Which Woodworking Joint SHOULD YOU USE?

After many requests, here is my method for choosing the most suitable woodworking joint for a certain task. Keep in mind that there are many paths to achieve the same destination in woodworking, this is no exception. What is important to understand is the consequences of choosing a certain joint over another.

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🕵️‍♂️ WHO AM I?:
My name is Matt Estlea and I’m a Woodworker from Basingstoke, England. My aim is to make your woodworking less s***.

I come from 5 years of TRAINING at Rycotewood Furniture Centre in Oxford, 5 years of experience WORKING at Axminster Tools and Machinery in Basingstoke, and 3 years TEACHING both day classes and evening classes at Rycotewood Furniture Centre. All while trying to get this YouTube thing off the ground.

By September 2021, I packed it all in to focus on YouTube and my business full-time.

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[MattEstlea]

If you found this video useful, don't forget to press the *LIKE* button. It really helps me out!

[jamesmaybury]

Thank you. As an engineer I think your understanding is excellent. I did my final degree paper on the joining of continuous fibre composites, wood is a lignin fibre in a cellulose matrix, so I did many experiments breaking wood joints and measuring loads and deflections. Three things I learned that aren’t immediately obvious.
1. Modern glues are much more relevant to the joint than the simple geometry, the glue line can fail by fatigue but total surface area is the most important aspect of glued joints and a simple, multiple combe joint can out perform a dovetail with less pins.
(Also beware that dovetailing your lap joints reduces the cross sectional area of the wood at the critical point and will probably decrease strength in a key direction)

2. Compared to a continuous horizontal bit of timber, the same cross section joined into an upright and loaded vertically will fail at a fraction of the force. A standard shouldered mortise at a little over 10%!, not actually surprising as more than 2/3 of the wood has been cut away. Wood is much stronger than most people think but the joints are usually much weaker than the wood. I got the same basic arrangement up to about 80% by design and internal steel reinforcement (beware, most people overestimate the strength of steel compared to wood as I and my lecturers continually did, expecting the wood to fail first and the steel actually did). This later proved very useful when I designed and made clarsachs (Scottish small harps) which have a combined string tension equivalent to asking 7 people to stand on your recently made product. The head joint had two 200mm x 12mm stainless steel dowels epoxy glued with a simple but joint. Other makers used a lap joint which in that situation is much stronger than a mortice.

3. Joints can fail by the crushing of grain on one piece when the load causes the end grain of the other piece to push in. This became a common failure mode of the joint in my experiments above 25% of the wood’s full strength. Any way of bracing a corner or triangulating a structure can dramatically increase the strength or allow for a much lighter structure as it reduces the point load on the vertical component of a cantilevered joint. Joints are seldom loaded so heavily but on items like chairs the crushing of fibres around joints can often be part of the ‘loose joints’ failure mode. I’ve not experimented but I suspect “wood hardener” would help in such situations.
I hope that is some useful understanding to add to your video.
Much appreciated, thanks.

[UGPepe]

2022 and the miter joint is actually one of the strongest joints there is

[kondzik]

I've seen a couple of videos testing the strength of different joints and surprisingly a miter joint happens to be one of the strongest one every time

[daddy_ishyooz]

This is the most comprehensive yet concise joinery guide Ive ever seen.

[georgegorham]

Surprisingly, miter joints are extremely strong when you add glue. You would think that the end grain on a miter joint is weak, however just by simply cutting the wood at a 45 degree angle makes the glue bond almost, if not, as strong as if it were glued long to long grain. There are many videos on Youtube of woodworkers testing miter joint strength with surprising results.

[bryankirk]

I am a mechanical engineer. You have trained me in basic wood working and given me a love for the whole idea of the strength that wood can supply. I thank you very much,

[maxrothman]

I watch many woodworking videos from many "woodworkers" who are not the best "teachers". This video about Joints and when/where to use them - is EXCEPTIONAL! Thanks for the simple explanations and for your quick but effective teaching method! Well done!

[kirkendauhl]

You leave a question open ended enough to allow creativity and yet informative enough to teach us a lesson before we have to learn it the hard way. Thank you for that, it takes some real finesse to dance between that kind of line, some experienced teachers haven't even attempted to dance that line let alone become adept at it.

[frazzle]

It's mental how good of a teacher he is especially considering he is quite young

[aprildegele]

OMG! I should have watched further before my last post. I absolutely LOVE that you take a break to say there are no rules in woodworking. As an "also" artist, that's the mantra by which I teach art. I stopped taking official art classes in the 9th grade when I was told that how I was doing something was "wrong". Woodworking is very much the same as long as you take into consideration what you want to make and how much pressure/usage/weight it will take. So many options. Mix and match as necessary.
I'm so glad to hear you say there are no hard and fast rules. It warms my heart as a multimedia artist.

[aprildegele]

I find you to be the most comprehensively bound woodworkers. So much information from techniques for tool use to kinethestetics. SO much useful information with the how and why. Invaluable.
For such a young man, you have the knowledge of much older workers. Your videos have been so technically and aesthetically valuable to me. What a brilliant woodworker! I can't imagine the beautiful things you make.

[ajaychawla]

Dude, your explanation is so spot on. Using physics to explain the strength of a joint just made my day. I am just starting woodwork but am an engineer so just want to say thank you so much for making this. Now the woodworking world makes sense to me hahahhaha

[rosspurdy]

Another video tested the joints with weights and the miter joint was the second strongest behind the splined miter. Have you tested the strength of these joints?

[davidwiggins]

I truly appreciate that the "Side Note" was shot from a SIDE camera angle! :) Keep up the great work!

[jhh]

This is a great video and not just because of the well-crafted joints, but also because of your patient, logical, step-by-step instruction on the subject of strength vs. decorative, when and where to use each. You look young which gives me hope that you will continue creating these wonderful videos for years to come.

[ShinLeeChan]

What a great explanation! Finally I fully understand the meaning behind every choice. Amazing.
Thanks a lot for this tutorial, very well edited and explained. 👍👍👍

[keegancurry]

That little frame made out of 4 joints is a great idea! I'm fairly new to woodworking, might make that my next project to get practice on each of those..

[darylreiser]

I've worked with wood all my life. I'm 58 and like your woodworking style. Keep up the great video

[alecfrancis]

As a new woodworker this is one of the best videos I’ve seen!