What is a hip joint?

[Al Navas]

I have looked up this joint in Feirer's \"Cabinet and Millwork\", and also in Hylton's Illustrated Cabinetmaking, and cannot find what this joint looks like. I also used Google and came up empty, other than references to it.

I would appreciate if someone could post a photo or image of this joint. Thanks!


Al
http://blog.sandal-woods.com

[Rick Palechuk]

It might have something to do with Japanese style joinery Al.

[Jason Susnjara]

Hi Al,

Try this search term in google.

hip joint - strongest joint in woodworking

It does come up with a few links however no pics. I have emailed one of those to see if they had a pic. I think it is nothing more than a miter joint.

[Paul Ellis]

Al,

Perhaps you've been consulting the wrong book? It sounds to me like something you might find in the Karma Sutra?

[Al Navas]

It might have something to do with Japanese style joinery Al.

Thanks, Rick. I have tried many searches, and nothing...

...Try this search term in google.

hip joint - strongest joint in woodworking

It does come up with a few links however no pics. I have emailed one of those to see if they had a pic. I think it is nothing more than a miter joint.

Thanks for trying, Jason. Like you, I have come up empty-handed. I now wonder if the term IS a (contemporary) substitute for some other joint, as you suggest. Funny enough, it has been proposed by someone posting a comment at TheWoodWhisperer video blog. See Response #14 of the post I linked.

The hip joint is taught by Mark Adams School of Woodworking, as part of one of his seminars. But no photos anywhere .

Al,

Perhaps you've been consulting the wrong book? It sounds to me like something you might find in the Karma Sutra?

Trust me, Paul, I tried not only the Karma Sutra, but also the Kama Sutra. NO Karma anywhere in the version I read!!!


Thank you all!!!


Al
http://blog.sandal-woods.com

[Glenn Van Reason]

A new hip joint is what I need from years of lifting cabinets !!!!!

[DanEpps]

Al, I wonder if it isn't something like your 3-way miter in one of your videos. If you think of how a hip roof is constructed, the ends meet the sides in a similar manner.

My searches turned up quite a few little bars (\"hip\" joints) along with plenty of pictures of the bone that connects your leg to your butt.

[Keith Beggarly]

HERE IS A PIC OF WHAT I FOUND.

[Al Navas]

Al, I wonder if it isn't something like your 3-way miter in one of your videos. If you think of how a hip roof is constructed, the ends meet the sides in a similar manner.

My searches turned up quite a few little bars ("hip" joints) along with plenty of pictures of the bone that connects your leg to your butt.

Dan,
I don't know that I have ever seen a hip roof - but, back in the 60s, "everything" was *pretty hip* in SoCal. . So, maybe, just maybe, I have seen a hip roof, somewhere.

I don't think it is anything like the 3-way miter, as the reader's response at Marc's video blog addressed connecting all 4 legs of the table at a hip joint. BUT mine is just a guess at this point.

HERE IS A PIC OF WHAT I FOUND.

Keith,

THAT looks more like a butt joint to me!!! Thanks - I needed that, for sure...

Edit to add: I just got off the phone with the Marc Adams School of Woodworking, requesting a photo and a brief description of the hip joint. I will share whatever I get. As a back-up, I also sent them an e-mail message...On his website, on the video page, he offers a video/DVD on Joinery, which includes the hip joint. Has anyone ever bought this DVD?


Al
http://blog.sandal-woods.com

[DanEpps]

I just looked at the video you linked to and I think I understand now.

I think it is when you use criss-crossed stretchers with a keystone in the center. Look at the legs in the table in the video at 2:54. See how the \"stretchers\" come together with the center higher than the ends? If their were a keystone on the center I think this would be a hip joint.

[Keith Beggarly]

LOOK AT THIS.
http://www.just4fun.org/woodworking/pro ... /index.htm

[Al Navas]

I saw that image, Dan, and it is not clear how the legs were joined. Reading through the responses, Marc will have several joinery options, including using the new Festool Domino, as he mentions in his own response further down the line.


Al
http://blog.sandal-woods.com

[Al Navas]

LOOK AT THIS.
http://www.just4fun.org/woodworking/pro ... /index.htm

Gotcha, Keith!

Are the hip joints the INSET four cuts, with the rabbet around them? I was looking at ONLY the carved out portion of the board - sorry!!!

NOW it starts to make sense - it is what Dan refered to as the "keystone". Am I starting to get it???


Edit to add: Quoting the next photo:

"The heavily stressed joints like the seat to the legs are hip joints, a special kind of mortise and tenon. The less stressed joints like the arms are dowel joints. We did all the joinery on the chair "square in negative space" while the boards were not shaped. If you look carefully you'll see the arms drawn out and the dowels drilled into the legs. These are ready to be cut on the bandsaw."

That is it! Thanks, Keith. From now on, I promise to LOOK at the images a little longer, AND also to digest them a little better...


Al

[DanEpps]

...but, back in the 60s, "everything" was *pretty hip* in SoCal.

I watched a show on TV last--"1968 with Tom Brokaw" and all the hip places in that show were in northern California (Haight-Asbury)

That show brought back a lot of memories--good, bad and indifferent.

Anyway, that joint is not exactly what I was referring to but I see it after Keith's explanation. I too was looking at the carver area on the seat instead of the notched areas for the legs. I think the "hip" must come from the tenon area of the notch.