You might not believe it, but engaging in woodworking without using nails is possible. Yes, you heard it right, and even if you think it is preposterous to do so, there will be instances when you need to get by with your woodworking project sans using nails. In such a case, however, you can use miters, glue, and specialized wood joints to piece together your project.
Woodworking without nails, of course, has long been abandoned by many woodworkers because it is challenging and takes longer and much effort to engage in. Yet, if you can do joints without using nails, you might be a recognized craftsman or a real expert in woodworking.
Techniques You Can Use to Joint Wood Pieces without Nails or Screws
If you want to engage in woodworking without using nails or screws, you might want to know the techniques you can employ to connect wood pieces. Below are the well-known methods on how to do it:
Dowels
You can use dowels to connect pieces to build wooden furniture. Dowels belong to the strongest woodworking joints you will ever learn. In a furniture project, you can use them for connecting legs, panels, and braces.
Dowels are best for excellent deep wood penetration. Besides, they are almost invisible to the naked eye once you’ve installed them well. Similarly, you will unlikely damage your drills and cutters once you cut and drill onto the dowels.
Dowels are an excellent alternative to other popular type of joints like the through dovetail joint because you can easily create dowel joints. Plus, you can reinforce dowels with glue to make them stronger.
Sliding Dovetail
Another type of joint without nails is the sliding dovetail joint. Compared to a through dovetail joint, it is simpler and uses only one long pin. This pin slides directly into the matching tail slot, joining two board pieces. This joint type offers sufficient strength in a specific direction, although it provides limited strength in the opposite direction.
You can easily separate this joint if you don’t apply glue to it. Although limited in its strength, there will be instances when this joint type is your best option. If you want, for example, a project that you can disassemble easily, then the sliding dovetail joint is your best choice. You can cut sliding dovetail joints using a router or a dovetail jig.
Splines
Another similar joint to the dowel joints is the splined furniture joint. Yet, it doesn’t use long and circular dowels. Instead, it makes use of long splines made of flat thin plywood or hardwood pieces. These splines usually stretch throughout the length of the wood piece to offer perfect panel alignment or provide side-by-side alignment.
You can create spline joints using a table saw or a router equipped with a dado blade. Besides, you can inject the glue into the channels and add the spline that spans both channels. Once the glue dries, you will no longer see the splines, and remains there permanently.
Mortise and Tenon
Another way to connect wood pieces without nails is by mortise and tenon. Tenons are simple pegs created on one part of the joint. Then, the mortise is cut or drilled manually onto the complementary joint piece. The tenon and mortise are then joined. If you add glue to this joint, the tenon and mortise get permanently attached to each other.
Joining wood pieces using mortise and tenon necessitates high precision of cuts. The strength of this joint hinges on the accuracy of the cuts. You can cut tenons using a table saw. However, you can cut the mortise using a router, rotary tool, or drill press. You can also use a chisel to cut the mortise.
Using Wooden Nail Called a “Trennel”
You can also use a wooden nail called “Trennel.” This wooden peg gets pounded using a mallet onto a hole you’ve bored onto the wood pieces. You usually split this trennel into both sides. Afterward, a wedge gets driven onto the split. Thus, the trennel expands, preventing contraction and expansion of the planks fastened together.
You will find that most trennels are wrought in black locust or oak. They usually have straight grains spanning their length.
The use of trennels comes with some advantages over nails or screws. First, they would not corrode or rust and expand together with the wood pieces they join. Thus, even if the wood expands, the trennel will not get damaged, nor will it damage the wood it joins. Therefore, trennels are commonly used for building boats and timber frame building construction.
Advantages of Woodworking without Nails
You might get encouraged to do away with nails upon knowing that it is possible to do woodworking without nails. In such a case, you might as well know the following upsides of woodworking without nails:
- Projects done without nails may last for thousands of years.
- You can also spare yourself the expenses for nails and screws when you opt for woodworking without nails.
- Besides, you can disassemble your projects if they don’t have nails.
- The seasonal shrinkage of wood will not so much affect the integrity of your projects because wood fasteners usually expand and contract along with the wood they join. However, metal fasteners will surely fail to expand along with the wood. Thus, problems with workpieces made of metal fasteners become apparent whenever there is a significant wood movement.
Conclusion
As a modern woodworker, you might not even consider doing a woodworking project without nails unless you are a woodturner. Yet, there were times when woodworking mainly did not involve nails because nails were hard to find. In fact, there were times in the United States when nails were as expensive as gold.
Woodworking without nails, however, entails higher woodworking skills because to make joints without nails, you need to know how to make elaborate woodworking joints. However, you need to be meticulous with details when woodworking without nails to create joints that will last longer.