[blub]

There was an interesting video on YT where an engineer from a fastener company joined a carpenter to compare their products with traditional joints.

The traditional joints held up very well and even beat the engineered connectors in some cases. Additionally one must be careful with screws and fasteners: if they’re not used according to spec, they may be significantly weaker than expected. The presented screws had to be driven in diagonally from multiple positions to reach the specified strength; driving them straight in, as the average DIYer would, would have resulted in a weak joint.

Glue is typically used in traditional joinery, so less glue would actually have a negative effect.

[bsder]

> Glue is typically used in traditional joinery, so less glue would actually have a negative effect.

And a lot of traditional joinery is about keeping the carcase sufficiently together even after the hide glue completely breaks down so that it can be repaired.

Modern glues allow you to use a lot less complicated joinery.