Cutting a Living Hinge
This project totally didn’t start out as procrastination, and Peter definitely didn’t film it just to justify the amount of time he put into it. I promise. Cutting a living hinge on a scroll saw is a totally normal project!
For those who haven’t played around with a living hinge, it’s essentially a series of cuts with very close tolerances that, as a set, allow a single piece of wood to bend like a hinge. Most of the examples you can find online are cut using fancy equipment, and doing it manually takes a really steady hand.
For his first attempt, Peter starts out with some wider margins in order to get a feel for doing it on his scroll saw before tweaking his template and diving in. The saw cuts fast, significantly faster than his CNC. Having to detach, re-attach, and re-tension the blade after every cut gets old pretty fast, though.
And there you have it! A living hinge (also called a lattice hinge) cut on a scrollsaw by a scrollsaw newbie. There are a few tweaks that could be made to this design to make it more flexible, but the concept has been proven: you don’t need fancy tools to make a living hinge. Heck, you could probably do it with hand tools.
And what’s a better way to procrastinate than cutting a living hinge with hand tools at two in the morning?
Asher is a freelance writer who has worked on everything from EdTech to indie games. You can catch him online on Medium or in person in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. He claims to have the best chili recipe in the Midwest.
