Hanging doors - tools to buy

In article , John Rumm writes

That pretty much aligns with a chat/argument 2 pals of mine, 1 chippy and 1 general builder, were having over the cost effectiveness of getting in sub-trades on a general building job. General builder was arguing against sub-trades saying he could fit doors as good as anybody but chippy argued he could do one every thirty mins while the general builder would probably closer to a couple of hours each and so get the job done and get paid quicker. The GB was more of a tightwad though and still wanted all the money in his pocket, even if it took longer.

For nicer doors I would ask my mate to take a little longer ;-)

Sadly there are quite a few items they sell that are rubbish, sorry, built to a price.

In case anyone has forgotten, do not by telephone installation cable at TS, the don't sell proper copper CW1308 spec cable, only CCA or CCS and they can't even get the picture right on those.

Perhaps that is the difference between a professional joiner - doing doors day after day who can do them very quickly and with precision every time - and those who are d-i-ying. I suspect that using a router and a decent jig - there is very little likelihood of a "slip" - whereas using a hammer and chisel in hard wood there is a very good chance of one.

I wonder how hinge recesses are cut in pre-prepared doors?

Perhaps by a bloke with a hammer and chisel working flat out all day - or is there an alternative?

A slight irony being that when my chippy mate wanted a posh oak Richelieu door hung in his own place, he let me do it (to be fair he had other jobs to do and did not really care how long the door took!) Glad to say it came out ok, but probably took me twice as long if not longer.

There are chippies who specialise in shuttering, also a skilled job in its own way.

In article , John Rumm writes

That sound like a pretty big compliment to me :-)

Also, I imagine if he saw any flaw in his own work in his own home he would notice it and it would bother him for ages. Third party errors, as long as they're small, never seem to cause the same long term grief.

I think it was more a case of the scale of the list of jobs he needed to complete was beginning to dawn ;-)

Yeah true... He does not like it when I point out the errors I had to fix in a project!

If you were running off many doors each day in a factory, using standard-size hinges on all the doors, it would make sense to set up router jigs and possibly a dedicated work station just for that task (and fitting the locks).

The same does not apply to a general firm of joiners doing say 10 or 20 doors over a period of a few days for a customer. It's just simpler for them to sharpen up a chisel and get on with it. You can over-think these things.

I once saw a new build house where all the doors had been hung using hinges with a radius to enable the recesses to be routed (possibly the door and frame were a kit) and all the hinges could quickly be removed by pressing a tongue with a screwdriver. Brilliant.

Here you can buy door linings with the female half of a loose pin hinge, radiused as you describe, factory fitted likewise doors with male half do. and pin. Makes fixing lining and door very easy. Kitchen unit doors generally have a spring loaded clip which releases them, no tools required.