A puzzling off-hand comment about screws and hinges

[Edward Clarke]

There is a British magazine called "furniture and cabinetmaking". I picked up a random copy at Barnes & Noble more than two years ago - the July, 2009 issue. One article "F&C Technique: Learning with the Barnsley apprentices, report 8 - Hanging a door the Barnsley way", has a one line comment that's been driving me crazy for two years.

"Note that all the screw slots are lined up as is normal in best practice cabinetwork."

The associated photograph is of a flat brass hinge morticed into a door and a cabinet. Each hinge side has six slotted screws in it and all twelve screw slots line up and are parallel to the long edges of the hinge. (Instead of being tall and narrow, these hinges are short - two inch hinge part with four inch long wings.) How on earth do you get these things to: a. have the slots line up, b. have them all tight and holding a hinge to a door.

I posted this question to the website associated with the magazine and nobody there knew the answer either.
Page 47, lower right corner if you have the magazine.

[Bill Houghton]

I think the answer is probably that you just grunt a little harder if they don't quite line up. You only need to go, at most, another half-turn.

I suppose this would be an argument for using Torx screws - easier to line up - except slotted screws Look Right in fine work (and, no, I wasn't serious).

[Rob Lee]

Hi -

I do this with electrical outlet and switch covers....I leave the slots vertical....so they won't collect dust...

I can't believe I just admitted that....



Cheers -

Rob

[Caspar Hauser]

This is harder to describe than to do. Drive in your screw, if it doesn't line up and cannot be gently persuaded, back it out, rotate the screw a quarter or so and drive it in. Have a practice, you'll get it. A bit of wax or soap or indeed mutton tallow comes in handy.

[Jonathan McCullough]

I've read it's a way to quickly assess whether a screw is working its way loose in high-stress areas, especially on boats. For an explanation, see here.

[Tony Shea]

Hi -

I do this with electrical outlet and switch covers....I leave the slots vertical....so they won't collect dust...

I can't believe I just admitted that....



Cheers -

Rob

Hey Rob,

You must have a bit of electrical background. My day job is an electrician and is a huge pet peive of mine if all my plate screws do not line up in the vertical position. It's not so much the dust issue as it is pleasing to the eye. In gunsmithing and other similar trades it is called screw timing. Gets a bit more complicated (i would assume) in metal as your threads would need to be perfectly timed in order to create the correct torque on each screw. In woodworking it is more about feel as you are able to fudge things a bit easier. There are still chances that you'll strip a screw hole out if too much torque is applied. But in all my furniture work I time all my slotted screws no matter how difficult it becomes, this stems from my OCD of doing this as an electrician. Which BTW is much easier on a device plate that is usually plastic and has give to it.

[Jim Koepke]

I have done this with some of the adirondack chairs I have built.

I have even put them in an arc so from a distance they look like a smile.

jtk

[Mike Henderson]

Hey Rob,

You must have a bit of electrical background. My day job is an electrician and is a huge pet peive of mine if all my plate screws do not line up in the vertical position. It's not so much the dust issue as it is pleasing to the eye. In gunsmithing and other similar trades it is called screw timing. Gets a bit more complicated (i would assume) in metal as your threads would need to be perfectly timed in order to create the correct torque on each screw. In woodworking it is more about feel as you are able to fudge things a bit easier. There are still chances that you'll strip a screw hole out if too much torque is applied. But in all my furniture work I time all my slotted screws no matter how difficult it becomes, this stems from my OCD of doing this as an electrician. Which BTW is much easier on a device plate that is usually plastic and has give to it.

I do the same (put all the screws with the slots vertical), just because it looks good. I thought I invented it until I met an electrician who told me that's what they were taught in school.

Mike

[george wilson]

When I,or the gunsmiths in Williamsburg make a gun,we make the screws in the gun lock with heads that are too tall. We then screw in the screws as tight as we want them to be. Then,the screw heads are marked where we want to cut the slots,by scribe marks on the SIDES of the too tall heads. Then,the screw heads can be filed down to their correct heights,and the new slots sawn in and filed up to the scribe lines. Then,when the screws are re inserted,their slots will all come out parallel.

In woodworking,it is much easier since the screw can be re inserted,and the wood has sufficient give to it to allow some adjustments on slot alignments.

[phil harold]

Hi -

I do this with electrical outlet and switch covers....I leave the slots vertical....so they won't collect dust...
Rob

I judge my electrical subcontractors on that feature
It looks so right

[Jeff Wittrock]

You guys are all crazy .
Now I just feel mediocre. No way I am inviting any of you to my house. I'm doing good to wire an outlet correctly let alone line up all the screws .

[Phil Thien]

Hi -

I do this with electrical outlet and switch covers....I leave the slots vertical....so they won't collect dust...

I can't believe I just admitted that....



Cheers -

Rob

The guy that ran the Strong Mutual Fund outfit apparently was so nuts that when he was in a meeting in a conference room, he stopped so he could call maintenance and complain about all the screws on plates which weren't vertical. I'm pretty sure he fired someone over it.

So be careful, you don't want to become THAT guy.

[Tim Offutt]

My son and I just finished the interior of his new home and that was one thing I tought him. All electrical cover screw slots are vertical, always, no exceptions. When I was a toolmaker we were taught to orient all bolt heads. Especially the cap screws that were wire tied.

But even with all the "training" I have received I am simply "that guy" who has to have everything straight and square.
TJO

[Bob Smalser]

Timed screw slots. A single glance tells you whether a critical fastener is working itself loose. While that was the original intent, today timing your screw slots has also become a "best practice" for mere cosmetics:



The next step up in security is a drill and cotter pin:

[Glen Butler]

Its called OCD and you guys need help. As a hands on home builder and general contractor most of my work comes from my reputation as meticulous and my attention to detail. I have never taken thought as to the orientation of a screw, but now I look around my home at the plate covers and it is starting to bug me.