Hinge Jigs: How to Recess Door Hinges Accurately Without a Trade Eye
What a butt hinge template does, the Trend jigs that dominate UK trade, the guide bush size that matters, and how to square the corners afterwards. Buy from £35.
A homeowner managing a build hangs the first internal door. The hinge recess is cut by eye, marked with a sharp pencil, chopped out with a chisel and a wooden mallet. The hinge fits, the door hangs. They open it, and it droops. They lift it, ease it, plane the latch edge. By the time the third door is hung, the day is gone, the hinges are not flush, and the gaps around the door read as wonky regardless of how carefully the floor was levelled. A hinge jig and a router would have routed all six recesses in the first hour of the day.
Hinge jigs do one job and do it well: they cut every hinge recess to the same depth, the same outline, and the same position relative to the door edge, in seconds. The Trend butt hinge template is the trade default in the UK. The kit costs around 60 pounds, and on a kitchen extension where ten or twelve internal doors get hung, it earns its place over a single weekend.
What a hinge jig is and what it does
A hinge jig is a metal or composite template clamped to the edge of a door or door frame. The jig has cut-outs that match common butt hinge dimensions (75mm and 100mm hinges are the UK residential standard), and an integral fence that registers against the face of the door so every recess sits a fixed distance back from the door edge. A router fitted with a guide bush traces the inside of the jig's cut-outs. The bit cuts a recess of the exact outline of the hinge, at a depth set by the router base, repeatable from door to door.
The Trend butt hinge template is the UK trade default. It handles 75mm and 100mm hinges (the two sizes you'll meet on residential internal and external doors), comes with stop blocks that set hinge spacing along the edge, and is engineered to register against doors of standard 35mm and 44mm thickness. The Trend Concealed Cabinet Hinge Jig is a separate, smaller jig for 35mm cup hinges used on kitchen and wardrobe doors. They are not interchangeable.
| Jig | What for | Hinge sizes | Approx. price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trend Butt Hinge Template (HJ/COMBI) | Internal and external door butt hinges | 75mm and 100mm | £55-65 |
| Trend Concealed Cabinet Hinge Jig (CDJ600) | Kitchen / wardrobe / cabinet doors | 35mm cup hinges | £30-40 |
| Souber DBB lock morticer | Mortice locks (separate tool) | Lock cases up to 156mm | £200-300 |
| Generic plywood jig | Custom hinge sizes | Any | £15-25 (built or bought) |
For a kitchen extension where you are hanging internal doors, the Trend butt hinge template is the right buy. Add the cabinet hinge jig if you are also fitting kitchen units that need 35mm cup hinges drilled, although in practice a forstner bit and a marked-out template work for cabinet doors and the dedicated jig is optional.
Why this is the tool that turns hanging doors from a day into an afternoon
A hinge recess cut by hand needs marking out, chopping with a chisel, paring to depth, and squaring the corners. Even a competent joiner takes 15 minutes per hinge. Three hinges per door, ten doors in an extension, and you have eight hours of work. The same job with a router and jig takes 30 seconds per recess plus 15 seconds to square the corners with a chisel. Forty-five seconds per hinge times thirty hinges is twenty-three minutes.
The other thing the jig fixes is consistency. A hand-cut recess varies by half a millimetre between hinges. The hinge plates do not seat at the same depth, the door does not pull up evenly against the frame, and the gap around the door looks wrong even when every other dimension is right. A jig cuts every recess identically. The door pulls up against the frame in three points simultaneously, the gap is even, and the door looks fitted rather than hung.
For homeowners not used to hand-fitting doors, the jig is also the tool that takes the skill out of the equation. You don't need the trade eye to chop a clean recess; the jig does it for you. The result is trade-quality work from a first-time user.
What you also need: the router, the guide bush, and the cutter
The hinge jig is one piece of a three-part system. The other two pieces matter as much as the jig itself.
A router with a 1/4-inch collet (the homeowner standard) handles butt hinge work without difficulty. Trend recommend their own routers but any 800 to 1500 watt 1/4-inch router copes with the depth of cut required (typically 3mm). The Bosch GOF1250CE, the Trend T5EB, the Makita RT0700C, and the DeWalt D26204 are all suitable. If you don't own a router, a single-purpose machine for second-fix work runs around 130 to 200 pounds.
A 16mm brass guide bush is the part most beginners miss. The Trend butt hinge template is engineered around a 16mm guide bush diameter and an 8mm or 12.7mm cutter. The guide bush traces the inside of the jig cut-out, the cutter does the work, and the offset between guide bush and cutter is what positions the recess correctly. Trend supplies guide bushes (the Trend GB16 fits Trend, Bosch, Makita and DeWalt routers with a Trend mounting plate). If your router does not accept the standard Trend 16mm bush, you need an adapter plate. Read the jig's printed instructions; the geometry only works with the specified bush size.
A 12.7mm (1/2-inch) TCT straight cutter is the standard bit. A 1/4-inch shank version is fine for butt hinge depth (3mm typical) and 1/4-inch shanks fit the homeowner-standard router collet. Trend C153 or C153A are the typical part numbers. Around 20 to 30 pounds.
Warning
The Trend Butt Hinge Template printed instructions specify a 16mm guide bush. Using a different size guide bush will offset every recess by the wrong distance from the door edge, and every hinge will sit in the wrong place. Do not improvise. The bush specification is part of the jig design.
Setting the depth: hinge thickness, not deeper
The router cut depth must match the thickness of the hinge plate, no more and no less. Standard 100mm UK butt hinges have plates around 2.5 to 3mm thick. Standard 75mm hinges around 2 to 2.5mm. Set the router depth using the hinge itself as a gauge: place the closed hinge flat on the door surface, set the router fence so the cutter just kisses the top of the hinge plate, then lock the depth.
If the recess is too shallow, the hinge plate sits proud and the door pulls itself off the frame. If too deep, the hinge plate sits below the surface and the door binds against the frame on closing. The depth tolerance is roughly half a millimetre either way before the door behaviour changes.
Tip
Cut a test recess in a piece of scrap timber the same thickness as the door. Set the depth on the scrap, dry-fit the hinge into the test recess, check it sits flush. Then move to the door. A 30-second test prevents an irreversible mistake on a finished door blank.
Squaring the corners: the chisel finish
A router cuts with a spinning bit. The bit can only follow its own radius into an inside corner. A 12.7mm bit leaves a 6.35mm radius in each corner of the recess. The hinge plate has square corners, and the plate cannot sit flush in a recess with rounded corners.
A 6mm wood chisel finishes the recess in seconds. Place the back of the blade flat against the existing routed wall, push the cutting edge into the rounded waste, and pare it square. Repeat on the other three corners. The hinge then drops in flush.
This is the second piece of the system that beginners skip. They cut the recess, try to fit the hinge, find it sits proud, and assume the recess is too shallow. They re-cut deeper, the hinge then sinks below the surface, and the door binds. The actual problem was the rounded corners. Square them with a chisel and the original depth is correct.
How to use a butt hinge jig
A simplified workflow for a homeowner cutting recesses on the door first, then transferring marks to the frame.
Mark the hinge positions on the door edge
Standard UK practice puts the top hinge 150mm from the top of the door, the bottom hinge 225mm from the bottom, and (for three-hinge doors) the middle hinge centred between them. Mark these on the door edge with a pencil.
Clamp the door with the hinge edge facing up
Use a Workmate or two trestles to support the door blank with the hinge edge horizontal. Clamp the door so it cannot move during the cut. The door must be steady for the jig to register against it accurately.
Position the jig over the first hinge mark
Slide the jig along the door edge until its registration mark aligns with the pencil mark. The jig has stop blocks that set the spacing for subsequent hinges; position the first hinge accurately and the rest follow. Tighten the jig clamps onto the door.
Set the router fence and depth
Fit the 16mm guide bush and 12.7mm cutter. Set the depth using the hinge itself as a depth gauge. Tighten the depth lock.
Plunge and rout
Lower the router onto the jig with the bush guiding inside the cut-out. Plunge to the set depth, then move the router around the perimeter of the cut-out with the bush always against the inside wall. Two slow passes give a cleaner finish than one fast one.
Reposition for next hinge
Use the jig's stop blocks to slide to the next hinge position, then rout. Repeat for all hinges on the door.
Square the corners with a chisel
Pare each rounded corner square with a 6mm wood chisel. Test-fit the hinge after squaring. It should drop in flush.
Transfer to the frame
Hold the door in the frame at the correct height, mark the hinge positions on the frame, then repeat the routing process on the frame. The same jig handles both door and frame.
What to buy
For a homeowner extension fit-out, two purchase tiers cover the realistic options.
| Tier | Approx price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Trend Butt Hinge Template + 16mm guide bush + 12.7mm cutter (no router) | £90-100 | Trend HJ/COMBI hinge jig, Trend GB16 guide bush, Trend C153 cutter. Add to your existing router. |
| Full kit including router | £250-300 | Add a Bosch GOF1250CE or Makita RT0700C router (~£150-200) to the above. The full second-fix joinery kit. |
| Hire option | £35-45/week | HSS, Brandon Hire, Speedy Hire all stock the Trend hinge jig. Cost-effective if you only have one project to fit. |
| Off-brand alternative | £35-50 | Faithfull, Souber Tools, and Sealey hinge jigs work but the registration is less precise. Trend is the trade default for a reason. |
For a single recommendation: buy the Trend HJ/COMBI at around 60 pounds, the Trend GB16 16mm guide bush at around 8 pounds, and the Trend C153 12.7mm cutter at around 24 pounds. Total kit around 92 pounds. If you don't own a router, the Bosch GOF1250CE at 150 pounds from Toolstation is the popular homeowner choice for second-fix joinery and adapts to the Trend bush directly with a Trend universal sub-base (around 20 pounds).
If you only have ten internal doors to hang and no other router work planned, hire the jig and the router for the weekend you're hanging doors. Around 40 pounds for the weekend at HSS covers everything except the cutter, which is consumable.
When this is not the right tool
Hinge jigs cut butt hinges. They are not the right tool for several adjacent jobs:
- Mortice locks need a separate Souber DBB-style lock morticer, which cuts the deep narrow pocket a lock case sits in. Different geometry, different jig.
- Cabinet cup hinges (35mm concealed hinges on kitchen and wardrobe doors) need either a forstner bit drilled to a marked template or the dedicated Trend Concealed Cabinet Hinge Jig. The butt hinge template does not work for cup hinges.
- Pivot hinges and continuous hinges are uncommon in domestic work and have their own jigs or are fitted by hand.
- Self-closing hinges and adjustable hinges for fire doors have specific recess depths set by the manufacturer; check the product instructions.
Where you'll use it
Hinge jigs come out at second fix, after first-fix carpentry is complete and before decoration:
- Hanging internal doors for every door blank and frame in the extension and house
- External door installation for the back door, side door, or any external timber door (where hinges may be larger 100mm pattern)
- Kitchen installation only if you are using butt hinges on a freestanding pantry door or larder; cup hinges on standard kitchen units use a different jig
For most homeowners on a kitchen extension build, the jig comes out for one specific weekend (the door-hanging weekend) and the rest of its life is spent in the toolbox. That's still worth the 100-pound spend.
Common mistakes
Wrong guide bush diameter. The jig is engineered for a specific bush size (16mm on Trend butt hinge templates). Using a 17mm or 13mm bush throws every recess out by the difference between the two diameters. Read the jig instructions and buy the specified bush.
Cutting the recess too deep. Set the depth using the hinge as a gauge. A recess deeper than the hinge plate causes the door to bind on closing. Half a millimetre tolerance is the realistic working window.
Forgetting to square the corners. Routers leave rounded inside corners. Hinges have square corners. Always finish with a 6mm chisel.
Cutting the recess on the wrong face of the door. The hinge knuckle protrudes on the side of the door that opens away from you. Mark which side is the hinge edge before clamping; doing it backwards turns a 40-pound door blank into firewood.
Routing freehand instead of bush-guided. The jig only works with a guide bush registering against the cut-out walls. A freehand cut without the bush will follow the operator's hand, not the jig.
Not test-fitting on scrap first. A 30-second test on offcut timber catches depth errors before they hit a door blank. Skip it and the first door is the test piece.