# What is this simple joint called, and is it any good?



## ugcheleuce (Feb 19, 2016)

Hello everyone

I'm a hobby beekeeper and I'm trying to discover simple ways of making beehives (which are basically crates with four walls). I recently saw a joint on a Hungarian bee hive that to my very limited knowledge would be a much stronger joint than a simple butt joint.










Does this joint have a name? Essentially, at the place where two horizontal planks meet, a vertical plank is glued to both other planks, so that the planks are all attached at face/edge grains instead of end grains.










How would the strength of this joint compare to e.g. a finger joint? A finger joint would look "nicer" but it would be more work... and I have three dozen boxes to make.

Thanks
Samuel


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## Mort (Jan 4, 2014)

I don't know that it has a name, just looks like a reinforced butt joint. I doubt it would be stronger than finger joints but certainly better than a regular butt joint. 

BTW, if you gang cut your box joints, say six at a time, you could blow through them pretty fast with a good jig.


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## FrankC (Aug 24, 2012)

Once you get a good box joint jig set up that method probably involves more work and will not be a strong. I would worry about the protruding strips catching on things as you handle the supers.


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## woodchux (Jul 6, 2014)

It appears that the extra vertical pieces are for alignment/strength, and are not too decorative. Butt/finger joints are (somewhat) easy to make & can add some class to the project - especially if you have a dedicated jig to help in the setup and the proper tools. Thanks for sharing, and be safe.


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## Toolman50 (Mar 22, 2015)

If you look closely, the sides of this box are tongs and grooved. You could also use wood siding. 
The box is most likely assembled with butt joints, screwed together with galvanized screws. 
Each corner is overlapped by 3/4" and a foot is added to the box. This foot interlocks with the box below and so on to form a solid stack. This looks like a very good design for a beehive. 
What kind of wood do bees like?
If you use the wrong materials, the bees won't like it.


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## bzguy (Jul 11, 2011)

For the record, I don't know that there's a name for that "joint"?, but most people refer to that 3rd glued in piece as a cleat.
Can be glued and "pinned" with brad gun if you want to work fast.


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## ugcheleuce (Feb 19, 2016)

Thanks everyone for your replies. I have tried that "joint" on four boxes that I made, and I have a suspicion that the joint will only be "strong" if the wood is dead flat. And my wood isn't (it's cheap wood meant for garden use, e.g. making garden sheds). The first prototype of anything often reveals more than you had thought of.

As far as I know, bees are not particular about what material you make the hive of. The important thing is that the material must be bee-proof and must be made weather-proof. So, cardboard won't work except as a very temporary solution, for example.

The interlocking "feet" seen in the image in my first post has pros and cons. The bees will glue the boxes together even if they have no feet.

This coming week I'll try a faux finger joint design (i.e. a finger joint created by gluing longer and shorter pieces of wood together).


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## epicfail48 (Mar 27, 2014)

ugcheleuce said:


> This coming week I'll try a faux finger joint design (i.e. a finger joint created by gluing longer and shorter pieces of wood together).


That seems like way more work than if you just cut the joint from a solid piece


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## Getting better (Dec 3, 2009)

I think it's a batten or cleat glued in place


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