Thread: Just an idea

Getting the holes lined up for barrel hinges is absolutely necessary, and the idea of dowel marking points seems a good one to me, but you have to be sure you can get the drill perfectly centred into the dowel point which might be a problem with strong grained wood. The idea of using old gramaphone needles is nifty. But from what I remember of them they wouldn't leave all that good an impression to locate a drill point all that accurately. Given your metal-working skills it wouldn't be all that hard for you to make a metal template that could space and locate the hinge holes accurately on your workpiece.

Hi
Barrel hinges are very unforgiving of off centre placement. Have a look at the library Box Bits #4 which has a good method. I did a blackwood box recently and used the method of drilling all the way through the timber from the edge (Gifkins special jewellery box ). The method I am sure works fine if you have a perfectly lined up drill press fence but it turned into a nightmare for me. The hinges were installed twice and sheared off twice because I was 1.5 mm off centre in a 12 mm stock. If the box is lined it creates tension between the two hinges and while they are strong vertically they are fragile laterally. Use a jig as in Box Bits #4 in the library. Saves both money and heartache.

Hi Fencepost & Paul
Thanks for answering my post as I said in my original post I know nothing about box building it’s a track I will go down a bit later I was watching the Gifkins jewellery box demonstration at Sydney working with wood show and that in turn got me thinking about the whole box making thing I liked the idea of using barrel hinges so while I was there I bought some as you do.
I can see what the problem may be with having to line up the barrel hinges and so I thought about the dowel pins and how I could use them to assist in the operation of lining up.
Perhaps I should have mentioned that I have a small mill drill still using the markers
I could use a very small centre drill then put a jobber drill in the hole and hand wind the chuck to start the hole so there is no tear out maybe that’s another way please keep in mind this is all hypothetical on my part and when the time comes to do the job I may find that with a bit more care and practice things will work ok
Colbra Col

Just so you know even though I had alot of frustration the end product would have been so much better with barrel hinges. I will certainly have another go.
Good luck with it

Hi Paul
I just replied to your post "Gifkins Special Jewellery Box my version" as I said there top job. That's what I like about my back shed I can make all the stuff ups and swear talk to myself and no one can here! and generally at the end I can come up with something respectable anyway its all good stuff I will be watching for your future projects.
Col (colbra)