What Are Mending Plates and How Do I Use Them?

A mending plate repairs or strengthens joints in wooden furniture, picture frames, shelving, and other household connections. They offer support to ensure your furniture is safe for use. 

Types of Mending Plates

Mending plates have straight, T-shaped, flat L-shaped, and bent L-shaped designs. These are the most common shapes that handle just about any joint configuration. The plates typically have pre-drilled holes and countersunk areas for flathead screws to minimize connector thickness.

Straight plates join materials end-to-end or in overlapping side connections. I recommend using these when patching wood splits. For example, a straight plate can be used to repair a door that won’t stay closed by mending the door frame’s wood splits. 

T-shaped plates allow two or three pieces to meet in a T-joint, like connecting screen door rails.

Similar to a T-shape, an L-shaped plate can also secure two pieces that meet. I suggest using these for right-angled corners. L-shaped plates often suit picture frames, flat mending plates are best for exterior corners, and bent-style plates fit interior corners. 

In addition to wood, plates effectively reinforce plastic, metal, glass, and other solid material joints. However, proper gasket or adhesive preparation may be necessary.

How to Use Mending Plates

Using plates involves screw installation. However, traditional joinery maximizes strength when building something new. For new projects, I recommend joining the materials with glue or nails before applying a mending plate.

First, pre-drill the end of each piece of material to prevent splitting. Allow adhesives adequate clamped curing time before adding a mending plate.

For repairs, disassemble only what you need to fit the mending plate snugly on the material surrounding the problem. If uneven, grind or sand sides to improve contact before reassembly. To best distribute a stress, stagger screws diagonally. 

For extra reinforcement, install plates on both faces, sandwiching the joint. However, I wouldn’t recommend this application on thinner materials as it doesn’t work well without proper surface space. 

More Types of Reinforcements

While straight, T-shaped, and L-shaped mending plates are the most common types of joints, manufacturers make other hardware brace joints for more complicated structures. Here are some other types of joints: 

• Corner plates: Triangular plates wrapping 90-degree exterior joints
• Gusset plates: Glat plates on diagonal corners for shear strength
• Bridge plates: Long plates covering splits or gaps while transferring stresses

I recommend assessing your project’s support and stress application needs before investing in brace joints. 

Mending Plates Installation Tips 

There are several basic tools and techniques to have and know when installing mending plates. Follow these helpful tips for your next project: 

• Mark each hole position before drilling pilots
• Size pilot holes about 70-75% of screw diameter to prevent splitting wood
• Use flat washers that protect soft surfaces under screw heads
• Stack washers leveling uneven joints
• Allow cured adhesive clamping before loading joints
• Stagger overlapping plates for maximal shear resistance

So, Are Mending Plates Worth It?

Plates are an easy way to reinforce joints against stress. The security provided by mending plates brings peace of mind when using your valued household items. 

Though they can be unsightly, mending plates perform well, also restoring damaged goods that might otherwise need replacement. Whether pre-empting or patching failures, affordable plates are an effective solution, helping to safeguard meaningful, functional, or valuable items.