So I built some stuff...

That looks great rooftop!

Nice work!!

Really nice. Awesome in fact.

Hidden hinges are easy.

Besides, unless I'm wrong, that looks painted. Paint hides many sins.

All you need is a Forstner bit the proper size for the hinge pockets of the hinges you got. If you're careful and steady, you don't need a drill press or mortising press to do it. You can use a hand drill. Just not a cheapy, weak one, needs some power to it because Forstner bits are like spade/paddle bits or hole saws and remove a significant amount of material quickly. A weak drill will bind up and jerk itself around because it doesn't have the power to muscle through it.

But you can get a Forstner bit set for $9 from Harbor Freight that will serve the purpose you need. They shouldn't dull too quick so you can get more uses out of them than a one and done. If you get in to it more, you can get better bits later on.

https://www.harborfreight.com/14-in-1-in-forstner-drill-bit-set-with-38-in-shanks-7-pc-62361.html?cid=paid_google|||62361&utm_source=bing&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=&utm_content=&msclkid=bfcb13700c041c7b383f7375b8037bcd

The purpose of a Forstner bit is that it drills a flat bottomed hole so you can set stuff like pocket hinges or dowels that will be permanently attached and need a level hole base for proper contact. It also means you won't have a pilot hole poking through your finished surfaces either.

If you get the cabinet hinges you need, you don't need super huge ones. They are just small-ish doors and something like this will work fine:

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Blum-Full-Nickel-Plated-Self-Closing-Concealed-Cabinet-Hinge/3576264

They come with templates and instructions so all you have to do is use the bit that is the right size and follow the instructions.

If you have a drill, preferably corded and at least 5 amps, you're good to go. If you don't, you can pick up an inexpensive drill at Harbor Freight that will last for how long you're going to need it, for sure. Like this one:

https://www.harborfreight.com/12-in-75-a-heavy-duty-variable-speed-reversible-hammer-drill-56404.html

Or, you can get a drill that you'll pass on to someone after you're dead and it will do whatever you need it to do and get something like this:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-8-Amp-1-2-in-Magnum-Drill-0299-20/100026817

Lastly, don't worry about the old hinges and screw holes. You can easily fill them with filler and since it's painted, they will be easy to hide. Especially since it's a dark color.

To do that, you get yourself a can of this: https://www.homedepot.com/p/DAP-Plastic-Wood-4-oz-White-Solvent-Wood-Filler-21412/100493605?

Preferably in white. It is the least likely to change the shade of the paint you used. You smear it in to the holes until they are filled. Get the DAP stuff linked, though, it's a cellulose based resin that dries hard and doesn't shrink like other wood fillers can. Also, even if it hardens in the can, you put some acetone in and let it sit overnight and it will soften again and be ready to use. Just make sure you pack the holes and leave enough to sand.

You can then take 220 grit sand paper and sand the filled parts. No worries if you sand off paint too. Just make sure you get smooth transitions. Slide your fingers over the sanded parts, you'll feel inconsistencies. Sand until it's smooth. You can primer the spots if you want but they are small enough that it shouldn't be a big deal. You can just paint with color, especially since it's so dark. If I'm wrong and it's stained, the Platstic Wood takes stains pretty well and still hides. Especially with dark stains. If the piece is stained, though, and not painted, you'll want to get one of the Plastic Wood colors that is close to the natural color of the wood so it creates a more homogeneous surface to repair the staining.


If you do attempt this and want to practice, you can usually get scraps of wood from a Lowe's or Home Depot off the in-store cutting rig. They typically have piles they either sell in bulk for pennies or they'll just give you. Especially if you are buying something else at the time. If not, just buy a 2x4x6 for like $3-$5 and a hand saw or have them cut it up for in you 2 foot lengths. Then you can mess around and get the hang of it before you go attacking your finished product.

Besides, if you mess it up, I will tell you how to make a round dutchman so you can start over and your mistake will only be known to you. That's one of the beauties of painted furniture, it's very forgiving of mistakes. Additionally, you'll be making holes on the inside where nobody's going to see them without actively looking for them so even better!

That jig could probably be found cheaper elsewhere without the Rockler branding on it. But it does make cutting the pockets simpler. The pockets are standard sizes, usually in metric 'cause the guy who invented them was Scandinavian or Danish or something and still owns patent rights, I believe. I know he makes a friggin' fortune off licensing to IKEA suppliers.

But even if the doors are solid MDF, Blum's cheapest and smallest hinge will still support upwards of 5 pounds for a single hinge. Two hinges per door will easily hold 10 pounds, probably more like 15. I doubt your MDF doors are heavy enough to stress it.

My dad built a solid oak cabinet to cover his gun safe and made solid oak, raised panel doors that were 6.5 feet tall and 20 inches wide. Used 3 of those hinges on each door. He did that 20 years ago now and they still open and close like the day he made them.

Also, those hinges only seem to need a 11mm deep pocket which is 7/16ths of an inch. So a 5/8ths door will still have 3/16ths of material behind the pocket. It's not the depth of the pocket that supports the door anyway. It's the screws that hold the hinge plate flush with the door and cabinet frame to limit lateral movement and the bore size of the pocket for the hinge needs to fit the cup snugly so it transfers the weight to the hinge structure on the cabinet frame. The pocket should be cut fairly snug so the hinge fits in it and then the hinge can support the weight of the door without sagging or causing excess stress.

It is totally worth doing. You won't screw your cabinte up as long as you take your time and plan it out. It's not hard to do, just tedious but it will get you high WAF and you won't have to deal with paint flaking from the chromed hinges you already have there in a few years. There's no need to paint the hinges either.

So I went lookin' for that jig and I found a knock off Chinese one that's totally made of plastic and I'm not even linking to it 'cause I don't like it. It's not nearly as robust as what that Rockler jig uses. Even if it was glass fiber reinforced nylon, it was flimsy looking. I wouldn't use it so I'm not going to tell anyone else to use it. So at $100, that's a worthy investment since it's made well enough to last a while.

Alternatively, there is a jig from Kreg that you can probably pick up from Home Depot or Lowe's right now for about $30-$45. Amazon has it too. It'll only set up a single pocket at a time so you have to get your measurements right but at least it's got graduated markings to help with that. It's only about $25-$30 bucks.

https://www.amazon.com/Kreg-Tool-Company-KHI-HINGE-Concealed/dp/B01JQ74FMQ?th=1

The nice thing about both jigs is that they have collars for the Forstner bit that comes with the set that will keep it pretty straight and true but the supplied bits also have stop collars so you can't drill the pockets too deep.

Normally I'd just measure my pocket depth on a Forstner bit and put masking tape at my desired depth and drill until I reached the tape. But I've done this quite a few times before. A jig would have been super helpful instead of punching a 1" hole through a door panel the first time I did it by hand and then having to rebuild the entire panel because I screwed up.

Yeah, those are nice, my dad has one of the original Kreg ones made from billet aluminum. We've both used it often. We hid every fastener in the bar in the basement at my old house with it which is why the bar counter top looked like it was floating over the pedestal. But it's a pocket hole jig for fasteners. Won't work for the "European hinge" pocket holes.

Spam.

He uses spam.

Very nice work and extremely rewarding for your efforts. 2 Thumbs Up

Told you you could do it.

Looks even better now and I'll bet the wife is ecstatic.

Did you get the marble top for this yet?

Any pitchurs?