Uploaded December 2025 | Updated September 2026, 2 days ago
If you’re building a French cleat wall, there are two terms that you need to understand to build a strong, sturdy system. Compression and shear.In a compression system, the weight pushes two surfaces together…with French cleats, this is exactly what we want. We want one angle to match the second angle.
Creating a perfect joint makes the French cleat strong and powerful.
In a shear system, things get chaotic. If those faces don’t meet perfectly, and this can come from the wall being bowed, dust sitting inside the cleat, or the item being allowed to move… that’s when contact starts disappearing.
Once that happens, the weight isn’t spread out anymore.
A few spots start doing all the work, the item begins peeling away from the wall,and that’s when problems start showing up.
To protect your French cleat system, your wall needs to be flat.
If you hang a long cleat and see gaps, use shims...that keeps the cleat working the way it’s supposed to.
And to avoid dust problems inside the cleat itself, which can keep things from fitting solidly, cut about an eighth of an inch off the tip, which gives the dust somewhere to go.
But with enough dust, even that won’t work…so don’t forget the simple stuff: hit it with a brush once in a while so it doesn’t pack up and make sure the hooks are clean.
Check out my other channel! → @makethingswithrob
Become a patron! → patreon.com/makethings ←
Huge thank you to my patrons that keep this thing going!
*MAKER TEAM*
Michelle B
Keith Current
Rich Lightfoot
Tutor the Barbarian
Aubrey G.
Nukebert
Sam W.
Aaron Knows DIY
G. Salazar
David B.
Marc B.
Richard B.
Ben. KBill Patterson
Make Things
#MakeThings #mtbitesize
If you’re building a French cleat wall, there are two terms that you need to understand to build a strong, sturdy system. Compression and shear.In a compression system, the weight pushes two surfaces together…with French cleats, this is exactly what we want. We want one angle to match the second angle.
Creating a perfect joint makes the French cleat strong and powerful.
In a shear system, things get chaotic. If those faces don’t meet perfectly, and this can come from the wall being bowed, dust sitting inside the cleat, or the item being allowed to move… that’s when contact starts disappearing.
Once that happens, the weight isn’t spread out anymore.
A few spots start doing all the work, the item begins peeling away from the wall,and that’s when problems start showing up.
To protect your French cleat system, your wall needs to be flat.
If you hang a long cleat and see gaps, use shims...that keeps the cleat working the way it’s supposed to.
And to avoid dust problems inside the cleat itself, which can keep things from fitting solidly, cut about an eighth of an inch off the tip, which gives the dust somewhere to go.
But with enough dust, even that won’t work…so don’t forget the simple stuff: hit it with a brush once in a while so it doesn’t pack up and make sure the hooks are clean.
Check out my other channel! → @makethingswithrob
Become a patron! → patreon.com/makethings ←
Huge thank you to my patrons that keep this thing going!
*MAKER TEAM*
Michelle B
Keith Current
Rich Lightfoot
Tutor the Barbarian
Aubrey G.
Nukebert
Sam W.
Aaron Knows DIY
G. Salazar
David B.
Marc B.
Richard B.
Ben. KBill Patterson
Make Things
#MakeThings #mtbitesize
