Shelf bracket strength test: Double tenons vs. screwed vs. pocket holes
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- Опубліковано 22 жов 2024
- Break testing the heavy duty shelf brackets I made, also testing similar brackets using screws from the back, and using pocket holes.
woodgears.ca/jo...
When your kids begin breaking toys and tell you, “I wanted to see how strong it is.” You can only blame yourself.
Yeah, but that's how you get engineers and architects. I mean, when i was a kid my parents hauled me around their job sites, i used to play with squares and Letraset sheets. It worked for me and partly for my brother too.
I will repair anything that was broken for a reason, i.e not from anger or boredom.
Sean Connery acsent: "you can only blame yourshelf"
Nek nganggo kayu sing atos may be strong
Theyll be learning
The only reason Matthias has a Kreg Hole jig is just to rip on how much he hates pocket holes.
That's a valid reason ;) SUCH a valid reason!
I thought it was a good way to store his broken drills. . .
Any sale counts as a sale.
lol
I respect him for this, he doesn't talk about something he have know ideas of. Almost every diy selfer on UA-cam brag how pocket screw are the best.. i have my doubts
Somewhere in Matthias' autobiography is a chapter on Pocket Holes and the reason why he hates them so much...
... there was that humiliating pocket hole failure back in his father's shop at the age of 4... ha
@@randybartlett3042 So that's why he burnt it down!?
Wouldn't it just be the whole book?
Either that, or something like:
Chapter 4: Pocket Holes
No.
Chapter 5: ...
Page 42. "On pocket holes, and why I hate them."
Looking at the video two times just to be sure of what I saw, I noticed two issues.
1) As was previously mentioned, in the two screw tests, you stood on one foot at point of failure but for the tenon test, you stood on two feet. The net weight distribution therefore was shifted about 10 cm to the left making the strength of the John Heisz design much closer to the two tenon design.
2) For the pocket hole test, the positioning of the screws was sub-optimal. Placing them in a staggered layout (on the left 3/4 inch from top and 1 1/2 inch from the top and on the right 1 1/4 inch from the top and 2 inches from the top would spread out the load.
Thanks for doing the work and making the videos. All three designs showed that they were adequate for the task at hand.
Sorry, He lost me at cm instead of inches like American's should use.
@@DGOTheResistance Lol not enough freedom units for you
@@DGOTheResistance yea, and correct apostrophe's use too... X"D
@@DGOTheResistance making a comment cause I wanna see the comments of people getting angry about your little joke there
Nice test! You forgot the PL on mine, though :)
Important for people to remember that the single bracket strength is important, but since you will always use more than one, the weight each one carries is greatly reduced.
unless you put something heavy right on the support. The shelf isn't that stiff, so that bracket gets the whole load.
Fight! Fight!
@@johncox8645 I feel another challenge coming on!!!
@@matthiaswandel now now, play nicely
@@matthiaswandel The weight on a shelf exerts force both in shear and in torque. Your tenons address the shear but not as effectively the torque. Torque is best addressed by prevention, by perhaps cantilevering the foot of the bracket turned up and BEHIND the wall surface. NO glue, no screws, and no damn pocket holes. The road to hell is paved with pocket holes. Believe me.
I had a good laugh when you screwed it to the table saw. 😂
See! Another reason pocket holes are awful!
pitiless!
hahaha
Me too, these screw seem quite long, but he know what he is doing. ok .. but still human.
I only laughed because it's something I would do. Still loved the video even though I doubt I'd need any single bracket to hold close to 100lbs.
@@placitas52 I know, I know and i agree taht: laughing at the misfortunes of others is not charitable, but mine was a joke to bring the situation to excess
I miss my kids asking "why?" all of the time. Now they're at the time of life when they know "everything" :D
They turned 5 ?
my son will soon be at the age of asking why, alot.
@@PlasmaHH I literally told my parents "I know everything!" and it's one of my only memories of being 5.
@@bmoelly8123 if he gets to you such that you're at wit's end, just ask him why he asks you that
When i was 8 back in ‘88, at the end of season potluck and awards ceremony for our soccer team, my AYSO soccer coach gave me the “...but why?” Award
Clearly this was not a John Heisz Method - there was no construction adhesive involved :)
Polly Urethane was in quarantaine, she couldn't come.
Or pin nails 🤪
That's a good point. Construction adhesive fights the peel adhesive failure mode extremely well and I believe that Mattias said he used wood glue which broke immediately.
Or plywood.
@@LukePighetti the latest project farm video with loctite pl8x adhesive could handle 1600lbs!
Strength vs effort(or speed) ratio goes to the 2 screws in the back for the win. If i needed some shelves up and wasn't planning on hanging my brick collection on them that is what i would go for. (Also cause i don't have skills for tenons..)
"What are you doing daddy?" "IMPORTANT SCIENCE THINGS" *snap, thunk*
Daddy!!! Are you OK?
Like every tool and fastener in a well-equipped shop, pocket holes have their purpose. They can be a clever solution to many solutions. Thinking they will serve as heavy-duty shelving fasteners is not the fairest of tests. That's not their purpose. But I enjoyed the video. Mortise and tenon once again prove their strength as one of the better woodworking joints there are. Thank you Matthias! Quality content as always!
When using screws, I recommend drilling pilot holes, just to keep the wood from splitting along its grain. I think the pocket hole would have done better, if the wood wasn't split by the displacement of so many screws, in such a small area. Pilot holes would have reduced that displacement, by making "room" for the screws. No matter what, ANY of those joints would be more than adequate for any thing you're likely to set on the shelves supported by 2 or more of those brackets, including a real life "Elf on the Shelf"!
Several commenters have suggested that you make the joint stronger by doubling up on the fasteners - like running a screw through the tenons from the side. You pointed out how this particular process would just weaken the tenons, right where one of them cracked before. But if you were to use the tenons AND drive in a screw from behind, on center, above the tenons, it would provide extra strength without breaking wood near the tenons. How does that sound?
Yes, one long screw right between the tenons. I actually have done that for a previous double tenon joined shelf.
I have used thin cross grain dowels as reinforcement for screws, biscuits and pocket holes as wood splitting can be a problem.
These results make me feel alot better about having jointed my shelf brackets with just screws from the back either. I was - and still am- kinda worried it will just collapse at some point. Put this has put at least 15% more faith in it for me :D
Thanks Matthias!
Hello sir im from philippines,started watching your video since 2013.one of your project ive made like home made bandsaw i used it up to now for my small furniture business.i try also make video for my new channel about wood,im always watching your videos very interesting, i learned a lot of it.thank you for sharing your skills and talent.
The horizontal 2x4 in the screwed version appeared to be punky. I appreciate this test and it clearly demonstrated the strength of both types of joinery. Thank you.
A straight grained 2x4? Good Luck finding that
WiscoFun no kidding
Hard enough to find a straight 2x4 lol
I was laughing so much at you struggling with the pocket holes.
Your use of pocket holes in the video was strictly user error. You had a stripped out bit, used an impact driver, and used too long of screws. Also theres a place and time to use them vs when not to.
One on each side, or two on one and one on the other staggered, likely would have been stronger.
even so, the shelf was strong enough.
Yep I said about the same thing
I absolutely love the strength test videos, it's the nerves when you hear the first creaks and cracks!
It's super reassuring to see how slowly and how much warning you get as screws fail! (My worst crash on a bike was from a cheap Aluminum handlebar snapping off suddenly!)
I could watch hours of variations on this test but thank you for reinforcing my unwillingness to setup and wait for glue to dry! XD
i have never seen someone struggle with pocket hole before......
Me too, but its because none of the people i know who work with wood use them.
I use them, they have their uses, not everything needs to be mortised and tenoned.
@@MK.1599
I use them all the time. They are fantastic for many applications. And with a little bit of engineering design you can use them on about anything.
You can also combine methods as well such as pocket holes and biscuit joints but you can also combine Mortise and Tenon with screws.
I use them all of the time in my professional work, and they are great. I’m not sure why he had such a tough time screwing them in? He seems a little special to me.
@@marilynwong9784 that 6 inch extension bit wasn't doing him any favors 😅
I think the important take away is that all three methods held sufficiently for the length of a single shelf.
More supports across the length of a shelf would increase the maximum weight the shelf will support.
Also, 155 lbs at the tip is not the same as a load distributed across the depth of the shelf.
I've been planning on organizing the garage this year and have already started off with about an 8 foot width of shelving. Compared to the work done in this video, I think I over engineered my shelves like a fart to a volcano eruption!
I think I'll scale back a bit and save a lot of time and money !
I have a lot more shelves to go.
I like the tenon method the most, get to use more tools, augg, augg me use tools (Tim the Toolman) !!!
Thank you :)
It would be interesting to see the "overbuilt" joints. Like glue, tenon, and screws to see if there is any benefit in trying to get more strength, or if the material simply has a limit.
I’ve never seen someone struggle so hard to screw in pocket screws
ShortyzProductionz Give him a break. I think he’s a little special.
every time i look in the mirror I see someone who has had a driver bit jump out onto his hand, accidentally screwed something to his bench, and thought he didn't need a clamp to hold a workpiece in place 🤣
This! Thank you Matthias!
Despite hating pocket holes, you did a no nonsense, unbiased test on them as well. This really means a lot for me, your honesty and integrity regarding unbiased reviews/tests.
Thank you, and keep up your great content please👍
Videos where you test things like this are the best ones. Take it to the extreme, and see how it goes. Great videos.
Thank you! More real information in less time than most test type videos.
Logical and effective test set up.
A person brand new to wood working and building things may not yet understand the value of this but for my part having some knowledge of these things a get to the point video like this is pure gold.
I can (with what I already know) extrapolate upon the data you just provided.
Ex. Same test done with straight grain hardwood, glue etc.
Knowing what I already know this (simple?) and logical test gives me a place to start from as regards the potential strength of the various bracket designs.
Brilliant!
And straight to the point.
Thank you.
In this episode of Canada vs Canada.....
...no maple was harmed
@@ginglyst But the 2X4's were probably cut in Canada.
If strength is what you're after, each method could easily be modified to achieve your desired goal, or pretty close to it.
- For the mortise and tenon method drill, glue and insert appropriate sized dowels perpendicular to the tenons. Use wood glue on the M&T joint and the dowel pins.
- For the screwed in butt joint, use button head screws (that are countersunk) in vertical base. Place them vertically equidistant from all four sides and themselves but offset a few mm's from the centerline of the base. In addition, use wood glue.
- For the Kreg screw method, forego Kreg's Robertson screws, and use Torx/Star drive button head screws (Milescraft Brand or similar). Only use three screws, two on one side and one on the others. All equidistant from each other and the edges. In addition, use wood glue between the joints
Frankly pocket holes exceeded my expectations here. Ironically, you gave them a boost! Thanks for a fun video and a glimpse of your cute kids.
Your results are exactly what I would have expected. Definite advantages of one method over the other, but in reality, a shelf with a depth of 12" to 18" with 2 or 4 brackets per shelf run would support a 100 pound load using any one of the three methods. I assume the tenons had glue, but the screw methods did not, so the addition of screws & glue would provide a little extra support. Always great to see the simple things, that we all have opinions about, actually put to the test. Use "the right tool for the right job", so pocket holes do have value in my shop.
Wear a hard hat in your shop ;-)
This vid makes feel better about me being clumsy and hurting myself at times. Thank you.
Your still one of my favourite swearers on the toob. Keep trucking bro.
“Damn it, I just screwed it to my table saw. I hate pocket screws!” 😂
i have been searching for u and now it was on my "homepage"
I always wondered which one to do , and now I see actually I can do with screws simple coffee table, thank you
Could screwing a screw into the tenon joint from the side help?
I would then assume either it doesn't slip out and the tennons break, or the whole vertical piece of wood splits in half.
Now there needs to be an official comparison of (quality) 2x4 shelf bracket builds.
probably not. too small an area, plus it breaks part of the tenon so it's more likely to tear.
@@matthiaswandel perhaps if the screw was longer than the tenon and also held in the arm it would be equivalent to a head screw, such as those with washers, plus the glue of the tenon, almost like reiforced concrete (in Italy we call it "cemento armato": literally armored concrete: like a medieval knight wearing his armor)
@@matthiaswandel What about adding a wedge to the tenon? Yes it's more work, but I would think it would add strength to the tenon.
“But I still don’t like pocket holes!” 😂 👍 still appreciate you experimenting with them and giving an honest review. Highly enjoyed the whole experimentation. 💖👍
Very interesting. Lately we've been making brackets with some purchase area to clamp on during assembly. Reminded me of that seeing you try to get those pocket hole screws in.
You and the pocket holes. Happy 2022 to you and your family.
I never comment but when you drilled that pocket hole bracket to the table saw, I literally laughed out loud. That's me all day long. Thanks for that Matthias!
In conclusion, all these three methods a more than enough to hold anything you put on the shelf. screw win because its faster for me. double tenon is cooler for sure! For pocket hole, I think that two screws are probably better than four. Most of the time, when you drive a screw in a 2x4 the wood split, it affect the structure. For all these scenarios, a small plywood triangle can be put on the side of the structure(mount and shelf). It could probably double the strength. Great demonstration @matthias Wandel !
Something I was wondering when you were building the two tenon version, since I don't have the fancy tools, was if you could make one large tenon. Then I figured the two tenons are giving you more surface area. I also thought that you could sort of make it adjustable if you added two dowels to the side instead of the glue. So what do you think of one large tenon and two dowels through the side?
I don't think much of it. You try it and see.
Personally I think making 2 tenons is a waste of time. One larger tenon would be stronger than 2 smaller tenons. Also making 2 mortise holes in the backer wood will result in thinner wall thickness along the mortise. In almost all mortise and tenon joinery you see it is one tenon and one mortise.
The tenon joint broke partly because the glue joint failed; one large tenon would have half the surface area, so its strength would be lower as a result.
I wonder if the screw or nail hole in the side of the end of the board with the screws (4:17) could have weakened it.
It looks like the failure goes right through that screw hole.
But it looks like there were also some screw or nail holes in the end of the mortise board as well.
I love when Matthias does these tests and makes us think.
Excellent info Matthias! Thank you for posting.
I think wood contains an amazing safety feature in itself. Where steel would snap with a loud bang at some point without a warning wood is kind enough to tell everyone (who is willing to listen) that it might fail soon if you force it any more!
Guzzist11 steel also has the same feature (depending on the quality of the steel of course). It will bend before it breaks, however you do have to actually look at the steel joint to see if there’s any bending, whereas wood cracks and is easy to hear.
@@daniellemos5364 I´m most of all referring to stuff like heavy load chains which i use on a daily bases. We have anuual checkups, but if they go, they go with a BANG...unlike cloth for example.
He doesn't like pocket holes, but I surely do. Amazing how strong they are for building face frames and such. And with glue added, I never worry about any pocket hole attachment coming loose, also quicker then tenons too...
Matthias, apparently pocket holes don't like you either. They even tried to draw blood from you, when that failed, they tried to break and drop you on the ground. I love that although you are not a fan, you are still willing to test them fairly and acknowledge them when the work well. A true scientific approach to not let your own biases stop you. Keep up the great videos. Also, OMG the kids are getting so big. Wasn't it just last week that you were making a self rocking rocker for your baby girl.
Too many screws weaken the wood.
That was interesting-loved the washer addition. However, your testing wasn’t the same on all three tests. On the tenon bracket, you distributed 155lbs onto TWO feet while you distributed 155lbs onto ONE foot on the two other tests. This type of testing provides much more weight to the far end of the latter two shelves.
BT yeah I was thinking the same but surely he was doing that but not really showing us until his penultimate side step and last position when he def was using one foot
I was more careful about putting the weight on one foot as I got closer to failure
Damien Wills That makes sense....super cool video!!!
Those pocket holes did better than I would have thought. I do hate the square drive on pocket hole screws though. They always have a bad tendency to cam out, unlike torx screws that don't do that.
yes i wanted it to break
why ?
(cause they were pocket holes) lol
Mama Wandel is a great seamstress! Those bucket hats on the kids were super cute!!
I wonder if a Rachel will ever do Stess Tests with their Kids Clothes 😂
Bad luck Brian: Finally tries pocket holes
Screws the piece to the table saw...
Ooo this was good! What about a large lag bolt with a decent-sized washer?
Also, I wonder what role glue plays in all this (since the double tenon was glued). Would be interesting to try to expose the wood to watered-down wood glue, let it soak in, and then let it dry overnight.
Love your work and presentation. You are one of the coolest guys on the planet.
Thanks for leaving the part where you screwed it to your table in there. That gave me a good laugh since that's exactly what I would have done
And just what may I ask are you planning on putting on the shelves. Gold bars? Armor plate? Remember, if the shelf is in the workshop anything you are putting on it has to be lifted by hand most likely.
Big uncle Steve will be along to teach you those advanced pocket hole techniques. 😁 Seriously though, destruction tests and comparisons like this are both fascinating and tremendously valuable, thank you and more please.
The pocket hole test wasn't really fair, though, when you consider the direction of the screw versus the direction of the force applied
Yea, and it's clear the screws crossing over and the rescrewing to pull them from the table saw damaged the wood that tore out in the test.
The fact that it almost pulled the screw heads through the 2x4 even with washers under the heads on the back, tells me attaching the shelf bracket to the 2x4 with pocket holes from the front will fail way sooner even if you use 4 screws because the four screws make more chances to split the bracket piece and the heads being in the bracket peace means there's only a tiny little bit of screw with no head behind it holding it onto the 2x4.
Always looking forward for your "stress tests" Matthias
Another alternative to fasten the shelf bracket to the wall bracket is to use bolts in the same manner that wooden bed frame rails are some tim fastened to bed posts. Drill a 1/2" diameter hole in the side of the shelf bracket that can be used to house a 1/4" nut.
Y'know, I'm pretty sure that John doesn't even OWN a pocket hole jig, so which one of you really hates them more? 😄
I like pocket holes fine, but I sure wouldn't use them in a shelf bracket. Still, I'm quite impressed with how well they did hold, given how they were crossed and grabbing just that small wedge of wood.
I do respect that you just grabbed whatever 2x4 for this and didn't try to pre-select it.
I just grabbed whatever 2x4, just like I did for the other ones.
LOL every time I see Steve use pocket holes I think of you, and every time you use them I think of Steve and your very serious YT drama
Good to see you Matthias, and that your family is well :)
Thanks for the test. It further confirms my feelings. For those brackets M&T is by far the best way, but maybe a bit larger.
I use pocket holes to hold things together while the glue dries, but I will use clamps instead, if the pocket holes will be seen in the final assembly. I hate the look of the pockets, even when plugged, and I have never trusted their strength in situations like this. Good enough to use instead of clamps for faster gluing assembly though.
Love that the kids are asking what you are doing and why.
Thanks for all your experiments, they are really enjoying!
Excellent. I was searching for this exact comparison and found this demo. I was wondering why in some applications pocket screws are used when simple screws with a large head are much simpler.
Specifically, a structural screw with a large washer head would probably work best and require no jig.
Fastenmaster HeadLok or Simpson Strong-Tie screws would seem ideal. Both have built in washer heads, have a Star drive to prevent cam out, and can be used w/o pre-drilling on softer woods, though wouldn’t hurt to pre-drill here. The Headloks are rated to replace 3/8” lag screws but much smaller, have grippy threads, and come in 2 7/8”, 4”, 6” etc length.
Handy to have a bucket of these screws around for home projects.
I've done some roofing using 120mm lag screws, 8mm diameter with a big flat head, torx drive. Awesome holding power. After about 30 screws my makita impact was almost too hot to touch, was fine though.
The man is on a personal vendetta against pocket holes xD
Try pocket holes on ONE side of the board. The strength is MUCH stronger. With screws on both sides, your essentially "scissor cutting" the grain and making it easier to fail. Overall great video demo though!
Love watching shop guys fumble with drills and drivers lol
"Ow, shit!" will be engraved on my tombstone.
I started laughing when your drill slipped and you swore. Then you screwed that to the table and really made me laugh. VERY ENTERTAINING! and no i was not really laughing at you. Just tge fact it is so relatable. I could totally see myself doing all that. Thanks for the video !
Try using them on one side or staggered where they don't almost collide. But I guess if you just want to show how awful they are, you did a great job. All my indoor wood storage was done using the Kreg HD jig and 2 x 4s and 2x6s of Southern Yellow pine, Ditto for my outdoor rabbit cage hangers (15' each split into 6 cage areas). I use them for boxes, cabintes and many jobs around the shop. That said, I have jobs where I hand cut dovetails, hand cut motise and tenon joinery with both hidden and through tenons. I use my good planes, chisels and other hand tools for these projects as opposed to the ones for the farm I run and do a huge amount of wood working on. But if you don't like them, don't use them. They work, they are strong and they are fast - both to use and to learn. Spend a little time and learn to use them correctly and you may find you like them as much as methods that take twice as long for the job at hand. By the way - were the holes drilled at the correct angle for the board thickness and were the correct screws used. Didn't look like either from here and both are very important.
I bet a single 8" log screw on top and maybe a 3" torx on bottom just to keep the bracket from pivoting would hold pretty well
@Lassi Kinnunen well I mean a 3" screw to keep it from swiveling around the log screw
He doesn’t like pocket holes!
Well not if you put things in your pockets, things fall out.
fast cap sells some big washer head screws and 1 inch washers made to go on regular wood screws.
In India I have seen they use (3.29) and single pronge which is like the size of your two prongs combined. Try that. And i think at some places they use a small dowel through that joint
Gave me some good ideas on how to better engineer for strength. Thanks.
After you find the strongest method, you could try different materials. ie. Pine vs. Spruce vs. Fir as these are readily available in Canada. It would be interesting to see the difference materials would make in your testing. You could even try Birch or Maple as a harder wood to see how they perform. I'll put my money on Fir (have you ever tried to pull a nail out of a Fir 2x4?) Anyway, I enjoy your videos. Cheers!🍻
I came back to this video because it jus occurred to me that even on the pocket holes you had to go beyond the length of the shelf bracket and at that distance it was still a phenomenal load on the bracket, though they were clearly inferior, unless you store a lot of really heavy stuff, they were adequate. Of course I would want more than adequate.
It's interesting to compare this to your cantilevered work table which seemed to hold your weight on the end way better. I'm guessing the bridal joints plus the better wood made those joints much stronger than what you used in this video.
As soon as the screws started making all that noise is when I would have called it a fail. All it needed was a little more time. If you were stacking wood, and it started making that cracking sound, I don’t think you would have left it up there!
Diss tracks are getting weird
5:43 “Ow, shit!” The plight of every woodworker. 😂
Finally, the newest chapter in the pocket hole saga.
I love this show, its why I use glue all the time.
wait, has he been raving about them for a while? I've been subscribed for years, and I don't recall him talking about them before. did i just miss it?
@@andy4an Ow yeah the dislike for pocket holes goes way back. Like when he did the comparitive testing using a kitchen scale on his bench. The dislike for pocket holes was obvious back then too.
...had a feeling that the "mouse" was going to get some revenge on this one - nice comparison tests - agreed, not a fan of pocket screws for anything other than their presumed speed during the construction of things like cabinets. I just don't like the aesthetic. Full Stop.
They're good for face frames, and that's about it.
I love watching your test vids.
I think that if the Heavy Duty Pocket Screws were used the shelf bracket would have been considerably stronger. The HD screws are a #10 , use a #3 Robertson bit, the hole is 1/2". and the drill jig and screws are designed for 2 X 4, 2 X6, etc.
Correction...The screws are #14
The screws already ripped the piece of wood out. You can rip it out with a bigger screw, but mostly, that bigger screw would help split the wood.
I'd just like to admire the simple "floor jack" using a two 2x4's to lift the work table onto the floor dollies. :)
I knew you hated pocket holes the minute you started! Pocket holes are good when used with glue and are great for doin work without the need for clamps. Ofcourse they are not going to be as strong as regular joinery but they do have application, especially for those without access to a workshop...
Thank you for using screws versus wood tenons.
Hi Matthias,
you are not alone in hating pocket holes!
In some strange situation the pocket holes could be the only way to reach the goal (hypothesize a cross connection of two elements on a through one, but in that case I would use the plugs) but I think a well hidden screw put by the the other side (on a T-joint) is better than this system
P.S. for simple honesty towards the poor holes, if you placed them staggered (always two on each side) perhaps they would have improved the seal, but would remain losers for 4 holes against two screws with the washer! (if they were larger in diameter they would have endured even more as you said in the video)
The pocket hole screws have integral washers. If I had 4" long pocket hole screws, I would have used those from the back (without pockets)
Really enjoy these break tests.
Nice comparison, and I'm glad your kids popped in, that was sweet.
Do you think the mortis and tenons would hold longer if they were square rather than rounded?
Wow time flies
I remember when your children were so young
I feel old myself
Conclusion? Not until you test double tenon with woodscrew / flat washer centered on the tenon end grain and hidden against the "wall" to prevent pullout. I think the 2X4 would break first. Practically speaking I think all three were suitably strong. I liked the slow fail of the wood screws if supporting a heavy load.
Downside of the slow fail is that the shelves will be sagged at lower forces, which would be very annoying.
Good tests! I have only a doubt: by adding the wooden board you climbed on, you made the horizontal bracket thicker, then stronger.
This way, we can't know if the horizontal bracket (possibly) would have broken BEFORE the joints got broken.
Do you agree?
I'm italian, so please sorry if I was wrong somewhere with the language.
Your kids are adorable! Thanks for sharing a moment of them with us.
I tried this myself, made some damn sturdy brackets! Can’t say much about the rest of my home though…