Now that I’m back in the shop for at least one hour per day, I’m starting to get some things done. An hour is just enough time to get small projects completed. I haven’t started building anything new yet, but I did take the opportunity to make a repair to a jewelry box that I made for my wife a couple of years ago. The box is based on a plan in Woodsmith No. 107. They called it an Accessory Box.
Not long after I gave it to her, one of our cats knocked the box onto the floor. The lid was open and it snapped the lid hinge in two. It’s been sitting on the dresser — broken, but usuable — for at least two years.
Once I got it downstairs and into the shop, I figured it would be an easy job to remove the busted hinge with a chisel. But as you can see, the glue joint was holding pretty good and when I started gouging the underside of the lid, I decided to reach for my block plane.
It did a nice job of removing the bulk of the hinge. I had to sand it down with some 150-grit sandpaper, which means I’ll have to do a little re-finishing.
Here’s a tip: Use a sanding disk from your random orbit sander to pad the workpiece when you clamp it in a bench vise. The sandpaper side keeps it from sliding around and the padded, velcro side is nice and soft, so it won’t mar your workpiece.
With the old hinge was removed, I had to make a new one. Luckily, I had a nice, small piece of 1/2″ cherry in my scrap bin. This was a small enough job that I left the router and a roundover bit in the cabinet and decided to shape it by hand.
Again, a block plane and a spokeshave made the job easy.
Finally, I trimmed the hinge workpiece to size according to the original plan and glued it back into position on the base.
I’ll let it dry overnight, give it a final sanding, and drill the pilot holes for the wire hinges tomorrow. A little cherry stain to even things out and an oil finish and the box is good as new! I’m beginning to like this one hour per day thing. – Joel