Strap Hinges

[mike-hr]

6 hinges, made from 1/4 x 4 inch flatbar. I hot rolled the eyes freestyle, drifted to 3/8 inch, then finished drilled to 3/8 after they cooled. Lots of filework getting the eyes to link together, but maintain minimal sag. I chased the diamond shapes in with a small radius fullering chisel, then put some fancy texture inside the diamonds with my newly restored High Speed brand rivet hammer. I bid these way too low, as usual, but learned a lot, and will most likely get more work from the customer.

[Don A]

I understand completely about the low bid problem. But my philosophy is that if I can make a piece as good as a professional, but it takes me twice as long as a professional to make it, I can't charge double and be competitive. Nobody wants to pay for my learning curve.

The challenge is to learn how to become faster and more efficient so that the hours and the price intersect at a comfortable point (something I'm still working on).

Don

[Sam Falzone]

Those hinges are fantastic. I'm hoping to be able to do work like that one day.
Could you put together a blueprint or an instructional video to show all the steps in making those ?
- I would love to learn how to make those.
Great job.
Sam

[Don A]

They look great!

Good work.

[pkrankow]

Can you show the tool that you used to texture with?

I rather like the style of the decoration.
Phil

[martensite]

Nicely done.Your brass ruler caught my eye i used to have one till it got legs and walked away.Were did you pick yours up,i haven`t been able to find one and i really miss it.

[mike-hr]

Thanks folks. Phil, the furry texture is a top die sharpened to look almost like your thumbnail on the end. There's a thread in the Power hammer section here, called 'High Speed Hammer', that has a picture of the little hammer. The brass ruler used to be Mark Asperys. I found one on Ebay and bought it. Showed it to Mark at a hammer-in, turns out I had found the holy grail of english brass rulers. All I wanted to do was measure stuff, so he traded me for his.
Sam, I did a demo on hinge eyes last year, that made me tune up on the process. I ended up making a couple tools that really helped out. It might take a week or so, but I will map that stuff out.

[Iron Clad]

Nice work. Heavy duty too. Are they for barn doors?

[metalmangeler]

Hinges always seem to take longer than I would think when I think about the process, and making them large makes them take longer also. The sag issue will go away a lot when they are used together on the door as then the distance beween hinge points increases enough that it takes out most of the wobble. The customers will like it to feel tight though. Nice job.

[archiphile]

Nice work. I just finished some hinges as well, though mine are not nearly as nice as yours. I would love to see how you did the eyes.