Barn Door Hinges

Common configuration of great doors with
a “threshold” passage door installed.

The big doors on the north side of the barn provided passage for wagons piled high with hay or fodder. The great doors were a dominant element of the barn, often fitted with a “passage” door to allow the farmer to enter the threshing floor without disengaging the big doors themselves. Many of the early great doors with their massive strap hinges were replaced with lighter doors hung from rollers on tracks (the bottom of the original doors often rotted from splashing rain and their proximity to the ground)… evidence of the earlier hardware can often be found in the massive pintles left in the hewn beams that frame the doors.

Kinda hard to see the hinges on the boat house at Washington’s Crossing, PA. The doors are 18’ high and the hinges 5’ long. We made the hinges in ’76.

This barn in Berks County, PA has double great doors reflecting the double threshing floor behind and the double hay mows on either side.

Great Door Passage Doors

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The passage doors built into the barn’s great doors were often a showpiece of the farm. The big doors were prominent and the passage doors offered the option to highlight the hardware on that focal point. Two types of passage doors are seen – a full height door, or a door that retained a significant “threshold”. The full height door required that the bottom strap hinge for the main door either stop short of the passage door, or incorporate a hinge joint to coincide with the pivot edge of the passage door. The “threshold” type of door used two separate smaller strap hinges and pintles to swing that door independent of the great door hinges.

The advantage of the full height door is that when open, carts and wheel barrows can easily pass through the door – plus you don’t have to step over the threshold. Down side is fitting a second hinge joint in the big door hinges. A detail that must be considered at the start of the door project.
The “threshold” door was the easiest approach and the most common. Eric Sloane - my favorite American artist, author and keeper of the culture – notes that the threshold was just that… a board restriction to keep the threshing floor grain and straw separated from outside wind and weather. It held the threshings so was a “thresh hold”. Sometimes the height of the threshold was such that it was tricky to navigate, but functional and easier than opening the big doors which were often secured with wood braces against winter winds.

This “threshold” passage door on the Barn at Hopewell Nat’l Historic Park sports interesting serpentine pintles. The surface mounted pintles make this door uniques.

“The Wall of Kong”, big shop doors we built from packing crates. This passage door allows us to roll carts in & out. Bottom big strap hinge pivots passage door with cat door.

Dutch Doors

Still one of the most functional and practical door arrangements, Dutch Doors were the most common on early barns. Most exterior stall doors (typically running the length of the southern exposure) were of the dutch style and hung with strap hinges.

An interesting combination strap hinge & hasp.

Wish this were my barn – just as pretty as a picture.

Beyond being practical and picturesque, dutch doors allow you to play with the hardware for some nice visual interest. You can modify the length of the strap hinges (usually ½ to 2/3 the width of the door, but historic examples prove about any length will work – it’s mostly a visual thing). You can select different hinge styles and you can vary the length of the hinges on a single opening to provide further contrast and interest.

Two lengths of strap hinges, staggered with the shorter hinges in the middle. Interesting and provides room for latches in the middle.

Again, two lengths of hinges. Here larger hinges visually support the bottom door, smaller hinges handle the top door.

Passage Doors

Some exterior doors were for people to enter the barn and were simple board and battens hung with strap hinges. Interior doors to tack rooms, at the tops of many sets of stairs, serving as threshing floor ventilators, and the exterior doors of most outbuildings were also single board and batten doors.

These doors were often fitted with latches, hooks and/or handles, but typically displayed strap hinges similar to the others on the barn, mated with pintles that most easily and securely install into the available materials.

BARN DOOR PINTLES

Any strap hinge installation begins with considering the pintles on which the hinges will hang. The pintles attach to the structure and bear the weight of the doors & strap hinges. It is important to select a pintle that will easily install in the available fabric of the structure and provide sufficient strength to securely hold the weight of the door.

The most common barn strap pintles in use today are the lag screw pintle and the jamb leaf pintle. The installed lag pintle looks most like the common early drive pintle and works well with most installations into masonry construction. The jamb leaf pintle is designed to install strap hinges into contemporary frame situations.

Source: www.brandywinebarnhardware.com

Stanley Hardware SP909 6" Decorative LifeSPan Heavy T-Hinge W/Screws in Black Coated
Home Improvement (Stanley Hardware)

Manufactured from hot-rolled steel
Heavy duty for extra strength
For full surface applications
LifeSpan Limited Lifetime Warranty
Designed for gates, doors, cabinets and sheds
Decorative tee-hinge that s ideal for use on ornamental gates and mini-barns
Attractive scalloped edges on black coated steel
Black pan head screws included to complete the look
Exclusive bearing design eliminates metal-to-metal contact; reduces wear and increases life expectancy by up to 500 percent
6-inch strap length; backed by limited lifetime guarantee