I purchased these heavy bronze hinges several years ago just after I purchased the oak door. I liked these hinges for several reasons. First...they are heavy and we needed substantial hinges to hold the weight of the heavy oak door. Second... these hinges were manufactured by Corbin the same lock set company that made all our cylinder locks.I removed all the paint layers trying my best to leave the patina right after I received them in the mail. I then promptly stashed them away until last week when we decided to start the door installation.
We decided that since this would be our first attempt at mortising hinges we would use the previous hinge location in the door jamb (after we removed the wood patch that filled the opening)....
....and mortise the door to accommodate those hinge locations thus reducing the number of mortises from 6 to 3.We removed about 1/4 inch from each side of the door so that it would fit the opening with an equal margin on the top and sides of about an 1/8th of an inch. Plan A was to use the planer/joiner to trim the door. But we decided that the door was too heavy to run it through the planer/joiner and keep it flush with the bed plate. Plan B was to use the table saw but first we had to run to Harbor Freight and buy 2 roller stands to support the door as we fed it through the saw.
Each stand cost $19.99. We opted for the adjustable roller instead of the stand with one continuous roller. FYI Harbor Freight also sells just the roller if you wish to make your own roller extension.The bottom of the door has a space between the door and the marble threshold of about 3/4 of an inch. Once the door is stained and sealed we will add some sort of weather stripping to the bottom. This will make the vestibule an air lock and should be beneficial in keeping cold air out of the house and warm heated air in the house whenever we open the front door in the winter.
Today we mortised the hinges on the door. I chiseled while R watched. He sharpened the chisels whenever I decided that they were not cutting through the wood as well as I liked. Each mortise went quicker than the previous mortise. It was still nerve racking, which in part was R fault for continually reminding me "not to take too much wood." My wrists are tender now and I think I'll take a couple of Motrins and try to sneak the heating pad away from R and the cats.
Luckily the door's previous screw holes did not land in the wrong place. All previous holes are well out of the way of the new screw hole locations. The old screw holes will be filled with wood filler when the time comes to stain the door.
The door is installed and swings nicely. I still have the door/jamb stops to install but that will have to wait until I receive the striker plate and key hole escutcheon in the mail.
We will re install the beveled glass panes after all the hardware and trim is installed and the door is working perfectly. I have no idea where we would get a replacement pane if we break one so keep your fingers crossed that the pane installation goes pain free since I do not have a Plan B.
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