Thread: Jewellery Box Quadrant Hinges

Are these the ones you refer to? I hadn't seen gold plated hinges before, only brass plated or solid brass.

As was stated in their advertisement Solid Brass and then Gold Plated.

The only solid brass quadrant hinges you can buy for $10 per pair are so thin they're like tin foil, and they're not gold plated. Timbecon have dropped the ball badly here, but you tend to get what you pay for when it comes to hinges.

Hi Tinkerbelle.

Aldav is right there. If you browse over a lot of threads on this site over a lot of years, you will find that sourcing good quality brass hinges at a reasonable price is well, to be honest, just doesn't happen. You would pay anywhere from say $40 to $80 per pair plus freight, as a rough estimate.

But, your starting out on woodwork obviously and keen to get into boxmaking, use those ones you bought, they will look good. Get some hints from the blokes at the Mens Shed on the best way of installing them. A bit tricky doing quadrant hinges first up. But a good experience for you.

Good luck with it,

Paul

Could it be just the pin is iron and attracts the magnet? Even so, a solid brass hinge should have a brass pin IMO.

I'd be confident Timbecon will look after you with a refund or exchange.

Originally Posted by homesy135

Could it be just the pin is iron and attracts the magnet? Even so, a solid brass hinge should have a brass pin IMO.

I'd be confident Timbecon will look after you with a refund or exchange.

Thank you guys for your comments. I have received a reply from Timbecon,which states some brass alloys contain ferrous elements and so they would attract magnets.I appreciate this wouldn't be appropriate for some applications boxes that store magnetically sensitive equipment you are most welcome to return the hinges for a full refund if you would like.When I put the magnet to the hinges it certainly was attracted to each other. Now what annoys me, is that it is misleading advertising, and I and I believe others have bought this in good faith.Should I spend more money sending the hinges back and getting my refund or put up and shut up.Sorry to waffle on, but I expect retailers to be up front especially ones known through Woodwork Forums.

I'd just keep the hinges and use them, they'll look good enough for you to be happy with the result. Good luck with fitting them, they're quite challenging. The only copper alloy that I know of that is at all magnetic is manganese bronze. It has an iron content of about 5% so is very lightly magnetic. If the legs of your hinges are highly magnetic I'd suggest that they're plated steel. The other metal that is commonly used for these small hinges is zinc, it's not magnetic and is cheaper (no copper content) and tends to be cast rather than wrought.

I used to sell solid brass quadrant hinges in two different sizes. They were about $22 per pair, but weren't very popular due to the difficulty of fitting them. A couple of pictures of those hinges attached.

Thanks guys for your comments.aldav what beautiful boxes and great brass hinges.You haven't got any spares?

Originally Posted by tinkerbelle

I have received a reply from Timbecon,which states some brass alloys contain ferrous elements and so they would attract magnets.

Ummmm ..... I think they should be revising their advertising urgently and also (re-)training their staff. Telling porky pies is frowned upon by the ACCC if they are in fact brass plated steel. Categorizing a steel item that has been "brass" plated as an "alloy" is neither accurate nor true.

Yes, there are some brass alloys (such as ALLOY SAE 430 B and are more commonly called "bronze") that contain iron and nickel which does make them mildly magnetic if a very strong magnet is used for the test. However those alloys are neither commonly used in our applications nor easily machined, so unlikely to have been used in the manufacture of your quadrant hinges.

For a "brass" item to be strongly attracted to a magnet it has to contain a significant percentage of either or all off the following iron, nickel, and cobalt; or have a component within the item made from Iron, nickel, or cobalt alloys.

"Magnetic Properties. Copper is a diamagnetic metal, i.e., it has a negative magnetic susceptibility and is weakly repelled by magnetic fields. This property is shared by many copper alloys. On the other hand, high strength yellow brasses (manganese bronzes), copper-nickel alloys and aluminum bronzes, which contain up to a few percent iron precipitated as islands of an iron-rich phase, can, as a result, be slightly ferromagnetic. Magnetism in these alloys can be reduced several-fold by solution-annealing them at a high temperature, followed by rapid quenching. This retains the iron in solid solution, where it has little magnetic effect.

Although it is not itself ferromagnetic, manganese can also impart ferro-magnetic properties to copper alloys, as in the so-called Heusler alloys, which are based on 75% copper, 15% manganese and 10% aluminum. These alloys are ferromagnetic even though they contain none of the naturally ferromagnetic metals: iron, nickel and cobalt."

I would be VERY tempted to scratch off the plating from the underside of one of those hinges and see what is underneath.

Willing to bet it isn't brass at all.

Originally Posted by tinkerbelle

Thanks guys for your comments.aldav what beautiful boxes and great brass hinges.You haven't got any spares?

Sorry tinkerbelle the few I have left are strictly for personal use. I'm pretty sure they're the same ones as Rockler sell - Solid Brass Box Hinges | Rockler Woodworking and Hardware

Originally Posted by Bendigo Bob

I would be VERY tempted to scratch off the plating from the underside of one of those hinges and see what is underneath.

Willing to bet it isn't brass at all.

For the suggested price of $8.30, I would be inclined to use a hacksaw and cut fully through it. That would definitely show what is under the plating.

Originally Posted by cava

For the suggested price of $8.30, I would be inclined to use a hacksaw and cut fully through it. That would definitely show what is under the plating.

And that might be quite embarrassing for Timbecon