I haven’t been spending too much time in the shop the past few months since I’ve been working on the shed during the summer and fall, but I did have time today to work on an antique dry sink my wife bought at a local sale.

The cabinet was in good condition, but the top was off as the hinges had broken. I noticed that they were too small for the top, so I grabbed some larger hinges I had around to replace the small, broken ones.

After removing the old broken hinges, I made a jig to route a perfect sized recess in the cabinet and top to accept the new hinges. I found this jig while reading Michael Pekovich’s book “Foundations of Woodworking”. The idea of the jig is to make a cutout in a piece of wood the exact length and depth of the hinge, then use a small flush cut patternmakers bit to route out a recess that’s the perfect size of the hinge.

After making the jig and routing a few test pieces to make sure it worked, I placed it over the cabinet back and the lid to route out the recess for the new larger size hinges.

After a few minutes, the hinges fit, and I shaved down the top of the cabinet for the lid to fit flush. This was a quick and easy project that will make this dry sink serve another 100 years. Plus, I’m finally back in the shop after a few months’ absence.