Wooden hinges oak ledged cottage doors

[Rob_H]

Hi I’m about to start making oak ledge doors for the cottage. I’m making the Suffolk latched and bolts from oak aswell. I quite fancy making wooden strap or T - hinges too. Has anyone made these recently? I’ve seen some on YouTube but can’t see many examples. I know it might be over complicating things but I quite like the idea of it all being hand made. Thanks, Rob

 

[MikeG.]

Hi I’m about to start making oak ledge doors for the cottage. I’m making the Suffolk latched and bolts from oak aswell. I quite fancy making wooden strap or T - hinges too. Has anyone made these recently? I’ve seen some on YouTube but can’t see many examples. I know it might be over complicating things but I quite like the idea of it all being hand made. Thanks, Rob

I started making ledged oak doors yesterday. What a coincidence. I made some wooden Suffolk latches for some previous doors 20 years ago (I'll see if I can find the photos later), and I've made plenty of wooden hinges for furniture, but never of a door. I don't think that "subtle" will be amongst the adjectives that people use if you make wooden hinges strong enough to hold solid oak doors .

 

[Rob_H]

Hmmm, you could be right I suppose. Was thinking of a contrasting wood to make a feature but I suppose it could be overpowering

 

[Rob_H]

Quick question about these doors, do the boards always have to be tongue and groove boards?

 

[AJB Temple]

I have made 12 oak doors for our house recently. Using good, thick, oak these doors are heavy. I would not dream of using oak hinges to support them: to make them strong enough, would make them very bulky. I used hand made iron T hinges, and I also prefer good quality Suffolk latches to wooden ones, for reasons of elegance.

Personal taste is a factor of course. But so is functionality.

 

[MikeG.]

Quick question about these doors, do the boards always have to be tongue and groove boards?

No, they absolutely do not. Traditionally they were butt jointed on lower end work, with classier stuff being bead-and-butt, and better stuff still having a half-lap (rebate-to-rebate) join. Traditionally they were usually 3 boarded, but some older doors were just 2 boards. They really don't look anywhere near so good with modern narrow boards. Four ledges, too, (and of course, no braces.....they were mainly used for outbuilding doors), beveled, and with hand-made nails cinched over on the ledges.

 

[MikeG.]

Here's a wooden tee hinge (walnut & sycamore) I made some years ago:

Just have a think about the vulnerable cross-grain around the pin, and translate that to something strong enough to hold a heavy oak door.

 

[Rob_H]

Quick question about these doors, do the boards always have to be tongue and groove boards?

No, they absolutely do not. Traditionally they were butt jointed on lower end work, with classier stuff being bead-and-butt, and better stuff still having a half-lap (rebate-to-rebate) join. Traditionally they were usually 3 boarded, but some older doors were just 2 boards. They really don't look anywhere near so good with modern narrow boards. Four ledges, too, (and of course, no braces.....they were mainly used for outbuilding doors), beveled, and with hand-made nails cinched over on the ledges.

Thank you, I agree I don’t like the narrow boards, I was planning on three oak boards with three ledges and no braces. I have nine to make!!