Took me 6 months to realize my hinge jig was the problem, not my drilling

I kept getting misaligned cabinet doors no matter how careful I was with measurements. Marked everything twice, used a center punch, slow feed rate. Still off by about 1/16 every time. Finally borrowed a buddy's jig and everything lined up perfect first try. My old jig had worn out pivot bushings that I never thought to check. Anyone else ever chase a problem forever only to find out it was a tool wearing down?

2 comments

2 Comments

johnson.ryan6d agoMost Upvoted

Yeah I feel that, my first year of woodworking I blamed EVERYTHING on my "bad technique" until I realized my cheap combo square was off by like a full 1/32 and I'd been measuring wrong the whole time. Probably would have saved myself 40 hours of frustration if I'd just bought a Starrett right out of the gate instead of trying to be frugal. At this point I'm convinced half of my "skill" is just having tools that haven't worn out yet.

dixon.willow7d ago

Oh MAN, that is the WORST feeling. I spent THREE MONTHS fighting with a miter saw that was cutting slightly off square and I was about to throw it in the trash. Turns out the plastic blade guard was warped just enough from sitting in a hot van that it was flexing and pushing the blade out of alignment when I lowered it. Nobody EVER checks the blade guard. You just assume it's your technique or your measuring.