Boring Tools Till – Hanging a Door

Apr 29, 2022

Another quick session in the shop today. I got one of the doors hung.

First step was to measure and cut the piano hinges to size. I figured 20 inches worked about right on the 21 inch and change doors (wanted to cut between the fingers on the hinges).

With the hinge cut, I held it even with the top of the cabinet and marked where the holes would need to be.

holding the hinge to the cabinet, in preparation for marking the holes. There are many tools and assorted stuff in the frame

A close-up of the cabinet frame, with two pencilled circles showing where pilot holes need to be drilled for the hinge screws

With the holes marked, I used a brad awl to mark the centers of the holes, then used a 1/16 inch twist bit in an eggbeater drill to drill a ⅝ inch deep pilot hole (having consulted my handy chart and seen that a #6 wood screw needs a 1/16 pilot hole in soft woods).

Wood Screw Pilot Hole Sizes chart

That done, I moved to the door. Again, holding the hinge even with the top edge (thus getting alignment between the door and the cabinet), I drilled pilot holes for the top and bottom hinge holes and put in two screws.

holding the hinge to the door

hinge on the door with the topmost and bottommost screws in

Then I drilled the rest of the pilot holes and put in the rest of the screws, attaching the hinge to the door. Then I ran screws into the top and bottom holes in the cabinet and then removed them, so I would have an easier time when it came time to insert those two screws while holding the door with one hand.

A closeup of the top screw-hole in the cabinet with a screw partially installed in the hole

After getting those two screws in (sorry, no picture, because only two hands), I put in the rest of the screws and it was time to run to town for our shopping.

The cabinet with the left door installed and closed

The cabinet with the left door installed and open

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