What is Hinge Sinker Drill Bit – All you Should Know!

A hinge sinker bit is a custom drill bit mainly designed for recessing circular hinges in various kinds of wood. It is a special steel ideal for drilling holes in both hard and soft woods, such as blockboard and concealed cupboard hinges. It is usually a bit troublesome to fit hinges accurately. However, you can get this task done more easily by using hinge-sinking drill bits.   

The proper hinge sinker drill bits are usually designed with scribers making it easy for the user to find the center point where the drilling should be done. More eminently, the center spurs prevent the bits from wandering during drilling, making the drilling process easier and more efficient.

Where To Use A Hinge Sinker Drill Bit?

Hinge drill bits can be used for DIY projects as well as for professional tasks. Hinge drill bits are ideally used for drilling pilot holes in various hardware such as cabinet and door hinges, door butts, etc. Moreover, hinge sinker drill bits work as a mooring base for the screws of butt hinges.

A hinge sinker drill bit is a popular wood drill bit for kitchen cabinetry works. It can use to drill various cabinetry, particularly made of particle board and MDF fibreboard construction with laminated melamine resin veneers.

If you use a regular drilling and fastening tool on such materials, they can easily get damaged and disintegrate. By using hinge sinker drill bits which are basically used to drill through specialist hardware, you can experience a hustle free safe drilling. 

Hinge sinker drill bits for cabinetry works
Hinge sinker drill bits are good for cabinetry works

Why You Should Use A Hinge Sinker Drill Bit?

Forstner bits can indeed do the same thing, which is done by a hinge drill bit. However, Forstner bit edges will get dull fast due to the abrasive texture of most interior materials, such as MDF boards. 

Even though you use a tungsten carbide Forstner drill bit instead of hinge sinker drill bits, carbide is not suitable for the complicated design of the Forstner bits. 

With their tungsten carbide cutting edges brazed to the steel body, hinge sinker drill bits are the best choice as they can withstand scratching, minimizing the probability of wearing off. So, hinges sinker drill bits are the best choice compared to other varieties. 

What Kinds Of Woods Can Be Drilled Using A Hinge Sinker?

As discussed above, hinge sinker drill bits are used for pre-drilling holes in softwood, hardwood, and block board, particularly when the hinges are concealed.

Ensuring drill bits’ ability to withstand regular exposure to hard materials, hinge-sinking drill bits are designed with hard-wearing carbon steel.

Consequently, they can be used on appliances like kitchen cabinets which are widely made from particle board or MDF (medium-density fibreboard), which usually includes a laminated melamine resin veneer. 

As these wood boards are not very strong, the screws of the butt hinge unusually pull out. So rather than any other drill bit, hinge sinker drill bits are developed to accomplish such tasks successfully.


Tom Mackency

Tom Mackency

Hi, I am Tom Mackency. It has been 10 years that I have been working as a professional woodworker since 2013. I am really enjoying my carrier by creating many kinds of projects in my workshop. But mostly I like for home improvement projects. Home improvement and DIY projects are the most interesting things for me. More than that, the coolest things are power tools. Those are very precious and efficient than a decade ago. So I try to introduce so many things about power tools, woodworking, DIY projects, home improvement and many more interesting topics here.