeah, the craftsmanship behind these,
it takes some skill.
It's essentially an inlay, really,
so you're inlaying that into the wood,
both the door and the frame, the body of the cabinet.
Frank: One of the challenges is,
obviously you're gonna be putting in two.
These have to be perfectly aligned.
If they're off a little bit,
your door is gonna either sway a little bit
or not open at all, 'cause it'll hit the bottom.
These have to be in perfect alignnment.
Marc: Nicole has a jewelry box
that has very tough-to-open doors
because it was my first set of knife hinges.
Frank: And that's hard to correct.
How do you correct that? You build the door again.
Marc: Yeah, it's trouble.
Frank: These are offset
because the hinge is away from here.
These are considered the straight knife hinges,
where it's in line.
It depends on how your door's laid out
to which one you're gonna choose.
The next ones we were talking about was
one of our favorites here.
This is a standard barrel.
For installation, it can't get much easier
'cause all you really have to do is align two holes.
Marc: Right, yeah.
Frank: Exactly. That's all there is to it.
Marc: It's very simple.
Frank: The only downfall I can think of is
they're not super strong.
If you have a heavier door, in particular,
you may not wanna choose these,
which is one of the reasons I was kinda leading you
towards this route.
They have all the similarities of a barrel,
but there's a lot more strength involved.
Marc: It sort of reminds me of a dead bolt on a big door.
Frank: Exactly.
Marc: That looks very strong.
Frank: The package and the website doesn't
really give you what the rated value is
on how much weight you can put on it.
If you just put 'em in your hand,
you can feel the weight and strength of it.
It's substantial.
You'll be able to put a pretty heavy door on these.
Marc: Honestly, I think this is
where I'm leaning now, at this point.
It looks like it might be quite a bit easier to install
and it's gonna be strong.
Frank: I'd still recommend that you develop some sort of jig.
They sell a jig directly from the manufacturer,
but it's something you could do on your own and,
obviously, like everything else,
you practice on scrap wood first,
and then you put it on the project.
Marc: Just one quick question as an aside -
I know like these, for instance, verso hinges
are incredibly expensive,
when you compare these to other brands,
and there are some other brands on the Internet
that I've picked up for knife hinges.
What would you say is the main reason
why someone would wanna go with this
versus one of the cheaper brands?
What are they really getting for that extra money?
Frank: You'll see, some of the less expensive brands,
the materials aren't as good,
the craftsmanship isn't as good.
If you look at a Versos,
this is a fine piece of craftsmanship hee.
Marc: Well-milled.
Frank: Everything is milled very straight.
All the cuts are very well done.
They've done their job on the polish.
They've made things very consistent.
These are made in Brooklyn, New York.
You can't get much more American than that.
Marc: Made on the East Coast.
Marc: Just like me. Frank: Exactly.
Frank: You get some of the other ones,
the off-brands or the Chinese-mades,
the metal starts getting thinner.
The holes aren't as consistent,
and the holes have to be perfect.
These are all counter-sunk.
There is no movement on there.
There is no adjustability like there is on these.
If you're off, you've got a problem.
You're gonna have to drill those holes back in,
plug 'em back up, let that dry, and re-drill your holes.
The craftsmanship and the quality is
what you're paying for.
If you just anticipate,
if you just look at your project and say,
"Hinges are part of my project.
"I'm gonna have to add 60 bucks to my project
"'cause I want quality hinges,"
then this is where you're gonna wanna go.
Marc: I've used both and I definitely would say
they make a huge difference.
If they're all milled perfectly,
it's gonna make a big difference
in your level of accuracy
in actually inlaying that into the wood.
Frank: And people look at the hinges.
If they see something that's poorly-coated,
if it doesn't look quality,
they're just gonna assume the rest of it matches.
Marc: Yeah, absoutely.
Frank: If you're gonna put that much time,
and material, and the wood,
you might as well spend just a little bit more.
Marc: Sure.
Frank: We didn't even talk about these.
Marc: This big guy here.
Frank: This is a continuous hinge or a piano hinge -
very stronng.
People underestimate just how much weight
one of these will handle.
You don't have to buy it to size.
You can cut with a hacksaw at any length you need.
I actually like these.
They're actually fairly easy to install.
They're strong and they're not terribly expensive.
Marc: It definitely looks like these
invisible hinges are what I'm gonna go for.
I really didn't even know these existed,
so I'm really glad I came in -
Frank: Great, great.
Marc: 'cause this is a very cool thing.
We'll go over this on the show, installing these.
By some chance, maybe I'll change my mind
on the way home and we'll go with knife hinges.
I don't know, but I really am pretty convinced
that this is the way to go,
and the magnetic little catch is probably the way
we're gonna go as well.
Frank: I think it's a wise way to go.
Overall, they don't stand out.
They're not gonna change the style.
That's one of the problems that happens with hinges.
If you put the certain style,
and then you fall out of favor or it comes out,
people go, "Oh, that looks '70s there."
Marc: I guess if it's possible,
you shouldn't necessarily have to notice the hinge.
If you can keep it as inconspicuous as possible,
you're probably better off anyway for design purposes.
Frank: I want people to concentrate
on that spalted maple.
Marc: And the front of this is gonna
have spalted maple.
Marc: You're a smart man. Frank: I saw you on the show.
Marc: Oh, never mind.
Frank, thanks a lot, man.
I appreciate it. It was great.
Let's get back to the shop
so we can install these puppies.