DIY Castle Joint: How to Make a Flush 3-Way Leg Joinery on a Table Saw

In this video, we'll show you how to make a castle joint, also known as a flush 3-way leg joinery. We'll go over how to make a bridal joint/castle joint jig for your table saw and provide step-by-step instructions on how to make the dado cuts for the joint. By the end of this tutorial, you'll be able to make your own castle joints on your table saw for tables and other furniture with ease. Whether you're a professional woodworker or a DIY enthusiast, this video will teach you everything you need to know to make beautiful, sturdy castle joints. Don't forget to hit that like button and subscribe for more videos like this one
DISCLAIMER The videos on this woodworking channel are for inspiration and entertainment purposes only. We do show what we did during the build, but some woodworking techniques may be dangerous if you are not following proper safety protocols.
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#woodworking #castlejoint #diy #woodworktherapy
​ @Wood Work Therapy @woodworktherapy

[@WoodWorkTherapy]

Comment if you are planning on doing this awesome and stable joint! I love to hear from you! If you need a dado blade that will work in even contractor saws. Click here: amzn.to/2UibG4a

[@canitood1458]

Thanks for sharing the video. This joint is wonderfull.

[@WoodWorkTherapy]

Your welcome! Glad to share. If you haven't seen the video on the desk build that those legs are attached to check it out! kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZrIi3ppqcx2rpI

[@patrickpeterman4890]

THANK YOU FOR A VERY INFORMATIVE VIDEO,I,LL GIVE IT A SHOT, PATRICK.P

[@WoodWorkTherapy]

Do some test cuts first on this to make sure your where you want to be spacing wise. And then go for it. You'll notice you may be slightly off center even if you nail it on measurements. Even if you are off by a 1000th on the opposite cut you should be fine as long as you make the cuts consistent on all your legs. Assuming you have a taper like I did that is. I hope this helps! :)

[@Antweak83]

I like the jig idea. Great stuff

[@WoodWorkTherapy]

Thank you! Seemed like a simple solution to what seems like a difficult problem. :) I hope it helps!

[@jhh243]

Great video sir! I'll be watching your future stuff!

[@WoodWorkTherapy]

We appreciate it and you! :)

[@robertdennis1439]

What is the width of the the dado cut? Is it ¾"?...my table saw will not allow me to stack that wide. I want to make this joint using treated 4x4, what dado width could width would you recommend?.... Thanks, great video!... Rob

[@WoodWorkTherapy]

If memory serves it is a 3/4 dado. That being said. Realistically you can just cut both sides on a single blade or half the sides with a smaller dado. That being said as well... You could also use thinner stock than we did. The joint is exceptionally strong. So you can go thinner. I would not go thinner than a 1/2 inch on a pine or other softwoods, as it might not be strong enough... I think. I never tried a pine joint on this so I may be wrong. Just a passing thought on it. I would test it before committing to it. That was how we found what was comfortable for our application. I hope this helps get ya rocking on that. It is a beautiful joint. :)

[@intheblind7262]

That looks great man! My Dad was a Carpenter for 40 years, he has made some furniture with scrap material from jobs etc. I am an Electrician by trade, but I have done many things, not a lot of wood work or furniture building except the standard boxed crap from China. I like how your desk came out came out, the castle joints look pretty sweet! I have a few questions. Do you still have the upcycled desk from the other video or did you replace it with this? What kind of table saw do you have? I noticed that you said to use glue. Do you think instead it would be possible to incorporate hardware (flat head bolts, washers, wingnuts etc) for easier disassembly/reassembly? Kind of like how you reused the hardware on the upcycle video? If so, do you have any advice or ideas you would suggest? Did they upcycled desk last? Those castle joints on this one look pretty sharp. Thanks again for the production and the effort!

[@WoodWorkTherapy]

Well, thank you! :) Yes, I do still have the desk.... for now. It might be a video coming up talking about its nicer replacement. LOL I have not replaced it with the one in this video. I actually built that at the beginning of this whole COVID thing for one of my kids. It's in the living room so the wife wanted it to look nice. And I'm like.... I have an idea. And well, you get the idea. LOL I have a Rigid contractor saw Model R45171 www.ridgid.com/us/en/compact-table-saw-x-stand Glue vs. hardware on a castle joint. That's a tough one. The one adage that I would recite in this is: "Glue is stronger than wood" (Assuming you have good coverage, and it's not end grain, etc.) When you use things like screws, etc on wood projects without glue, you are doing a few things. First off you are reducing the overall amount of wood to work with. On a castle joint that it self could cause issues. Also you have the issue of the hardware has to hold the wood better than glue, which also creates issues. Obviously metal is stronger than most woods, but the connection with the wood, may not be as strong as glue, because to do the connection you have to compromise the wood to do it and that may cause cracking over time. Hard to say for sure, but I would not personally recommenced it on that kind of joint. Another thing to keep in mind is castle joints are rather fragile when not assembled, so transporting a disassembled joint could very easily break in a moving van, truck bed, etc. I hope this answers some questions, and helps out! :)

[@intheblind7262]

@@WoodWorkTherapy After watching your video I started getting ads for "Hairpin legs". I may go that route and incorporate some hardware along with a decent wood surface.

[@WoodWorkTherapy]

@@intheblind7262 for an L shape desk more is better. I would go with some of the stronger u shapped mettle legs like they have at Rockler. Those will take a bunch of weight and they look pretty awesome. Thoese are simple for a person who knows how to weld to make. If you know someone who welds I would get some of that tube steal and have them made to your specs. Shouldn't cost all that much. :)

[@Nigel-Parry]

On the castle I made with pine, the end pieces are really weak and snap off so easily - any suggestions to stop that happening?

[@WoodWorkTherapy]

Great question! I wouldn't use a soft wood for the castle part. A good solid hardwood would be my pick in reality. Like here we used Sapele for the legs, and I belive hard maple for the other part. And then glued every side and every pice and let cure over night. The joint is fragile untill the glue has dried. Then boom super joint. But the glue in the joint realy seems to be the key. Since it does not extend past the post it doesn't have as much surface to lean on persay, so the glue fills that part in. If you ahve some play in the joint, fill it with a little sawdust durring your glue up. The saw dust packed in the joint, will expand with the glue and toughen up the joint. The table we made it rock solid and we used almost al of thoese techniques as we built and glued it together. But in the end hardwood with a good Janska rating was a major player due to the thiness of the joint. I hope that helps a bit. If you have more questions please ask away! We love to reply to coments on the channel. 🙂

[@Nigel-Parry]

@@WoodWorkTherapy thanks - that’s really helpful - I’ll stick with it as I was just about to bail for tenon joints instead…

[@WoodWorkTherapy]

@UCsX%F0%9F%99%82%F0%9F%99%82NnHIuMAI7OsR6fhdvrvg Glad to hear it. Hard to tell someone how awsome this wood joint truly is till they experience it!

[@konsstar]

Is this MDF? Looks like particle board

[@WoodWorkTherapy]

Sapele and Maple do look a bit fake don't they. LOL However it is only wood. No MDF in this project. (Except the jig to cut the legs that is.) :)

[@NoodleFlame]

@@WoodWorkTherapy I think they are referring to the jig you make and talk about at the start of the video

[@WoodWorkTherapy]

Ah got ya. Yes the jog was made from leftover MDF that actually is from an old desktop I remade. Did a video on it about 3 years ago if you want a laugh. But yeah scrap MDF is great because it is rather humidity stable, and perfect for jigs.

[@grumblycurmudgeon]

Screw the castle joint... what's up with that LEG? The twisted, angled grain structure, I mean. Is that Sapele? Is it a single piece? Or did you laminate several together and "carve out" the leg from that? Sorry, no offense, the castle joint is very nice, though you lose some structural integrity and stability by flush-cutting it. But my gods, man: I'd buy that table on that one leg we can clearly see alone.

[@WoodWorkTherapy]

That is Sapele. Taken from an 8/4 solid chunk. Good eye. The full build for that table is here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/lZrIi3ppqcx2rpI. It actually is extremely stable. I was surprised how well it held up actually. That table we used that on gets used constantly, and never had a failure. Even with my rowdy kids playing on it. I think it comes down to the hardness of wood at that point, and how close the glue/jonti bond is, that truly determines the strength. But if done right, it's an oddly strong joint, and it will take quite a beating, and ask for more! LOL

[@grumblycurmudgeon]

@@WoodWorkTherapy Oh, that wasn't a criticism. Castle joints, given their abundant and cross-layered, cross-grained available glue surface area are up there with mortise and tenon joinery. Pretty much nothing stronger, save some of the monodirectional joins like dovetails. I meant in comparison to a NON-flush castle joint (in which the portion protruding from the other side serves to capture the joint TOO (meaning, like a dovetail, it can only be disassembled in a specific direction, outside of material failure), rendering it STRONGER in many cases than a dovetail (thicker material holding it together) or mortise & tenon (shielded on multiple planes from torsion). It's splitting hairs at that point though. It's like griping about a chisel hardened to 65 instead of 64. Unless your furniture is providing service to a high school or in a prison, odds are any extra strength gained is sandblasting-a-soup-cracker overkill (but hey: I'm a long-term woodworker m'self. You know how we are, lol). But that leg: was that the natural grain run? Like, you didn't go outta your way to make it do that? Just a talented (or lucky) pick from an outstanding slab? Or did you map the grain before cutting the leg? Sapele is one of those marvelous woods that yields the potential for features like that, but it's such a pain to figure out where that grain is HEADED without cutting it open, you rarely see it done on purpose. Either way, lovely work. I'll watch the whole build with eagerness. Thanks for the reply!

[@WoodWorkTherapy]

@@grumblycurmudgeon No offence was taken at all. :) Great question on the grain pattern. Yes, that was intentional. I found a nice 8/4 board at the local hardwood dealer, that had wonderful grain. I bought it for specifically the legs. And then just made sure I cut with that grain to get that effect. I LOVED how that made the legs look. And with the taper, it took it to a whole new level. The grain follows the tapers remarkably well, which I assumed it would, but it was darn near perfect. The grain did not disappear in the taper as it can sometimes. So it was a little luck and a lot of planing. This was one of my first really nice projects I have knocked out. And it has held up well. And is always a conversation piece. I have to admit with as thin and light as it was, I thought it would be a little on the fragile side. To my surprise, it was the opposite. Kids play on it ALL the time. And the worst thing that happened to it was the top got scuffed by something....(Still trying to figure out who did that...). But since it is lacquer, easy to fix. LOL That Sapele is so strong that the fine corners(that I did not soften) have not even got a dent in them after all the use. That was the real surprise. You know how that goes normally, sharp corners on legs = dents. LOL