Joints

Joints

How the segments would be assembled together, was something a started to develop very early. Even with my first sketches I had a rough idea of how I would accomplish this using notches and dowel joints to hold the segments in place as shown in my sketch below.

It was also evident with time that I needed to look more seriously into joints that would be strong, stable and aesthetically pleasing for the corners of the segments, and after a talk with my tutor, the connecting parts of the 2 half segments.

I decided to use wood for my stand not only because my personal tastes but also for its simplicity, warmth, timeless look and ease to work with. There are many types of joints associated with woodwork, such as the ones shown below:

• ·         Butt Joint

The butt joint is the most basic and simple joint to construct because it is made with 2 pieces of timber that are butted together at the ends, however this joint isn't very strong, in fact it is the weakest joint that is used in woodwork. This joint can be held together with glue, nails, screws or dowel etc. Because the butt joint is so weak and not very aesthetically pleasing, it is only used in basic woodwork projects.

• ·         Mitre Joint

A mitre joint is very similar to a butt joint as it is easy to construct, however the mitre joint is marginally stronger and has much greater aesthetics. The reason why this type of joint is stronger than a butt joint is because the ends are cut at a 45° angle and then glued together, this creates better surface area for adhesive to be applied while also concealing the end of the wood giving it a nice look. The mitre joint is very common on picture frames.

• ·         Halving Joint

This joint is the one I originally chose to use in my original sketch (above) I still stand by this decision however this already awkward to construct joint will be made more difficult as my 2 joining of pieces of timber will be at an angle. The halving joint is mainly used in framework and is awkward to construct because it consists of 2 channels that interlock, which are bonded together with adhesive (glue) and sometimes a nail or screw. This type of woodwork joint is very useful for supporting 2 pieces of timber instead of just simply nailing or screwing them together. It consists of 2 pieces of timber that have 2 channels cut half the thickness of both pieces of timber to produce a flush interlocking joint which allows the 2 pieces of wood to pass through each other.

• ·         Dowel Joint

This is the joint I originally thought of using to secure the 2 separating segments of my stand only without the glue. Dowel is useful for greatly increasing the strength of weaker woodwork joints such as the butt joint. This type of joint is secured with an adhesive and a small piece of dowel, construction is simple and requires nothing more than a drill and some accurate markings. The dowel joint is assembled the same way you would screw a regular joint together only pieces of dowel are glued and inserted into holes instead of screws.

• ·         Biscuit Joint

Unlike other joints mentioned biscuit joints less common woodwork joints. This is because there aren't many places where this joint is more useful than any other joint. As its name suggests biscuit joints are secured with pieces of timber that are in the shape of a biscuit and these pieces of timber help to prevent movement and add strength. This joint is mainly used to join large timber boards together such as the ones you will find on table tops.

• ·         Tongue and Groove Joint

A tongue and groove joint is a unique woodwork joint that is attached edge to edge with two or more pieces of timber. It is made with one edge consisting of a slot that runs down the entire length of the timber and a tongue which fits into the slot. This groove and tongue feature creates a reasonably strong and aesthetically pleasing joint that can be used in areas such as floorboards, lining boards, wood panelling and table tops. Also you don’t often require much timber with this joint because it is used as more of a feature in most furniture so there usually isn’t a lot of it used

• ·         Mortise and Tenon Joint

The mortise and tenon joint is one of the strongest and most appealing woodwork joints able to be made because of its flush fitting design, it can be difficult to properly construct.This woodwork joint consist of a tongue that is secured into a slot and it is used in areas such as table legs. For structural areas like these the joint must be tight fitting to ensure maximum strength but also to achieve a neat flush look. There are slightly different versions of this woodwork joint which include double tenons, twin tenons and haunched mortises and tenons.

Given the different types of joints and their purposes, it was decided with my tutor that a halving joint (also known as a lapping joint) would offer the best strength and durability for the way my stand is designed. It would offer a simple way to affix hook mechanisms to one of the pieces, allowing it to be flat packed successfully for transport.