Basic Joinery for Woodworking

Joinery is one of the most essential elements of woodworking and furniture making. Almost everything you build from wood will require parts to be joined and in this episode of our series Getting Started in Woodworking we demonstrate the variety of techniques available to beginner woodworkers from screws to specialized woodworking joints.

One of the simplest joinery techniques is the butt joint, in which the end of one board is glued to the face or edge of another board. This isn’t a very strong joint so we’ll show you several ways to reinforce an edge joint with screws or another kind of mechanical fastener known as a biscuit.

One step up from edge joints are the variety of joinery techniques where sections of wood are cut away in one board to accept the end of a joining board. They include the rabbet joint, the dado joint, and the groove.

We’ll also introduce you to some specialized router bits that can cut joinery, such as the cope-and-stick router bits used for building frame and panel doors. Finally, we review some of the more traditional woodworking joints including the dovetail and mortise and tenon, and walk through the many variations of these classic joinery techniques.

If you have a question about this episode send us an email or post a question in our Q&A forum.

Related links:
Dovetail Joinery
Mortise and Tenon Joinery
The Miter Joint
Dadoes and Rabbets
Biscuit Joints and Dowels
Edge Joints
Box Joints