FRENCH CLEATS EXPLAINED...In 5 Minutes! (There's More To French Cleats Than You Think--3 Main Uses!)

this is the french cleat the strongest most adaptable mounting system in all of carpentry it's also exceedingly simple to build and use which is why it gets employed in shops and houses all around the world now a thousand other youtube channels have already shared their french cleat advice and project ideas and they're all helpful but that's not the point of this video instead i'm going to explain the underlying principles of the french cleat i'm going to talk about why we use it what problems it solves and whether or not you should use it for certain situations and that's coming up next on the honest carpenter show so the french cleat is simply a method for mounting or hanging things from a vertical wall it consists of a horizontal ledger or cleat with a beveled top edge which mates with an opposing bevel in order to suspend an object the bevel is really what defines the french cleat it's typically 45 degrees or even 30 degrees sometimes you could theoretically make a similar ledger without the bevel just a flat or square top edge this would prevent a hanging object from falling straight down but it would not prevent pull out the object could still tumble forward away from the wall the french cleat counteracts both these forces it keeps your object from falling downward and also prevents it from falling away from the wall and it does this naturally using gravity and these simple shapes the reverse bevels trap each other so the question is should you use french cleats should you go through the trouble of constructing them after all we have simpler ways of hanging things from a wall for instance you can just drive a screw or nail through an object and pin it to a stud in the wall that's easier right and of course sometimes the studs not in the right place in which case we have wall anchors for light stuff or you can use the mounting bracket method which i showed in this other video in either case you're using something similar and basically as effective so why bring in the beveled slats there are really three reasons one french cleats introduce an element of versatility two they're outrageously strong and three they also create a way to hide or disguise your mounting method let's talk about versatility first in a full system front cleats sort of create a blank canvas that you can decorate or hang things from as you like with screws or anchors objects will stay where you place them but a french cleat functions more like a rail so it makes whatever you mount to it laterally mobile the french cleat acts as the bottom rail and the reverse cleat on the mounted object acts as the top rail so you can just slide your object over or remove it all together but now you have unlimited freedom to move that mounted object as far as the cleat extends horizontally and by having cleats above and below you can ship them vertically as well so if you have a lot of mounted objects you can adjust them at will that's why so many people use them for shops you may add tools or materials down the line and want to change your setup the french cleat system lets you do this over and over again in whatever configuration you like that's really helpful but the real benefit of the french cleat system is its strength french cleats can hold a crazy amount of weight how much only engineers can specifically determine these numbers but we can throw out a few rough figures using three quarter inch ply for your cleat and one two and a half inch deck screw fastened into each stud you can probably safely hang up to 80 pounds or more in that spot but if you use two screws stacked vertically and spaced an inch or more apart you double that mounting power to about 160 pounds at that location and you can use upper and lower cleats in combination doubling your load capacity yet again that's a lot of strength and that's why french cleats are used to hang all sorts of heavy stuff in houses especially cabinets and custom fixtures cheaper lighter cabinets are often hung by just driving screws through the back panel into studs that works in most cases but that attachment is only as strong as that back panel and they tend to be sort of flimsy suspending more modern custom cabinets often requires more strength these things are dense and heavy and for that reason builders will often rely on french plates to hold them they'll reset the cleat into the back of the cabinet and make it part of the structure then the wall cleat will also fit into the recess now the mounted cabinet will hide the cleat and be extremely strong that's the third benefit of the french cleat you can hide your mounting method my friend bob batura built this beautiful walnut headboard and we hung it from a concealed french cleat on the back that way it looks like the headboard is just floating so long as you can mount a cleat firmly to your fixture and cleat firmly to the wall framing you can hang virtually anything anywhere by just putting these two shapes together and now metal cleat hardware does the exact same thing you can get these bracket systems cheap mount them to projects and hang them anywhere with just a drill it cuts out the carpentry phase pretty amazing so that's how french cleats work why we use them and where you can put them into effect what did you think of this video any questions do you use french cleats for projects let me hear about it down in the comments i'll link some tools and products in the description feel free to shop those links and remember that when you do we receive a tiny commission from whatever you buy at no extra charge to you as always thanks for watching be sure to check back in for more videos coming up soon and please consider subscribing and hitting that little bell button to turn on notifications that way you'll know the moment we post something i'm ethan james with the honest carpenter.com i'll see you next time you

Channel: The Honest Carpenter

Views: 224,350

Keywords: french cleat, french cleats, french cleat tool storage, french cleat system, french cleat wall, french cleat shelves, french cleats ideas, french cleats for dummies, the honest carpenter, french cleat systems, french cleat tool wall, diy french cleat, french cleat system for cabinets, french cleat wall cabinet, diy french cleat wall, tool storage, tool wall, tool organization, how to make a french cleat, french cleats explained, how to use french cleats

Id: nfrTde02CCA

Length: 5min 27sec (327 seconds)

Published: Sat Aug 07 2021