# Joining these horizontals on my newest project?



## Butler (Feb 7, 2017)

Hey everyone, first post here. Wanted to ask you guys on your preference for joining the horizontals to the verticals on my newest project. I'm going to be building it out of some pretty expensive reclaimed lumber, so I'd like to have my joining skills for this project down before I start cutting the good stuff. I'll be practicing on some cheap dimensional before I go all in.

I've included a picture of my design. My question is regarding the bottom horizontal should be joined to verticals. I'll be using 3×3 verticals and all of the horizontals will true 1×4 that will be trimmed in 1×1's. The drawers will be holding vinyl records, which can get quite heavy, so I'm especially concerned about making the horizontals stable enough to hold that much weight over a long period of time. Thanks for any suggestions.


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## craftsman on the lake (Dec 27, 2008)

People will tell you about lots of good, standard joining methods like tenons. But, might I suggest pocket hole screws. Cuts a joint down to a couple of minutes and you move on from there.


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## mrbob (Nov 3, 2016)

If you are going to have a back on it simple dado joints would work.


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## Butler (Feb 7, 2017)

I was hoping not to use pocket holes. Do you think tenons on the 1 inch trim pieces will be strong enough? If I use dados, what width do you recommend? The bottom shelf will be 1", so a 1/2" dado? Will that suffice?


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## TheFridge (May 1, 2014)

> If you are going to have a back on it simple dado joints would work.
> 
> - mrbob


Agreed


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