Hacker News Reader

Comment by VincentEvans | Hacker News Reader

Regarding Ikea and similar self-assemble furniture - even though the assembly instruction manual does not call for it - use wood glue when assembling. It will make it A LOT stronger and it will even survive moves.

One thing that didn’t make sense to me in the article is a claim that particle board or MDF is lighter than solid wood. I don’t think it’s necessarily true - I have wood furniture made of pine and cherry that is a lot lighter than Ikea pieces. MDF which is commonly used in Ikea is especially heavy, so much so that Ikea inserts a lot of hollow spaces concealed underneath laminate exterior to reduce weight.

View on HN

Use wood glue where, though? Its advice that isn't "obvious". I'm not a big furniture person, and I'm inferring you mean to do things like add some additional bind to assembled spots, e.g. when I screw in the backing for the chair I could use wood glue on the seam to give it more strength, but its not always obvious how I'm suppose to apply these Ikea "hacks" as it were.

On any interlocking joints. On ikea stuff that's typically dowels, dados, and mortise and tenons.

I also like to glue those weird locking screw inserts.

Most of Ikea pieces I’ve assembled utilize wooden dowels in addition to their special locking bolts. Definitely use glue in all holes that are meant for wooden dowels. If you wish to go an extra mile - use a thin bead of wood glue anywhere two wood surfaces meet, tighten the screws and then wipe off the excess that gets squeezed out of the seam. Wood glue is water soluble so clean up is easy before it dries.

Yes, the dowels are usually the weak points in Ikea furniture. They'll slip out a little, then the leverage will tear apart the wood around it when you're carrying the furniture.

Isn’t the issue the screws tearing through the soft wood and/or engineered wood?

Furniture made of soft wood is certainly more susceptible to damage and denting than if made from hardwood, sure. Personally I find the trade off acceptable - I have a narrow six foot book shelf that I can lift with one arm and a much smaller Ikea one that needs two people to move, but preferences are subjective.

Regarding screws however, furniture made from wood using approaches traditional for wood-made furniture - don’t rely on screws all that much, but rather mortises, dados, and various other joints held by glue, dowels, and sometimes staples or furniture nails that assist holding joints together until glue dries. Once dried - glue is often stronger than the wood it holds together and attempting to separate the bonded pieces results in splitting the wood rather than breaking the bond.

Ikea furniture usually uses these funky cam lock nuts and bolts in particle board pieces, rather than screws:

https://www.furnitureparts.com/products/cam-lock-nuts-ikea-p...

These turn the force into compression over a larger diameter so it's less likely to cause a problem.

I've actually had pretty good experiences with Ikea stuff holding up over time, even across multiple moves.

I had one of those plastic locks snap during a move. And found out Ikea will mail or provide one at the store for free. Repaired my item and it's as good as new.

They used to just make them out of zinc so they wouldn't snap at the drop of a hat. Guess that $0.10 savings per unit was worth the shipping though

They still do for many of them, but it depends how much force is expected on the part. The one that broke on mine would normally see very little force, but it must have been hit on a weird angle while moving. Not a big deal since I just got a new one for free.

Yes, making wood glue even more valuable if you want it to last.

Almost everything from IKEA is particle board or MDF. If it's solid wood it will be priced higher - even pine. I have a couple of particle board items from them and they are definitely heavier compared to actual wood.

> If it's solid wood it will be priced higher - even pine.

The cheapest nightstand they sell is solid pine.

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/rast-3-drawer-chest-pine-104847...

The cheapest full bed is solid pine, too.

https://www.ikea.com/us/en/p/neiden-bed-frame-pine-80395248/

I could go on...

Likely because pine is lighter, more malleable, and probably simpler to create boards from than MDF.

Then you'll have trouble taking it apart if you move.

The MDF is pretty weighty and has big concerns regarding VOCs. All that glue and binders can't be good for air quality/health

Reply on news.ycombinator.com