hinge into end grain

[Mike Davis]

Dowels are end grain, but, glued in dowels are less likely to split.

Dowels inserted from the side are crossgrain to the screw and captured in a drilled hole so much stronger and less likely to split. When installed in a block that is glued to a wall the dowel can be hidden.

 

[BKHam]

here you can see what I did. a block glued in the corner that is cross grain to the sides to which its attached.

the back screw is right on the intersection of that block and the back, not ideal but oh well. the back is edge banded there so its long grain, at least for about a 1/4 inch deep.

I was able to wait until after glue up of the case to do all this because of my horizontal mortiser. 5 minutes of setup and 1 minute to zip thru all 4 corners (i'm doing two of these jewelry boxes).

the tougher part will be putting in the mating mortise on the curved lid. might be a little more involved than the case but i think i can pull it off pretty accurately with the mortiser as well.