Clock Hinges

H

HSteier

Well-known member
I am making a tall case clock in a class at the Norfolk, Va. Woodcraft store and there are questions about installation of the offset door hinges. I have clock hinges from Ball and Ball and their website has instructions for installation. They install the hinge with the center of the barrel in line with the door face with the hinge leaves mortised into the door and frame. Since the barrel is !/4" diameter and the rabbet behind the thumbnail  on the hinge side is is 1/8" deep. the door lip can lay flush with the face frame and the door can swing open without the thumbnail (which protrudes 1/8" past the rabbet) hitting the frame (the picture on the website is worth a thousand words).
However the instructor in the class I'm taking says that the hinge barrel shouldn't be in line with the face of the door but should be buried in the thumbnail bead on the edge of the door. If this is correct, then the door must sit slightly proud of the face frame in order for the lip of the thumbnail to clear the door frame as the door swings open.
Which is correct? Or is either method acceptable?

Howard Steier
 
I have seen hinges on 18th century American clock cases mounted exactly like Ball specifies. Perhaps there are other examples with the hinges bedded entirely in the mold, I am unsure. But I have certainly seen examples with the pin at the face(when the center of the pin is at the face, some of the pin is bedded in the mold-not exactly half due to the rector of the thumbnail mold).
I have Ball's 1987 catalog and the same note is made there, but without a diagram, I think.
After you have mounted the hinges like this, you will see how neatly the fit is, and I am sure like myself, you will only want to mount lipped doors like this.
I have long prefered Ball's hardware, so perhaps I am a bit biased.
 
Howard,  I have made several tall case clocks and used B&B hinges mounted as they reccommend. The door seats perfectly. Though I have not had the priviledge of studying documented period pieces; I would think that the objective is to mount the hinges in such a way as to make the door fit neatly. Ask the instructor why he would prefer otherwise! John McAlister
 
I would go the Ball and Ball way. Maybe you could just not hang your door until you get home to save a lot of discussion.
Mike
 
Thanks to all.
To answer John's question, I think the instructor does it the way his father did it, the way his grandfather did it etc.
By the way, the clock works are from Mike Siemsen.

Howard Steier
 
Howard,

Having looked at hundreds of period clocks and built nearly sixty of them myself I can say that usually the B&B method is applied. That said, if you look at enough clocks, you'll see just about every method imaginable for attaching the waist door. In our all too perfect society, I'm surprised that your instructor at Woodcraft is making a door with a 1/4" rabbet on the lock side and a 1/8" rabbet on the hinge side. For most modern day woodworkers that lack of symmetry is something akin to not using a 7:1 ratio (insert your "proper" ratio here if you prefer another) for your dovetails. It would be great to see some pictures of your clock.

Chuck Bender
 
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