On Apr 12, 7:40 am, wrote:

Most of what has been said is essentially on target, IME. I would
strongly recommend the wood dowel method over the toothpicks, and
certainly over the matches, which are made with too soft a wood. You
indicated that you had a very heavy door, so go with the hardwood
dowel; some are birch, some are oak (you may need to got to a
woodworkers' type store for those), others are of unknown wood. If the
dowel is strong, so will your bond. Make the dowel 3/8in to 1/2in in
diameter, no less, no more, if you can. Titebond II glue will do very
well.

However, another issue is the quality of the screws; no deck screws,
no drywall screws, for sure. You can buy excellent screws at Mcfeely's
(web), but not-so-good screws at HD or Lowe's. Make sure that they
have nice sharp threads. Make sure you drill the dowel with a bit that
is a hair smaller than the shank of the screws, and you will have no
problem.

If you use a dowel and drill an oversize hole to fit the dowel, you'll
be screwing into end grain, which is not as strong of a connection,
but since the screw is called on to do most of the work when it is in
shear, it's not a big issue. If the original screw has stripped the
wood, then pretty much any wood glued in the existing hole will work,
whether it's matches, toothpicks, golf tees or pieces of wood shaved
off the corner of a board with a utility knife. As Dan noted, the
mortises do most of the work holding the door up and the screws are
just keeping the hinge leaves in the mortises. His comment about the
4.5" hinges is the textbook answer, and it is largely correct as it
allows a fourth screw per leaf. You can also use 4 hinges per door,
but that is really only an option on new door installations.

The decking screws are a lazy and uniformed way of tightening up a
door hinge. The idea is not bad - trying to hit the stud behind the
jamb - but it's the wrong type of screw and usually unnecessary. It
is worth noting that the correct 3" or 3.5" screw does increase
security a small amount, but it presents other issues with expansion
and contraction of the wood jamb and framing. People often confuse a
longer screw with being a more secure connection. This is only
partially true.

If your mortises are cut tight, and use use the standard screws that
come with the hinge, there will rarely be problems except for periodic
tightening that is inherent in fasteners working loose in assemblies
subjected to repeated movement, vibration and slamming, all of which
will loosen the fastener's hold over time. The cheapest insurance, as
with anything else in construction, is periodic inspection and
maintenance. Go around the house with a screwdriver and tighten the
hinge screws. Do that a couple of times within a year and you'll
quickly determine which doors are problematic and will benefit from
the glued slivers trick.

R