"Rima Neas" wrote

Many thanks for the info Karl. I feel less foolish about this endeavor
now
that I know there is a word for it!!

Don't count on many recognizing the term these days.

Methinks it will be safer to remove
the hinges from the door and screw them into some 2x4s then use the
nail-in-the-leaves trick. Alas, as the original post indicated, 1/8"
seems
too wide a gap for simple shimming--the hinge would stand proud of the
mortise. So off to some un-swage.

Cheers, Shawn

PS: On your vise/hammer technique... do you grab the leaf, put in the
pin,
and tap to get the right shape? I am sure it takes some skill, but am I
understanding the approach?

To swage a small hinge (one that will fit in it's jaws the full length), a
machinist vice makes it quick and easy. To do a longer hinge may require a
vice and some judicious hammer taps against an anvil (or the top face of the
vice).

(Had to swage a 36" piano hinge to go on a blanket chest recently and it
took a combination of a vice, and an old horseshoeing "stall jack" from my
farrier days (small anvil that you can carry into a stall, stick in the
ground and use to shape a horseshoe without having to get out from under the
horse)).

Swaging a hinge is an intuitive process when you look closely at the leaves,
the barrel of the hinge, and the jaws of the vice. To modify a swaged hinge
to fit the circumstances is where the "nailset trick" comes in.

It's much easier to do than explain ... good luck with it.

--
www.e-woodshop.net
Last update: 5/14/08
KarlC@ (the obvious)