The Anatomy of Everyday Objects: What Holds Our World Together
Countless objects surround us in our everyday lives. From the moment we get up in the morning to when we go to bed at night, we interact with and rely on various items. But have you ever looked closely at the things you use regularly and thought about what makes them work? When you understand the anatomy or inner workings of common objects, you gain an appreciation for the engineering, materials, and fasteners that hold our manufactured world together.
Furniture
The furniture we use daily represents a triumph of design, material selection, and joinery. Take a standard wooden dining chair, for example. The legs need to be thick and strong enough to support weight, so we often construct them from hardwoods like oak, maple, or ash. The joints where the legs meet the seat frame must allow weight transfer while remaining rigid, so time-tested mortise and tenon joints secured with adhesives and screws maintain stability. The seat itself might feature a sheet of plywood bonded to a supporting framework along with comfy foam and fabric upholstery layers. And according to the good folk over at SPAX, the entire chair is likely held together with wood glue and furniture screws discreetly …