Replies

1. 
   JohnWW | Oct 30, 2009 02:49pm | #1

   While different species of wood do expand and contract at slightly different rates the differences are usually too small to be important within the small dimensions of most furniture joints. Most wood joints that fail do so because wood movement wasn't allowed for at all.

   Bruce Hoadley's book "Understanding Wood" is rather dry reading, but it will give you the information you need to understand wood movement. The book doesn't cover how to deal with wood movement when designing and building furniture, but it will give you the knowledge you'll need to evaluate joint designs.

   John White
   Shop Manager for FWW Magazine, 1998 to 2007
2. 
   forestgirl | Oct 30, 2009 08:23pm | #2

   Hoadley's book is a great resource, John's advice is spot-on.  For fun and enlightenment, you could go to this Shrinkulator page and plug in the dimensions for a "typical" tenon (as an example) and see how much of a change you would have over a given change in relative humidity. 

   forestgirl -- you can take the girl out of the forest, but you can't take the forest out of the girl ;-) 

   
   

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   Edited 10/30/2009 1:24 pm by forestgirl

3. 
   Eef | Oct 30, 2009 09:25pm | #3

   hey pete,
   although he's not as highly regarded as other well-known wood working saints, tage frid's book from the very late seventies was and still is very useful. it has always taken me longer than most, it would seem, to visualize and wrap my head around ways of doing things. tage's book has good photos and illustrations, although i have heard others say things to the contrary. be warned, however, tage was a pins first fellow.
   eef

1. 
   Rob Brown | Oct 30, 2009 11:17pm | #4

   There are a lot of different options when it comes to joinery. There is rarely only one "proper" way to join wood. Everyone has their favorite joint and that's usually based on what tools they have, what they are comfortable with and how strong a joint needs to be. Read a number of different books or magazines and make mental notes on what joints are employed and how they are cut. It's a long process to feel comfortable with what joints to use when you're now to working wood, but experience will teach you tons. Just as important as "what joint do I use" is "how well is the joint machined/cut". A strong joint in the text book is weak as a kitten if it's poorly made.If you really want to know how strong joints are make a few mock joints and destroy them. You may be surprised to see how strong some joints are when they are made well.Rob Brown
   http://www.equinoxinteriors.ca

1. 
   Eef | Oct 30, 2009 11:33pm | #5

   hi rob,cannot argue with a word of what you said, but perhaps you meant to say them to the op?
   nice website.
   eef

4. 
   frasier | Nov 01, 2009 12:48am | #6

   To all of the replies, I'd also like to point out the obvious --- different joints are used for different situations (miter, butt joints, face frames etc.)  There are a number of magazines that have recently done torture tests to determine which joints broke under various measured stresses.

   You may want to seek these articles to help decide which joint is a good choice for your given application and skill level.

    

   Cheers