Cut hinge with saw?

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  • durango dude
    Senior Member
    • Mar 2011
    • 934
    • a thousand or so feet above insanity
    • 50s vintage Craftsman Contractor Saw

    Cut hinge with saw?

    I made my monthly pilgrimage to Woodcraft and bought a piano hinge. Sales dude says cut it with my chop saw. I instinctively cover my personal space. My chop saw is a Ridgid with original blade. What say you?
  • os1kne
    Senior Member
    • Jan 2003
    • 901
    • Atlanta, GA
    • BT3100

    #2
    I've only cut a few piano hinges in the past, but I've always just used a hack saw. Only takes a couple of minutes, not worth risking the damage to a MS blade - or worse.
    Bill

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    • twistsol
      Veteran Member
      • Dec 2002
      • 2893
      • Cottage Grove, MN, USA.
      • Ridgid R4512, 2x ShopSmith Mark V 520, 1951 Shopsmith 10ER

      #3
      I cut it with a dremel with a metal grinding wheel. Piano hinges are usually steel and plated with brass or nickel or whatever so i wouldn't use a miter saw on them.
      Chr's
      __________
      An ethical man knows the right thing to do.
      A moral man does it.

      Comment

      • capncarl
        Veteran Member
        • Jan 2007
        • 3564
        • Leesburg Georgia USA
        • SawStop CTS

        #4
        5” side grinder with a thin metal cutting disk. Harbor freight has cheap grinders for $19. I’d be wary of cutting a floppy piano hinge with a chop saw. Clamp it between 2 pieces of sacrificial wood and cut it with a hack saw.

        Comment

        • Carlos
          Veteran Member
          • Jan 2004
          • 1893
          • Phoenix, AZ, USA.

          #5
          Woodcraft has always impressed me by the special class of morons they have running the place.

          Comment

          • LCHIEN
            Internet Fact Checker
            • Dec 2002
            • 20914
            • Katy, TX, USA.
            • BT3000 vintage 1999

            #6
            There are circular saw blades made for ferrous metal cutting. By companies like Freud. You can google ferrous metal cutting blade freud for example and get some links to these blades.

            Now I'm going to admit that I have not tried one, but that there appears to be blades engineered for just this purpose. I would say that if the bade can take it, then the saw itself should have no problem, in my opinion.

            Last edited by LCHIEN; 12-25-2019, 12:50 AM.
            Loring in Katy, TX USA
            If your only tool is a hammer, you tend to treat all problems as if they were nails.
            BT3 FAQ - https://www.sawdustzone.org/forum/di...sked-questions

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            • twistsol
              Veteran Member
              • Dec 2002
              • 2893
              • Cottage Grove, MN, USA.
              • Ridgid R4512, 2x ShopSmith Mark V 520, 1951 Shopsmith 10ER

              #7
              Originally posted by LCHIEN
              There are circular saw blades made for ferrous metal cutting. By companies like Freud. You can google ferrous metal cutting blade freud for example and get some links to these blades.

              Now I'm going to admit that I have not tried one, but that there appears to be blades engineered for just this purpose. I would say that if the bade can take it, then the saw itself should have no problem, in my opinion.

              https://www.diablotools.com/products/D1050CF
              The description says to use with a dedicated low RPM saw. The max listed RPM for this blade is 3000. Most miter saws run at around 3450 RPM although the Festool Kapex is variable speed from 1400-3400 RPM
              Chr's
              __________
              An ethical man knows the right thing to do.
              A moral man does it.

              Comment


              • LCHIEN
                LCHIEN commented
                Editing a comment
                Good catch.
            • d_meister
              Established Member
              • Feb 2009
              • 184
              • La Conner, WA.
              • BT3000

              #8
              The benefit of the miter saw is that the cut will be square. The downside is blade wear, and the potential for a tooth grabbing the metal and grenading the saw like Loring's late Hitachi. We use a lot of piano hinges on yachts, and my preferred method is to cut it with a fine-tooth hack saw on the flat side when closed. I can get it square, that way, where cutting down from the hinge pin into the leaf will almost certainly result in a raggedy, angled cut. It may not seem like a big deal, until you open the leaves and it looks like this ">" on the end. I'll skip the finer points of cutting both ends to center the fastener holes or not having to cut through one
              After you've cut it, inspect the "barrel" of the hinge pin and see if there are dimples where the barrel has been center-punched into the pin. If not, consider setting the pin that way to keep it from creeping out. I've seen hinge pins that have crept out of vertical mountings by up to 4", and then kicked into a bend, waiting to draw blood in a largely barefoot environment.

              Comment

              • capncarl
                Veteran Member
                • Jan 2007
                • 3564
                • Leesburg Georgia USA
                • SawStop CTS

                #9
                I wrote that it would not be a good idea to cut on a miter saw because the piano hinge is flimsy and may wind up tearing the hinge up and slinging all over the shop. I wouldn’t want to cut it on my favorite blade but it will probably work just fine with any woodworking blade. If I had to do it on a miter saw I would also sandwich it between 2 pieces of wood and clamp it like I was mad at it. I use a metal cutting blade in my Skil circular saw that is rated at 5800 rpm no load, and the blade is marked for 5800 rpm as well. I have cut from 27 ga roofing metal all the way to 1/2” steel on a truck trailer hitch.

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