How strong is a castle joint?

[zannej]

Pine isn't too bad. If you want to be able to take it apart then I think laquering the outer parts of the piers might help a teeny bit. If the joint is nice and tight but still has a little wiggle room for temperature expansion, it should be fine. The piers would likely only break off if the joints were too loose and there was a lot of movement. If you get them tight enough together they should hold still even with kids jumping on the bed.
Maybe you can even run the idea by your neighbor & see what he suggests.

I think if you make the posts solid enough so they don't tip or move around too much at the bottom it will also make it so there is less sheering as it will be stabilized & have less movement.

 

[Steve123]

You won't find a straight stud, so jointing and planing the 2X's will make your project go together far better and look better too. Boards will be a little thinner though.

 

[zannej]

I know it's not a castle joint, but this made me wish I had a band saw. It's how to make curved legs with no waste


He cut a single piece into 4 parts and then rotated the parts 180° to pair them together & glued them back inside out to get a leg. Pretty cool. I've heard that titebond is very sturdy glue.

 

[Flyover]

@zannej: There must be something in the water (i.e. Youtube's algorithm) because I watched that same video last night.

@Steve123: I don't have a planer or a jointer. I should probably make a new post asking how people get their boards straight without these giant expensive pieces of equipment. I've seen Youtube videos about it but they all look like a ton of work.

 

[zannej]

It came up as related to the castle joint video, so maybe that is why. It's very cool though. Good question on squaring up the wood. I don't know. I wish I had the equipment from my high school woodworking class. Massive planer, great bandsaw, lathe, jointer, drill press. We had a drill press but the tenants broke it.