How Load Actually Travels
Through Furniture Structures
It fails where force is forced to change direction, terminate abruptly, or pass through elements never designed to carry it.
This page explains how load truly moves.
What Engineers Mean by “Load Path”
A load path is the continuous route through which force travels from the point of application (e.g., a seated person or heavy object) to the ground.
In furniture, this path passes through joints, members, interfaces, and material transitions — not through surfaces or finishes.
ENGINEERING SIGNAL: If load cannot be traced continuously to the ground, structure does not exist.
How Forces Move Inside Furniture
Compression
Vertical loads travel through legs, frames, and contact points. Wood is strongest here, along the grain.
Tension
Opposing forces attempt to pull joints apart. Critical in cantilevered elements and stretchers.
Shear
Forces sliding past each other. Shear concentrates at joints where members change direction or terminate.
Bending & Torsion
Horizontal spans and asymmetric loads induce bending moments and twist. The most common cause of long-term creep.
Why Material Strength Alone Is Irrelevant
Strong materials fail when load paths are discontinuous. Weak materials can survive when force is guided correctly.
This is why visually perfect furniture made of "solid hardwood" can still collapse structurally if the joinery interrupts the flow of force.
The Engineering Verdict
Understanding load travel is the foundation of joinery evaluation, structural risk identification, and every engineering verdict we issue.