French cleat load rating

[Josko Catipovic]

How would I determine the load rating of a French cleat used to hang a cabinet? Cabinet's 4' tall x 25", and I have to assume at some point it might be fully loaded with books. I'll be lag bolting the cleat into 2x6 studs. I'm hoping for a 3/8" wide oak board for each cleat half, but could go thicker if necessary. Thanks in advance.

[Richard Coers]

Lag bolted to 2x6 studs, only 25" wide, you could hang a pickup truck on that cleat. You would have to calculate the shear of the threads in the studs to calculate the load rating.

[Joe Jensen]

As Richard said, it would come down to the shear rating of the lag bolts. I usually make my cleats for heavy loads with 3/4" baltic birch ply and I would have zero worry about a 25" cleat spanning two studs.

[glenn bradley]

I use hardened #10 screws on each stud. When I moved I took down some that had been up for a decade. The drywall was still tight around the screw hole; no sag at all.

A full, two wing plane till and dozens and dozens of parallel clamps.

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I use a 3/4" ply cleat and a 3/4" mating cleat on the cabinet or fixture back side.

[Josko Catipovic]

Thanks guys. I was worried about wood crushing over time. Guess I need not be.

[Richard Coers]

Thanks guys. I was worried about wood crushing over time. Guess I need not be.
Wood crushing? Ever seen a house mover on TV? They put blocks of wood between steel beams and the house. I guess if you used thin balsa wood you might get some compression, but everything else it good to go.

[johnny means]

Be sure to look at every joint between your load and the wall. Everyone of these needs to be able to hold the entire load.

[John Sayen]

The other thing to consider, and I might not do a great job explaining this, is that the fasteners only hold the cabinets tight to the wall, and the friction of the cabinet and wall prevents it from falling. Take a look at your average kitchen cabinet, it holds a hundred pounds of dishwater without flinching and in some cases are very poorly secured with screws. The screws hold the cabinet to the wall, but do not necessarily hold the full weight of the cabinet.

[Mark Katz]

Be sure to look at every joint between your load and the wall. Everyone of these needs to be able to hold the entire load.

This exactly. I'm sure the cleat half fastened to the wall is fine, given your description, but what about how the cabinet part of the cleat is held to the cabinet itself. Be sure it's firmly attached to the carcass and not just to the cabinet back.

[Mark e Kessler]

Use at least a #10 screw, it will pull out of the stud before you would ever even come close to shearing the screw in this application

[Lee Schierer]

As others have noted holding the cabinet on the wall is dependent on the fasteners used to attach the cleats to the wall and to the back of the cabinet. Then load bearing capacity comes down to the construction of the cabinet itself. Screws and glue and good joint construction will give a better cabinet than a bunch of boards just nailed together. I would use blind cut rabbet joints on the vertical to horizontal members joints.
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[Frederick Skelly]

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Going waaaay off topic for a minute........

Glenn - looking at your neat cabinet I noticed it is titled "plane till at mclaren garage". Are you a Formula 1 fan, or do you happen to have one of their amazing cars?

Fred