Woodworking Joints

Joinery

• Joinery is the part of Woodworking that involves joining pieces of wood together

• Some require fasteners, adhesives

Types of Wood JointsButt Joint

• The simple butt joint is most commonly used.

• This joint is formed by nailing or screwing the end of one piece of wood to the end of the other.

• While this is simple, fast and effective, the butt joint leaves the heads of the screws or nails exposed.

• Used in cabinet making or Construction framing

• The dowel joint is basically the same as the butt joint except dowels are used to hold the two pieces of wood together instead of screws and nails

• Construct blind dowel joints by drilling the holes only partway into each piece of wood. Then drive the dowels into these holes and glue them into position.

• The dowels are not always visible.

Types of Wood JointsDowel Joint

• The Lap Joint is made by sawing halfway through each piece of wood

• The Lap Joint provides a great deal of strength, but the heads of the nails, screws are still exposed.

• Used in Cabinet making

Types of Wood JointsLap Joint

• This Wood Joint is simple and strong. Due to this, it is commonly used with other materials besides wood.

• To form this joint, saw a slot into one piece of wood. The end of the other piece of wood is then notched out to fit the slot in the first piece.

• The wood joint is then glued together.

• Used in furniture making

Types of Wood JointsMortise & Tenon

• The conventional mitre joint is widely used for making corners in various types of woodwork

• This Wood Joint is a finish joint and not a strong joint. Therefore it is not recommended where the joint is subject to excessive weight or unusual strain.

Types of Wood JointsMitre Joint

• A simple wood joint, in which the ends of boards are joined at right angles by removing a portion of one board’s thickness to accommodate another board.

• In addition to increasing the glue surface, the rabbet also provides support and alignment for the two pieces.

• Used for small scale structural applications: small boxes, wall cabinets, etc.

Types of Wood JointsRabbet Joint

• To make a Dado Joint, cut a slot into one piece of wood to match the end of the other.

• The dado joint is much stronger than the butt joint and creates a more professional appearance.

• It can be used horizontally to support shelves on a bookcase or vertically to hold partitions.

Types of Wood JointsDado Joint

• This wood joint is noted for its resistance to being pulled apart (tensile strength).

• The dovetail joint is commonly used to join the sides of a drawer to the front.

• A series of pins cut into one board and tails into the second board form the joint.

• Once glued, a wooden dovetail joint requires no mechanical fasteners.

Types of Wood JointsDovetail Joint

Summary of Wood Joints

Wood Joints

Name: Lap Joint

Strength: Strength of Joint

Weakness: Fasteners are shown

Name: Mitre Joint

Strength: Decorative Joint

Weakness: No strength to joint

Name: Dovetail Joint

Strength: Strength

Weakness: Setup time to create

Name: Dowel Joint

Strength: Fasteners can be hidden

Weakness: Setup time to create

Name: Butt Joint

Strength: Simple/Fast

Weakness: Fasteners are shown

Name: Dado Joint

Strength: Strength/Professional

Weakness: Setup time to create

Name: Rabbet Joint

Strength: Simple/Provides support

Weakness: End grain exposed

Name: Mortise & Tenon

Strength: Strength/Appearance

Weakness: Setup time to create

WOOD Joints

Careful planning, measuring and cutting result in attractive functional wood joints.

http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2006/04/wood_motorcycle.html