Wooden Jewelry Chest: Fixing A Broken Hinge

When fixing a broken hinge in your wooden jewelry chest, you should take extra care not to damage the box.

Gently remove the broken hinge with the help of a chisel or block plane. Once you have taken out the hinge, sand down the area with sandpaper. Use a 150 grit sandpaper for this. Then take a sanding disc and pad the box while clamping it in place on a bench vise. This will keep the box from sliding all over the place.

You can consider using a new or an old hinge or even make one for your box. You can use a roundover bit and a router to shape the hinge, or you can shape it by hand. But using a router to mortise a hinge is taking a big risk unless you are really comfortable with it. Then, you can trim it and glue it back into the base of the box. Leave it for undisturbed for twelve hours to dry.

Use the 150 grit sandpaper to give it a final sanding once it is completely dry, and then drill holes for the wire hinges. To make the box look brand new, use only a matching stain and oil finish! Here is another method for replacing a hinge that’s been broken. Clamp the hinge in position with an ‘f’ style clamp after you’ve placed it where you want it on the box. Using a mechanical pencil, mark the depth, height, and width of the hinge. Unclamp the hinge and carefully chisel stop cuts on the lines you’ve marked with a small hammer and a new razor blade. Until the hinge fits perfectly, you need to keep doing this. Finally, mortise the hinge with a new razor blade or the 150 grit sandpaper. Install the hinge on the jewelry box and then align and clamp the lid to the hinge.

How fast you can fix the hinge depends on what type of hinge you want mounted. If it is a barrel hinge, the only thing you have to do is drill the hole correctly on the same spot both in the base of the box and on the top. This can be accomplished with a drill press and a stop block on the drill press table to hold the box in the same position. An auto-centering bit comes in handy if it is a surface mount hinge that you are trying to fix. But make sure that the top and the bottom of the box are in perfect alignment before you drill. A tip is to first mount the hinge to the base of the box and only then to the top.

This article was brought to you by MarqART Gift Shop. Our jewelry boxes are original works of art, no two creations are the same. Each wood shown has its own unique wood grain pattern and color. MarqART comes from combining the words marquetry (wood inlay) + Art (a creation of beauty) an apt name for our products. A fine addition to your dressing table or as a gift. Please visit http://www.marqartgiftshop.com to browse & buy exotic jewelry boxes that will give you a lifetime of pleasure!