End Grain Glue Myths | You May Have Misunderstood

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#woodworking #joinery #gluestrength

My hope is that this explanation prevents folks from assuming they can now assemble all of their furniture with glued butt joints only.

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[MakeSomething]

Secretly I've been hoping you would make a response video on this. So thank you. Excellent explanation.

[StumpyNubs]

Crap, I had a video about this planned for today... Oh well, at least folks will stop emailing me asking for a response! Thanks, Marc!

[Erik_The_Viking]

Patrick did a great job on his video. His channel is a real hidden gem among woodworking channels.

[dremwolf]

9:32 Marc: "I'm not the strongest human being out there".
Stumpy Nubs: "I've never seen him and Superman in the same room at the same time".

[Devin_Perkins]

No no, please throw away your dominoes. Just tell me where, I'll come make sure they get recycled.

[jayeckhart]

I watched Patrick's video a couple of days ago and until you mentioned it I did not think that anyone would think that you could do away with mortise and tendons. I was wrong again. Great points as usual Marc.

[rootvalue]

Very cool to see Patrick shared on a bigger channel. Hope his audience grows!

[realpdm]

Man I'm glad you came out with this video before trash day! Was able to get my DF500 and 700XL out before pickup!
Seriously though I enjoyed his well made video (and his others) and was interesting to see the breakages along grain lines but it changed nothing about how I would approach any joinery.

[HBSuccess]

Going on 50 yrs ago when I was a teen learning basic woodworking, I discovered that it actually DID help to glue things like the end grain shoulder of a tenon, or the end grain of miters, etc. More recently it’s pocket hole face frame joinery and the like.NOT because it necessarily makes anything “stronger” overall, but because it DOES keep all the joinery looking better throughout expansion/contraction cycles and typical daily use, to the point of having far fewer cosmetic issues like hairline cracks in finishes or dirt in the air discoloring the unglued edges over time. Your glue is already out so It takes a couple extra seconds… why NOT do it?

[johnsobj]

Your comment near the end about the wood breaking partially due to the grain not being as strong in the long grain glue up direction brought it all together for me. Thx again and keep up the great work.

[emmanuelcarter]

Great video and a shining example of respectfully adding to someone’s content. I really appreciate that you took the time to clarify at the beginning and end of the video that you agreed with him. You are saying that the myth is a fallacy, but it is still of little practical use. I also find it somewhat annoying that you have to make it that clear so people don’t twist your words.

[hermannstraub]

Sullivans Video ist very good. So is your explanation. Thanks. As an furniture restorer i see every day what joint fails. And it is the endgrain joint and the wiggly/loose joint. Never rely on glue. The Elder secured every joint with some sort of mechanical interlock like pegs or dovetails for a reason.

[michaelkaplan]

Great job adding context to this topic. I loved you highlighting your concern with what viewers would take away from Patrick’s video, not his video per se. The good YTers realize it’s virtually impossible to have the message a creator intends to convey be the one received by all that watch it.

He does mention that a future test will be on mechanical joints. I’m looking forward to that one.

[benwake]

Thank you! This was my precise reaction to the video and some of its responses - albeit better said and available to a much wider audience. His findings completely (and somewhat shockingly) bust the myth. What they don't do is invalidate the hard-won lessons of hundreds of years of furniture makers vis-a-vis functional joinery. One reason the myth has stood for so long is that there is almost never any good reason to glue end grain to end grain - if you want to stretch a board you'll typically use some form of scarf joint which increases the glue surface and hence the strength.

[thehawkc]

As usual great information. Been watching for 7 years now, thanks.

[James_T_Kirk_]

Thank god someone has some common sense. People are acting like this video destroyed centuries of wood working techniques and wood workers are doing it wrong.

[donwyatt]

I gotta admit, I watched Stumpys video and was I influenced to watch & comment here. I was ready to defend Mr Sullivan’s findings after I saw the clip of you breaking the end grain joint of two longer pieces of wood over your knee.As You know Mr Sullivan did the same demonstration with the longer pieces but demonstrated both side grain and end grain joints with similar width pieces and proved the end grain to be more rigid. Realistically you are right, we woodworkers would never complete this joinery without tenoning or applying some type of doweling.
Although Mr Sullivans video wasn’t a campaign for pro end grain joinery you
expressed your opinion and supplemented his video without discrediting him and I appreciate that.

[denisdore]

I was surprised by Mr Sullivan's conclusion when I watched his video. Then, you bring your knowledge and, applied to real world woodworking, everything become obvious: mechanical strength! Thanks Marc, it's your turn to make me feel more intelligent 😂!

[rootvalue]

Loved this video. I was thinking about wood movement the whole time end grain to edge grain was discussed. It would be interesting to see those tests after the wood has gone through a year of humidity changes.

[glennpagel]

This is a point that only us structural Engineers probably appreciate---- Stress or pressure is not applied to a A. Force is applied to a Stress and pressure are the result of that force., and are highly dependent on the area that the force is spread over.