Finished installed hinge. Not too bad!

Just finished the glue up of the hinge. It's set up pretty good! Of coarse you could break it if you tried, but it seems quite durable for the moment. I wanted to round it over a bit because it will stick out no matter what and I want it to seem like it is intentional. Now I'm off to do the moth and then perhaps even get to some carving tonight!

Hinges Hinges Hinges!

So after two days, a ton of scrap wood, and several wrong turns, I have been able to make a bunch of wooden hinges! I'm quite pleased with the results and they were not too hard to put together after figuring it all out. First I did all the routing, Then I cut the pieces so that they had about a 1/4 inch backing. I used a small file to clean up the edges. Then I used small finishing nails to hold them in place while I rounded them over with a sanding bit. As you can see, they will fit on the back of the box in a small recess area. I was working on one tonight, but it is in the process of being glued up at the moment. Hopefully It will be ready to show off tomorrow.

Progress! On the wooden hinge..

I had high hopes to make several dozen wooden hinges tonight, However...Murphies law Helped make that almost not happen. Well..in the end I got two hinges that I'm pretty proud of. I experimented with a number of possibilities, but in the end settled with a longer hinge instead of two small ones. I also stumbled on a little trick that helps with the assembly of the hinge. That is, Don't drill a deep hole through the fingers. It just causes it to bind up. So I put a small hole through the first couple of fingers in the ends. Made a HUGE difference. I finally finished the first successful hinge at midnight, and decided to see if i could do it again. I did! And it only took me about 10 minutes! So with that verdict, I believe I have a solid enough foundation on the hinge part to move on. Tomorrow....I'll see if I can install them in one of the card boxes. Oh! And here is a close up of the sled. It works the best! Hopefully you will see how it works. If you have one already, feel free to comment and give me pointers on how to make it better.

Sashi the Drama Queen!

As you may know, Rashi has been fighting a serious cold for almost a week now. We thought she was getting better, after taking her to the vet and getting some medicine. She was eating ( not much, but some) she was drinking ( again, not much!) and she seemed to be over the coughing and breathing through her mouth. Then last night she decided to her "swan song". She stopped eating, drinking, and holed up in a closet for most of the day! Apparently...she is old ( 10 years or older according to the vet) and she always has been thin. Well, she was acting like a previous cat just before she died ( hanging out in the bath tub, kitchen sink, etc. ) Then Cheryl stepped in..... Cheryl filled the the medicine dropper with water and forced it down her. Then she ate and now she seems to be doing fine. I'll be very happy when she is back to her piglet self, eating all the food put out for all three cats! As for me, I've been fighting a similar cold since before Christmas! No sinus, just a nagging cough that simply won't go away. For this reason, Cheryl has banned me from the workshop ( the cold and dust is not helpful) So I'm researching wooden hinges for my box idea, along with some origami with a new paper. I have found a couple of really great ideas and resources on line. Wisdom of the hands, Fine woodworking, and Woodcraft. I really like the fine woodworking model and that was the most similar to what I had in mind. I want to use a finishing nail as the pin. It looks like it may be as big a challenge to get it down as the bushing template. But in the end, I want to figure this out and make some nice boxes that I will have 100% control over. ( see toilet seat supply issues in previous posts)