The Incra Project Book's version of the jewelry box uses wood hinges—also made with the Incra Jig.    I have seen these hinges at shows and always wondered about making them and "...would they be too difficult to make?" Well, having mastered the Incra Jig to this point, Bethany and I decided that the hinge was the next challenge.    I will tell you right up front, it is fairly easy to do. A separate set of instructions and a hinge drilling guide is available from Incra. All you have to do is follow the instructions exactly. We did. Here are the steps.     As we have learned on the earlier projects, you have to read and follow the instructions in order to have success. Once again, they are nicely illustrated and very specific.    Before we started, I had already cut the wood to the dimension specified in the Instructions. Be sure to get the thickness of the hinge board exactly right. It calls for 3/8" thick stock—it has to be exactly that. In error, I planed to about 1/16 less and the hinges were not good. Now I know that 3/8" means 3/8".     I had also made a push block and fence to their specifications.    Bethany has installed the required 3/8" cove bit and is adjusting the height so that the cove is centered on the hinge stock.    Bethany clamps the auxiliary fence I had made for this purpose. The instructions say to bolt the fence to the Incra Jig's fence but there is room for clamps and we do not need the complete length, so we simply used clamps.   Bethany adjusts the fence so that the fence extends just barely into the radius. The instruction book has a very precise sketch of this position (see inset). Once there, she locks the jig at that position.    Now she routes both grain ends using the special push block that I made, per the instructions.    Here is a good look at the push block as it routes the cove end. Throughout the making of the hinge, it seems that the work piece is small and the distance to the bit is small. The instructions are well written with that in mind. Use of push block and other jigs make the procedure  safe at every step.      The next step calls for another pass through the cove bit, but this time, with the board vertical and flat against the fence. The push block is used here too.    Now Bethany installs a 3/8" straight bit and sets the depth to 3/16". The straight bit will be used to route out the excess of the hinges.    Using the hinge wood thickness (3/8") she sets the fence so that the first cut is at 3/8".   Routing and then moving the fence 3/16" at a time for several passes gives Bethany the hinge blank as is shown in the inset picture from the instruction sheet. The part that is left is to provide stability in the next cutting operations. It will be sawn off in a final stage.    Bethany uses a push stick to pass the hinge plates through the table saw. This gives hinge blanks that are the right hinge width.    While this cutting operation is safe, the instructions gave a different method which is probably better—we just didn't read all the detail. We should have.     This is how the instruction sheet says to cut the blanks in half. Basically it uses the push block that we have been using at the router table. The saw blade is set at a height just a bit above the depth of the blank. [This picture was taken the following day when I read the instructions again.]    While the left picture shows a safe way to cut, I do not like to get my hand that close to a blade, even with it set low. At the right, I am using a pushstick to guide the push block.     This step at the bandsaw cuts the raised part away from the individual hinge leaves. The piece is guided though the blade with a scrap of wood. This cut could easily be made with a hand saw or on the table saw with a hinge cutting jig that is described in the Instructions.    This close up will give you a better look at this cutting procedure. The push stick fits the hinge piece and is notched to firmly hold and push the hinge leaf through the blade area.   Main Menu Previous  Page Next Page Go to Mfr.'s Site