Reply To: End grain glue joints are always stronger than side grain joints !!!!
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Interesting video. But I think one should be very cautious while interpreting these results.
We all know that wood is very anisotropic with exceptional strength along the grain and relatively weak in the cross-grain direction. Furniture design takes that into account and wooden structures critically depend on the high strength along the grain. End grain glue joint may be stronger than a side grain glue joint but it’s still much much weaker than unbroken wood along the grain. And that’s the critical point relevant for design.
In other words, gluing sideways to make a wider board does not affect the integrity of the material — it may even enhance it as most glues are stronger than wood in the cross-grain direction. But pieces glued end to end is substantially weaker than a long single piece of same dimension. Whether its stronger than a side-to-side joint (as shown in the video) is more of an academic curiosity.