Rob Cosman wooden hinge questions???

6/29/18, 1:16 PM #1

Barry Irby
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Rob Cosman wooden hinge questions???

Barry Irby

Any of you seen Rob Cosman's wooden hinge? I was poking around on YouTube and saw several videos by Rob Cosman about his wooden hinge. He takes a 1/4" dowel about 2" long and crosscuts it into three pieces. Made a gadget to drill a 1/16" hole into center of the ends of the pieces. Inserts pieces of 1/16" stainless steel rod. Cuts a cove with a corebox bit and installs the hinge by gluing the two end pieces to the lid and the middle piece to the box.

He claims he has been making these hinges for thirty years and got the idea from Dale Nish.

I am struggling with the idea. Seems too fragile for me. A 1/16" pin? In a 1/4" dowel? Hinge turning on end grain? Only attached by glue on 1/4 of the surface of a 1/4" dowel? They appear to be elegant hinges for small wooden boxes but I am skeptical. What do you think? Any experience?

Re: Rob Cosman wooden hinge questions???

6/29/18, 2:35 PM #2

Ellis Walentine
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Re: Rob Cosman wooden hinge questions???

Ellis Walentine

Many years ago, Rob gave me a little business card box made with that hinge, Barry, and it's a work of art. Perfect fitting lid, flawless hinge... it's one of my favorite pieces. I wouldn't be concerned about strength. If you're making something that has to stand up to greater forces or loads, scale up the size of the hinge.

Ellis

Re: Rob Cosman wooden hinge questions???

7/3/18, 7:09 AM #3

TomD
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Re: Never sell wood short.

TomD

He has/had a commercial video that I have seen that goes into all the details. It is something he makes to use up scrap and produce products for sale at craft shows, which is certainly not a winning strategy if you get a ton of returns.

I wouldn't worry about the end grain assuming you use good stuff, and maybe some beeswax. The props on large ocean going vessels used to turn on endgrain wooden bearings, and some still do.

http://lignumvitaesolutions.com/products/wood-bearings/

Here is an article about wood bearings in currently serving ice breakers in the coast guard, and in nuclear submarines:

https://www.workboat.com/news/people-and-products/wood-bearings-workboats/

Re: Rob Cosman wooden hinge questions???

7/4/18, 1:01 PM #4

Kneale Brownson
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Re: Never sell wood short. *LINK*

Kneale Brownson

Wood bearings are used in some hydropower dams too.

Click

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I’m a fairly spry 82-year-old who had been a reader/participant at WoodCentral since the demise of Badger Pond. I started visiting BP to learn something about finish for a project I’d completed and became hooked on internet forums as a way of increasing my knowledge about all sorts of topics. I have been a moderator for a couple other forums on subjects I enjoy. My interest in woodworking began in the early 1970’s when my wife and I had contractors add to our house near Traverse City, MI, and I ended up doing the trim work to reduce mounting costs. I had no tools. I bought a P-C skilsaw, hammer, screwdrivers and one of those wooden miter boxes with a backsaw. I made trim for windows and doors from one-by lumber and started my woodworking career. At the same time, I started a 50-year career as a ski instructor. I got onto the night shift at a mental hospital so I could ski days, and spent my 30s and 40s with that schedule. I eventually replaced the PC-upside-down-in-a-board with a real table saw and began the purchase of enough equipment to fill a jam-packed 40-foot shipping container we used after we sold our property in Michigan. The ski instructing had taken us to Colorado and we were spending too much on maintaining utilities for two homes. A couple years ago, the dozen years spent at 10,000 feet of elevation was making my body produce too many red blood cells, so we had to leave my “forever” home in the mountains and we moved back to Michigan. Now I have to find myself a shop space for all those tools in the container.

Rob Cosman wooden hinge questions???

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