Pegged joints

G

gvforster

Guest
When and why did pegging joints on furniture fall out of favor?
 
Pinning joints went out with handwork, and the advent of more screws, dowels and other mass production methods. I think you see some in Craftsman style stuff in th early 20th century because they were reviving the earlier "honest" construction methods. Also, if you're not using mortises and tenons, pins really aren't needed.-Al
 
I asked because I'm seeing Chippendale almost always pegged, but not as much on Federal Period



thanks,

Greg
 
Greg, I do apologize about my smar tass remark. You are very true. Sophistication in joinery. Once everyone realized that surface to surface contact is what was needed in conjunction with modern (for their time) hyde glues (different animals) and the pins caused as much trouble as they tried to save. It became apparent that pins were superfluous. It certainly took longer the further inland you travel and above the fall line they held onto there traditional methods much longer. It all depends on where and when.
 
It may well be a second order effect, but another problem with pins is that the difference in shrinkage between end grain and cross grain leads eventually to pins sticking out slightly and looking like a sloppy fitting job.


Karl
 
So that why the "Pirates of the caribbean" fell out of favor...

The could no longer get a "Pegged Leg"... ;)



Sorry... it was to tempting to refuse.... he he he....
 
When and why did pegging joints on furniture fall out of favor?

Generally speaking, around 1850 in America, which was when they powered circular saws with steam engines on a large scale and as Al said, hand built furniture came to an end. I read somewhere recently ( it may have been "The Joiner & Cabinet Maker") that in England, they continued to build furniture by hand until the 1930s !!! If true, I find that incredible.
 
In general, where pegs made in "like-kind", i.e. Walnut pegs for Walnut furniture or were there favored woods to make pegs out of?
 
I can't think of an example where the peg was a different wood, except for artistic effect in later stuff-Al
 
Here is a good explanation of pins, how they are made, what they looked like in days long past. I used the search box on Peter Follansbee's blog to locate this page, if you hunt around a little there are more posts about this type of joinery.

http://pfollansbee.wordpress.com/?s=pins
 
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