Soss hinges are a type of “invisible” hinge. Instead of a hinge pin, the two leaves of the hinge are connected by a “knuckle” made of interlocking fingers. When the hinge is closed, the knuckle joint folds into itself, within a pocket in the hinge, like you see in the drawing to the right. The result is a concealed hinge that provides strong mechanical support. This makes them the ideal choice for the door of the Ellis organizer.
INSTALLATION. Like a butt hinge, a Soss hinge fits into a pair of mortises cut on each piece. But that’s where the similarity ends. Instead of a shallow, square mortise, a Soss hinge requires a pair of rounded, stepped mortises. Another nice thing about Soss is that they provide a template of the hinge with your purchase.
STEP ONE. Start by laying out the hinge locations on the bottom edge of the door (Figure 1). The paper pattern from Soss helps here. How you create the stepped mortises is up to you.
Next, you need to center the door in the opening of the organizer to locate the position of the mortises in the case divider. The measurements shown in Figure 2 are the ones we arrived at. You need to confirm that they will work for you as well. Figure 3 shows creating the stepped mortises with a Forstner bit and a drill. You could also do this with a plunge router and a jig.
