What is a puzzle joint?

At Soft Touch Furniture, we do things differently. And it’s not just our custom designs to get you exactly what you want. It’s in our build quality as well.

You could say we have a secret recipe, except it’s not much of a secret at all. It’s simply using top-quality materials along with artisan-level manufacturing techniques.

We’ll discuss some of these factors in this and future posts and will begin today with one of those manufacturing techniques: Puzzle Joints.

Puzzle Joints, in plain terms, join like a puzzle. This means they fit together one way and, due to the shape of the joint, resist being pulled apart.

Think of classic puzzle pieces, like the ones pictured. The shape of the round part ensures it can only go in from above or below – the round part cannot be “pushed” horizontally, as the shape prevents that. But that works both ways: once in, resists being pulled apart. This is why if you are making a puzzle on your dining room table, you can move the entire puzzle by pulling it from any side.

Whenever possible, we’ll use this type of joint when manufacturing our furniture. Here’s a cutaway of one of our booths:

Notice how the ends of the joint (the purple circle) are slightly larger? This means that piece is essentially “locked” in there, and can only be assembled (and disassembled) one way. And of course, we glue / staple / etc. to join as well, but the “joint” itself is the biggest factor in how stable the furniture is, and how long it will last to the rigors of daily use. Using a puzzle joint, the frame is truer and squarer, plus, assembly time is reduced. You receive a better product, for less cost - win/win.

Puzzle Joints are not too common in our industry. The big reason is it depends on micro fractions of an inch to work, and this type of consistent, repeatable precision is only possible with CNC machinery and highly skilled personnel to program and use them. But both of those things are standard at Soft Touch Furniture. Our manufacturing facility is brimming with high-tech CNC machinery, and our skilled craftspeople know what they’re doing.     

Puzzle Joints are only one reason Soft Touch Furniture stands alone in custom restaurant and commercial furniture, but it’s a big one. If you are interested in exploring how we can delight you and your customers with world-class custom furniture, contact us here.