Modern joinery v Old school joinery

[JFC]

Don't get me wrong i use modern joinery all the time but i think trad joinery will always last longer and make a quality piece .

 

[MooreToolsPlease]

I couldn't agree more

 

[Anonymous]

To me modern joinery is fairly bullet proof, ie a flat panel kitchen cabinet door, what can go wrong with it.

 

[JFC]

It gets ripped out in a few years and gets replaced with more rubbish

 

[ByronBlack]

Well, it's quite an easy argument this one. The reason why certain joints are 'traditional' is because they have been succesful and been passed down the generations, so like evolution, survival of the fittest etc, the best techniques get filtered and we are left with the best solutions. Modern joints IMO are simply more convenient adaptations, it's like music really, there are only a certain number of notes to use, but you can make all kinds of different things with those limited notes.

 

[Anonymous]

So does that mean that your shelving unit is rubbish and will be tossed away in a few years?

 

[JFC]

Yes , i think it will be chucked out next weekend It will be cheaper for them to have me make a new one than store it . Shame but thats the way people think .
Like i said don't get me wrong i make stuff with modern joinery most of the time but people don't want real quality they want something that looks like it at half the price and thats what we have to supply to make a living .

 

[Paul Chapman]

But I think some modern materials and techniques are just as valid as the accepted traditional ones and will, in time, be seen as traditional. Some of the pieces by the finest workers today, such as Alan Peters, John Makepeace and David Savage use mainly traditional methods but modern ones as well, where these enable them to incorporate design features not possible using older methods.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[JFC]

not possible using older methods.

I think i agree but name one that cant be done the old way .

 

[Paul Chapman]

not possible using older methods.

I think i agree but name one that cant be done the old way .

Off the top of my head, using threaded metal and epoxy adhesive to fix very slender feet to legs of a table - David Savage used this technique on the table I submitted to Tony's "interesting pieces of furniture" thread.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

 

[JFC]

Not seen that but was that to save time and/or he didnt know how to do it the trad way ?

 

[Paul Chapman]

Not seen that but was that to save time and/or he didnt know how to do it the trad way ?

Neither - he did it to ensure that the leg was sufficiently strong.

Cheers :wink:

Paul

PS Here's the table I'm referring to

 

[Scrit]

Oh for Mr Grimsdale's input on this one!

I think that modern and traditional techniques have their place. For example a dovetail joint in plywood seems a bit anachronistic to me (even though such things were illustrated in text books from the 1930s to the 1980s) when dowels, biscuits, glued tongues (especially the Tanselli type), lock joints, etc. all seem more appropriate. They are also faster (with the right equipment). On the other hand using loose tenons to construct any form of exterior joinery instead of the more tradiytional wedged through mortise & tenon seems sheer folly. The wedged M&T has evolved over several hundred years to be an extremely strong joint which will often only fail under the harshet of conditions if properly made - and even with modern glues there seems to be no better way to build a front door. So, no, I don;t think modern toold klike the Domino are suitable in this instance.

Scrit