Types of Joinery in Woodworking

The bonding of various pieces of wood in order to create a finished product like furniture, toys and other fixtures is called joinery. The quality and texture of the materials used in this' joining' process decides the durability, appearance and strength of the product. The joints can be made with different types of material like fastenings, bindings etc whereas some articles employ only wooden joinery. These wooden types again vary a lot and are chosen according to the requirements of the work.

1. Butt Joint- This type of joint comes into use in certain situations keeping in view that it is not the strongest of joints in use. In fact a heavy blow with bare hands would piece it apart. A butt joint is created where two ends of a board meet and affixed with glue. The porous grains at the end of the board usually soaks up the glue faster, therefore always apply a little more than required. For better durability, nails or screws should be hammered in since the lateral strength of the board fixed with glue may turn out to be weak. Also make sure that the ends of the board are cut into neat squares.

2. Rabbet joints- This can be described as an indentation made towards the edge of a piece of wood which makes it two sided and open to the end of the surface. In other words it is a slit or dado (another type of joinery) cut into the edge of the surface of the wood. A rabbet is also used to create a joint with another piece of wood. It is also used to insert a plane of glass or putty into wood. Most commonly you'll find rabbet joinery in the back portion of a cabinet where it is used to fit in the back panel.

3. Lap Joints- lap joints are of different types and they are most commonly used in making frames of cabinets. Dovetail lap, Mitred lap, Cross lap and End lap and the Half lap are the various laps. Of these the half lap is one that is extensively used in construction work. Here, material is removed from each piece so that the joint obtained in the end is of the same thickness of the thickest piece. The two pieces to be joined will be of the same thickness. A half lap is further reinforced with a dowel or a mechanical fastener.

4. Housing joints- This is said to be a strong piece of joint wherein two pieces of wood are bonded at right angles by cutting a slit or dado in one and fitting the other through it. Most bookcases and shelves, cabinets and drawers are made with housing joinery. It is cut into the front edge of the material perpendicularly and the resulting thickness would come up to just a third of the piece. It is complete when another piece of similar width and thickness is inserted into the slot created.

Hi,

Amazing info especially for beginners woodworkers like me !

Thanks

Thank you for sharing!

It is interesting. Thanks for the information. I used to use an ordinary ax, as all my family members used it. My grandfather taught me how to work with it. At that time, there were no cool tools yet. It's now there are cool joinery, gas log splitter that'll replace all manual work. It's all very cool. I even bought these tools for myself, as they are twice as productive to work with. If earlier I spent 5 hours using an ax to cut down wood (it is clear that with breaks), then with gas log splitter I spend three hours and at the same time, I don't strain a lot.