Brusso Hinges

[Lonsdale73]

Don't want to clutter the for sale section but interested to know the answer posed by DiscoStu - why are Brusso hinges so expensive? Are they why even small jewellery boxes cost a small fortune?

 

[custard]

Most butt hinge manufacturers have for many years been involved in a race to the bottom, they try and make the cheapest possible product and quality comes a distant second. A really good butt or quadrant hinge isn't an easy item to manufacture and Brusso set out to make the very best. I've tried plenty of hinges and most vary from atrocious to okay-ish. Try some simple tests, is there any play whatsoever in the knuckle joint? Put callipers on the leaves, are they totally uniform and consistent throughout all the hinges on a project? When accurately fitted (even in threes or fours on a stile) will they allow a precise closure with zero trace of binding? With Brusso hinges you're guaranteed that the lid of a jewellery box (that might have had hundreds of hours of work sunk into it) will close like the door on a BMW.

I've tried "Neat Hinges" and they too work beautifully, but they don't do butt and stop butt hinges.

For larger furniture cabinets I use the premium range from Horton Brasses and pay the shipping and import charges from the US, not quite as flawless as Brusso but still pretty good and a lot cheaper.

For kitchen cabinets 32mm system hinges are unbeatable.

For general joinery work I'd be perfectly happy with good quality stuff from a local hardware shop. It's horses for courses after all.

I once worked at a workshop that used to buy in supposedly good quality UK furniture hinges by the gross, the craftsmen would pick through them and reject at least two thirds. Of the remainder they'd often sink two or three hours into refining each chosen hinge. I'd prefer to spend more in the first place and do without that faff. If you want to know more about the quality problems with hinges read Andrew Crawford's blog and the saga of why he abandoned his Smart Hinge project because of quality issues.

 

[Rhossydd]

To echo what custard has said, Brusso hinges just seem flawless.

I used sets of offset knife hinges https://www.classichandtools.com/acatal ... russo.html in a project from Fine Woodworking just over a year ago. Whilst initially the cost seemed too steep, more than the timber itself, it seemed a bit daft to spoil a project that had taken very many hours to make with less than perfect hardware. Once you actually handle the parts and see just how precisely they are made and finished you can understand why they have a premium price tag. I can't see them ever failing in use.

I'd buy them again for other projects.

 

[DiscoStu]

Interesting stuff! I guess the precision required to get the quality required for the size of hinge is where the costs comes from. I wonder if they reject 8 out of every 10 they manufacture?

That was why plasma TV's were so expensive initially, they would throw away so many panels because of dead pixels. Eventually they got it sorted though! I can't imagine spending hundreds of hours on a jewellery box, but I'm in awe of those of you that can! I'm never going to be a fine woodworker. I like to be accurate and precise but I dont have the temperament to spend hours and hours in the same thing. I need to see progress!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[smartBoxmaker]

Most butt hinge manufacturers have for many years been involved in a race to the bottom, they try and make the cheapest possible product and quality comes a distant second. A really good butt or quadrant hinge isn't an easy item to manufacture and Brusso set out to make the very best. I've tried plenty of hinges and most vary from atrocious to okay-ish. Try some simple tests, is there any play whatsoever in the knuckle joint? Put callipers on the leaves, are they totally uniform and consistent throughout all the hinges on a project? When accurately fitted (even in threes or fours on a stile) will they allow a precise closure with zero trace of binding? With Brusso hinges you're guaranteed that the lid of a jewellery box (that might have had hundreds of hours of work sunk into it) will close like the door on a BMW.

I've tried "Neat Hinges" and they too work beautifully, but they don't do butt and stop butt hinges.

For larger furniture cabinets I use the premium range from Horton Brasses and pay the shipping and import charges from the US, not quite as flawless as Brusso but still pretty good and a lot cheaper.

For kitchen cabinets 32mm system hinges are unbeatable.

For general joinery work I'd be perfectly happy with good quality stuff from a local hardware shop. It's horses for courses after all.

I once worked at a workshop that used to buy in supposedly good quality UK furniture hinges by the gross, the craftsmen would pick through them and reject at least two thirds. Of the remainder they'd often sink two or three hours into refining each chosen hinge. I'd prefer to spend more in the first place and do without that faff. If you want to know more about the quality problems with hinges read Andrew Crawford's blog and the saga of why he abandoned his Smart Hinge project because of quality issues.

Hi, Custard - Andrew Crawford here. I've only just joined UKWorkshop and I'm trawling through to see what's here and came across your post. Just to clarify - smartHinge NOT abandoned, never was. Now offering the finest quality hinges I've ever offered at smartBoxmaker.com