This Simple Joint is Stronger Than a Dovetail!

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You forgot to test the most common joint: 1/8" pressboard tacked with one tiny staple, later repaired with clear tape.

I did some experimenting of my own years ago and found that a simple modification of technique made a massive difference when using white glue on joints where end grain is involved. I found that simply moistening the surfaces with a damp sponge a minute or so before applying the glue drew the glue just a little further into the wood fibres and when the joint was broken it would draw more of the fibres from both sides of the joint, as opposed to the clean break at the glue/wood interface. This was 50 years ago and I have always moistened the surfaces since.

Interesting results with a different testing setup than most. I'd like to see you expand on the theory of glue starved box joints. Compare box joints with varying amounts of clearance to see if a "sloppy" fit is actually stronger than a tight fit.

I have repaired lots of furniture over the years. Never saw a really old box joint that did not fail. Sort of. They look sloppy and loose and the glue turned into grit. I think the gritty flakes of glue tend to hold the joints together. Dovetails loosened up too but the mechanical advantage worked for them. A friend and I worked our way through college building kitchen cabinets and he continued making them until he retired. Made hundreds (Maybe a thousand) of drawers with butt joints and a couple of 1/4" crown staples. Over the fifty years he was in business he never got a call back for a drawer failure. Also important to consider the application and the loading. Drawers get pulled and pushed in one direction over and over. Some joints may suffer shock loading. Drop a box with glued miters and the shock may break the joint but it the miter were reinforced the shock might be dissipated by the reinforcement before the glue failed. Enough questions to keep Suman busy for years.

Fantastic video. It’s clear that you’ve stepped up your filming game and that you also put tons of time into this single video. It pays off. Excellent content and incredibly well presented. Hats off to you!

Oh man. So much work! Thank you for the dedication! Definitely one of the best joint test videos in existence

loved your video. loved the presentation, the humor, the striving for accurate testing methods, and the lack of claim that you know and have proved it all!

This video was very informative as well as entertaining. You hit a great mix of detail, analysis, presentation.

Excellent video and a great testing machine. Also, your findings were consistent with what I have confirmed in practice, in my own field which is beekeeping. Back 50'ish years ago when I started, bee boxes could be purchased in dovetail, box joint, or rabbet. I assumed dovetail would be the best but my boss who was an old guy and been a beekeeper all his life only used rabbet. A bee box has a hard life. It is exposed to damp then dry then damp, and is outside in the sun. They get loaded up with honey and in a commercial situation are then banged around on a truck and through the honey extraction process. They are expected to give many years service. Through many years of using all types it had become plain that rabbet joints were the hardest wearing of the three options. Another factor, beehives have to be made from untreated timber. The dovetail and box joint corners will rot much faster than a rabbet joint.

With modern drawer slides you can build any joint you want and it will be fine. I can close and open my kitchen drawers with one finger. There is almost no stress on the drawer box because of the operation of the undermount slide. This includes a tray that I built to hold my stand mixer which weighs 40lbs. Very cool test Scott. Some of the drawers in my kitchen are not even actual boxes. They have metal sides with melamine back and bottom screws into them attached to a wood drawer front. It is impressive engineering.

You put so much time and thought into this. Thank you

Just came across your channel. great content! The splash of humor is the added touch that makes your stuff really great! Thanks

Thanks Scott. Really good video. Just what I needed. I am a hand tool woodworker and don't have access to things like a Domino or a 45 deg. Dowell jig. So I have been avoiding Long mitre to joints on cabinetry because I worry about their strength and therefore have resorted to the lengthy process of dovetailing. This gives me more confidence to try using nice long miter joints in the future. BTW: I would love to say this same joint strength test tried with 3/4" ply Cheers David

Like you implied, there are a number of difference forces acting on a joint over its life. I’m in the same camp that a box joint seems to be the best due to modern glues. That said, this vid was incredibly informative. I would have loved to see pocket holes just to see what the haters would say.

This test was awesome. Many thanks for sharing

You really put in the work for comparative and measured testing. This is very valuable. Thanks

This is actually a very well devised testing setup, and that seems to be especially rare among joint strength tests. My only nitpick is that I wish there had been an equal number of samples for each joint so that half of them could be placed in reversed orientation in the test harness. Doing that would indicate how much the asymmetry of the joint design translates into asymmetry of joint strength and also produce more generalized overall averages. Nevertheless my hat's off to you for really adding something useful to a discussion that often thrives by instead exploiting hidden subjectivity and manufacturing pointless controversy for engagement or self indulgence.

it makes me so happy to someone challenging their preconceptions

Amazing video, thanx for the tests