# Knockdown Joint



## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

Ive been strangely quiet lately, and i plan on making a massive amount of posts the next few days to detail the hundred things i have flying through my head, but im stuck on a few sets of plans. Im planing on doing a pretty major revamp to my shop, if it can be called that, and the big centerpieces are a couple work tables, one a solid wood "traditional" workbench, and one a torsion box assembly table. Heres my issue though.

As you can imagine, i want these buggers to be sturdy, but given the nature of my apartment i want to be able to disassemble both tables and chuck em in a moving van if need be. The tops will be solid, no doubt about that and no chance of taking apart either. The bases, however, i want to disassemble, almost flat packing you could call it. Honestly, the point of my question hinges in no way upon my general designs, so ill get on with it.

Whats the general pick for knockdown joinery? The obvious choice would be screws or bolt, but that wouldnt seem to me to have the strength i want. For strength, i was thinking either a draw-bored or wedged mortise and tenon, but ive been having qualms about those as well. At this moment the draw-bored tenon is winning in my mind, but im interested in any suggestion. 

TLR
Your favorite disassemblable, strong wood joint. Only rules are it has to be able to join 2 pieces of wood and be taken apart and reassembles, lets say at least 5 times. Simplicity is a plus but strength is paramount

Almost forgot something, im not opposed to any sort of hardware, something like Ikea style knockdown nuts, so long as they are strong enough to support a workbench and be abused. And are cheapish


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

On a table you might fasten the legs like this to make them removable. The legs just have single hanger bolt and fastened to the bracket with a wing nut.


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## 4DThinker (Mar 13, 2013)

Metal screws into wood don't make for a good solution. A metal bolt into a t-nut, cross dowel or buried hex/square nut is much better. There are some bolts out there that are far better looking than hardware store hex heads. Look for joint connector bolts.


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## Paarker (Mar 20, 2013)

I would go for a draw-bored mortise and tenon joint with no glue. This way even if you have a hard time knocking out the the pin you can always drill it out when you need to move it.


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

Steve Neul said:


> On a table you might fasten the legs like this to make them removable. The legs just have single hanger bolt and fastened to the bracket with a wing nut.


I briefly considered a joint like that, but discounted it because it didn't seem likely to have the strength I want, in addition to being costly. Suppose I could go with that and cut a tenon, but if I'm going to do that I may as well do a draebored m&t.

Looks like a drawbore m&t is the current leader


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## Steve Neul (Sep 2, 2011)

epicfail48 said:


> I briefly considered a joint like that, but discounted it because it didn't seem likely to have the strength I want, in addition to being costly. Suppose I could go with that and cut a tenon, but if I'm going to do that I may as well do a draebored m&t.
> 
> Looks like a drawbore m&t is the current leader


A lot of tables are manufactured with a bracket like that. You would never know the legs weren't glued on without looking under the table. I don't know of anything you can just buy and achieve more strength.


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## Pop Pop (Jul 17, 2011)

Using a joint like Steve suggests will result in a very strong joint. Adding stretchers near the bottom of the leg with the same joint would increase stiffness and resist racking. 

An alternative that is easy to disassemble and very strong would be tusk tenons.


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

Pop Pop said:


> An alternative that is easy to disassemble and very strong would be tusk tenons.


Thats actually the other style of joint i was considering, except ive heard it referred to as a wedged tenon. Whats letting the drawbored tenon win out in my mind is perceived ease of construction, the drawbore seems a bit easier to construct, if more difficult to disassemble


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