I've hung a number of residential passage doors, some with custom made, modified, or rebuilt jambs. And changed the swing direction a few times. So I'm not a pro nor an expert but this is the technique I use to get them to work well.

Tips & steps:

• Get the hinge mortises as accurate as possible. Doing this takes some pressure off the screw location (explained below). I use a router template and measure as accurately as possible for new mortises. Actually when possible I don't measure at all, but transfer marks between the door & jamb directly, using an appropriate spacer at the top.

• Initially do a minimal installation - top & bottom hinge only, and one screw each.

  For these first screws I tend to err on the side of locating the screw closer to the mortise - when the screw is driven in this pulls the hinge into the mortise nice & tight. I eyeball an awl (or nail) into the center to get things started. Drilling a pilot is not essential in softwood, many hinge screws have a cutting edge.

The accuracy of the mortise pays off at this step. The screw & wood will flex just enough to seat properly. (Assuming no gross error in positioning the screw). Analogous to how pinned mortise & tenon joinery can be done with the wooden pins driven through intentionally offset holes.

I agree that if the screw is not 90 degrees this may be visible. But probably not a functional issue.

• Hang the door on just the 2 hinges / 4 screws. This helps to align the hinge halves with each other and also aligns the top & bottom hinge barrels.

• Add any remaining middle hinges, one screw only

• Add all remaining screws. I like to get ideally one screw per each hinge through the jamb into the framing. Careful not to warp the jamb though, this needs a shim.

Caveat - I think this would work even for a really heavy door, but use common sense.

If you can do all this at the workbench, that's fine, but it works for existing jambs also.

A lot of times if you are modifying an existing old door I particularly like the flexibility of this method. It helps to work around defects in the wood especially, like old screw holes which are almost in the right place but not quite which prevent the screw from being in the perfect spot anyway.

If you are doing fine joinery or working on a small scale, maybe this technique would not be appropriate.

I've hung a number of residential passage doors, some with custom made, modified, or rebuilt jambs. And changed the swing direction a few times. I'm not a pro nor an expert but this is the technique I've used to get them to work well.

Tips & steps:

• Get the hinge mortises as accurate as possible. Doing this takes some pressure off getting the screw location exact (explained below). I use a router template and measure as accurately as possible for new mortises. Actually when possible I don't measure at all, but transfer marks between the door & jamb directly, using an appropriate spacer at the top.

• Initially do a minimal installation - top & bottom hinge only, and one screw each.

  For these first screws I tend to err on the side of locating the screw closer to the mortise - when the screw is driven in this pulls the hinge into the mortise nice & tight. I eyeball an awl (or nail) into the center to get things started. Drilling a pilot is not essential in softwood, many hinge screws have a cutting edge.

The accuracy of the mortise pays off at this step. The screw & wood will flex just enough to seat properly. (Assuming no gross error in positioning the screw). Analogous to how pinned mortise & tenon joinery can be done with the wooden pins driven through intentionally offset holes.

I agree that if the screw is not 90 degrees this may be visible. But probably not a functional issue.

• Hang the door on just the 2 hinges / 4 screws. This helps to align the hinge halves with each other and also aligns the top & bottom hinge barrels.

• Add any remaining middle hinges, one screw only

• Add all remaining screws. I like to get ideally one screw per each hinge through the jamb into the framing. Careful not to warp the jamb though, this needs a shim.

Caveat - I think this would work even for a really heavy door, but use common sense.

If you can do all this at the workbench, that's fine, but it works for existing jambs also.

A lot of times if you are modifying an existing old door I particularly like the flexibility of this method. It helps to work around defects in the wood especially, like old screw holes which are almost in the right place but not quite which prevent the screw from being in the perfect spot anyway.

If you are doing fine joinery or working on a small scale, maybe this technique would not be appropriate.

I've hung a number of residential passage doors, some with custom made, modified, or rebuilt jambs. And changed the swing direction a few times. So I'm not a pro nor an expert but this is the technique I use to get them to work well.

Tips & steps:

• Get the hinge mortises as accurate as possible. Doing this takes some pressure off the screw location (explained below). I use a router template and measure as accurately as possible for new mortises. Actually when possible I don't measure at all, but transfer marks between the door & jamb directly, using an appropriate spacer at the top.

• Initially do a minimal installation - top & bottom hinge only, and one screw each.

  For these first screws I tend to err on the side of locating the screw closer to the mortise - when the screw is driven home this pulls the hinge into the mortise nice & tight. I eyeball an awl (or nail) into the center to get things started.

The accuracy of the mortise pays off at this step. The screw & wood will flex just enough to seat properly. (Assuming no gross error in positioning the screw). Analogous to how pinned mortise & tenon joinery can be done with the wooden pins driven through intentionally offset holes.

I agree that if the screw is not 90 degrees this may be visible. But probably not a functional issue.

• Hang the door on just the 2 hinges / 4 screws. This helps to align the hinge halves with each other and also aligns the top & bottom hinge barrels.

• Add any remaining middle hinges, one screw only

• Add all remaining screws. I like to get ideally one screw per each hinge through the jamb into the framing. Careful not to warp the jamb though, this needs a shim.

Caveats - I think this would work even for a really heavy door, but use common sense.

A lot of times if you are modifying an existing old door I particularly like the flexibility of this method. It helps to work around defects in the wood especially, like old screw holes which are almost in the right place but not quite which prevent the screw from being in the perfect spot anyway.

If you are doing fine joinery or working on a small scale, maybe this technique would not be appropriate.

I've hung a number of residential passage doors, some with custom made, modified, or rebuilt jambs. And changed the swing direction a few times. So I'm not a pro nor an expert but this is the technique I use to get them to work well.

Tips & steps:

• Get the hinge mortises as accurate as possible. Doing this takes some pressure off the screw location (explained below). I use a router template and measure as accurately as possible for new mortises. Actually when possible I don't measure at all, but transfer marks between the door & jamb directly, using an appropriate spacer at the top.

• Initially do a minimal installation - top & bottom hinge only, and one screw each.

  For these first screws I tend to err on the side of locating the screw closer to the mortise - when the screw is driven in this pulls the hinge into the mortise nice & tight. I eyeball an awl (or nail) into the center to get things started. Drilling a pilot is not essential in softwood, many hinge screws have a cutting edge.

The accuracy of the mortise pays off at this step. The screw & wood will flex just enough to seat properly. (Assuming no gross error in positioning the screw). Analogous to how pinned mortise & tenon joinery can be done with the wooden pins driven through intentionally offset holes.

I agree that if the screw is not 90 degrees this may be visible. But probably not a functional issue.

• Hang the door on just the 2 hinges / 4 screws. This helps to align the hinge halves with each other and also aligns the top & bottom hinge barrels.

• Add any remaining middle hinges, one screw only

• Add all remaining screws. I like to get ideally one screw per each hinge through the jamb into the framing. Careful not to warp the jamb though, this needs a shim.

Caveat - I think this would work even for a really heavy door, but use common sense.

If you can do all this at the workbench, that's fine, but it works for existing jambs also.

A lot of times if you are modifying an existing old door I particularly like the flexibility of this method. It helps to work around defects in the wood especially, like old screw holes which are almost in the right place but not quite which prevent the screw from being in the perfect spot anyway.

If you are doing fine joinery or working on a small scale, maybe this technique would not be appropriate.