French cleats?

[aurelio alarcon]

I know that many of you have used french cleats before, so what angle do you guys and gals cut them at?

[Joe Mioux]

45 degrees
joe

[Mark Singer]

30 to 45 to the horizontal axis

[Rob Russell]

Yup - 45 degrees for mine.

[Tom Hintz]

Nope, 45-degrees. (I suspect all of the answers wil lwork fine, I just like being contrary...sort of)
I have a story about French Cleats at the link below if more info woul dbe of help.

http://www.newwoodworker.com/frenchcleat.html

[Greg Heppeard]

Just to be different... I cut mine at 44 degrees :eek: :rolleyes:

[David Wilson]

I cut mine at 45 deg but I call them freedom cleats.

[Chris Padilla]

Mine are at 50º because it is a pain to cut them like that on a table saw!! ;)

[Joe Scarfo]

My "Freedom Cleats" are cut to 45 and I use both from the cut. One goes onto the cabinet, the other to the wall.

They work great.

Good Luck.

Joe in Tpa.

[Mike Weaver]

45 degrees :)

-Mike

[Dave Dionne]

45° for mine as well

[Pete Harbin]

Here in Albuquerque we have to take into account the higher altitude, thinner air, lower humidity, beautiful sunsets...aww heck, there's no tricks...45 degrees here too :p
Almost any angle will work, except of course, more than 90 degrees (more and your sliding right off the cleat.) Just don't install them upside down :p

45 degrees is a good measure since the mating surfaces will be joining on a plane that is "equally common" to both sides of the cleat, so the forces applied to both pieces of the cleat should be fairly equal. Just remember that if you incease the angle to higher than 45 degrees for the piece attatched to the wall, you're increasing the momment of force that would "rotate" on that wall piece, increasing the forces that are pulling down and away on your cleat on the wall. If your not too comfortable with the strength of the attatchment to the wall, you will want that angle to be no more that 45 degrees, and might even consider cutting a "smaller" angle for that piece that's attached to the wall.


Pete

[Pete Harbin]

I should also clarify that if you're cutting a shallower angle for the piece on the wall, say 35 degrees, the mating piece attatched to the work of art you're hanging needs be cut at the complimentary angle of 55 degrees. The shallower you cut the angle on the wall cleat, the closer the force due to weight will hug the wall and not pull out and away.

Pete

[Pete Harbin]

I guess I could have just clarified it easier by saying...use the other side of your cleat cut...doh!

Pete

[Chris Padilla]

Pete,

You can edit your original post if you like...or just quit while you are ahead! ;)

One thing about tossing out the angle of cut...you should stipulate your REFERENCE for the cut! :)

How about a mating rabbet cut instead of an angular cut? :D

[Pete Harbin]

Been offline working for the past few days. Good catch Chris.

The reference for the angle cut for the wall cleat is from the plane of the wall, set as 0 degrees. The measure of the angle rotates out from the wall in the upward orientation.

A rabbet cut would work just fine too. The two horizontal meeting surfaces created by the rabbet would have to fit pretty close though. You wouldn't want the weight of your piece resting on only half of the rabbet.

Freedom cleats are just easier to cut though.

Pete

[Brian Austin]

I wouldn't use a rabbit for French cleats. The angled cut automatically holds the unit tight against the wall, using the weight of the cabinet. Anything that wasn't angled would provide an opportunity for a loose fit.

[Mark Singer]

Similar to Fois graux and nice with a glass of Chateneau de Pauf....enjoy!

I had a great platter of French cleats in St. Jean de Luz....:cool: