Beechwood finger-joints applied at an angle

The paper presents the results of the research done on some physical and mechanical properties of the beechwood (Fagus silvatica, L) finger joints applied at an angle of 45°. With the previous research mainly referring to the lengthwise joining of softwoods, the scientific results about hardwoods and angle-joining has been scarce. We have done tests for durability and both static and dynamic load with fingerjoints, 7.5 and 10 mm in length. The static moment of force with the 7.5 mm finger joints was by 35.7% higher than with the 10 mm joints. During the dynamic loading, the values of the moments of force showed differently against the number of force impulses. The joint slant stiffness as a relation between the moment of force and magnitude of declination is by 18.4% higher with smaller joints. The tests on the dynamic-static load showed that joint exertion through the impacts of interchanging moments up to 10 000 only slightly affect the resistance to static load.