Hinges

In november I started to experiment to make myself some hinges. Folding a piece of sheetmetal over a form to start the right shape, fire welding the parts together and that's where I stopped. I used 2 mm steel in that example but I wasn't happy about how thick it was. So I restarted the proces with some 1.5 mm steel plate.

Fold it over the (very simple) form.

Weld them in the fire, no pictures from that, it is a bit hectic around the fire, not much time for making photo's. But here is the result, looks pretty rough still. The short pieces have been drawn out with the fin of the hammer to make a dovetail shape.

The welds certainly aren't perfect, but it is holding together well enough. The rest of the work is all taking place at the bench. Cutting with a hacksaw to define the shape of the houses.

The piece in the middel is removed with an interesting technique. First I hamer it flat on the corner of an anvil (lump of steel).

This makes room for the cold chisel to make a groove. When the groove is deep enough, a bit of wiggling breaks of this bit of steel easilly.

Then it is into the benchvise for filing and fitting.

The hinge pin is cut to length and riveted on the ends. The rest of the work is hacksawing and filing to an atractive old fashioned shape. Still need to drill some holes.