There are various types of woodworking joint out there available for a woodworker. They offer a different level of strength to workpieces and are suitable for a specific project. I have a definition of woodworking in my previous article which is said to be a process used to join pieces of wood together in order to produce complex parts.
Today we’ll be looking deep into the various types of woodworking joints, their applications, and benefits.
Contents
Types of wood joints:
Below are the types of wood joints:
Butt joint:
A butt joint is the most common and easiest types of woodworking joints which joins two pieces of wood mere by butting them together. It is the simplest joint to make and it is a weaker joint only if reinforcement is employed. The joint depends upon glue alone to hold the pieces together which result in a weaker joint. this because glue does not offer much literal strength.
Read: Different types of wood finishes and finishing products
Biscuit joint:
This joint is just like a butt joint that contains reinforcement and shaped in oval form. Biscuit joint is generally made of dried and compressed wood such as beech which is installed in matching mortises in both pieces of the wood joint. People often use the biscuit joiner to create the mortises where the accuracy is not that important. The design of this joint allows flexibility in glue-up. The mortise must be located at a correct distance in the face of the wood joint in both pieces. Width of the mortises is not critical since the biscuit is thin making the alignment to move around. Though the alignment is not perfect.
Read: Everything you need to know about woodworking joints
Bridle joint:
This joint is similar to the mortise and tenon woodworking joint. a bridle joint contains a tenon on the end of one piece and a mortise on the other workpiece which will accept the tenon. This joint has three glueing surfaces. In corner bridle joint, two pieces are joined at their ends creating a corner. It can be used to house a rail in uprights, such as legs because it provides good strength in compression and its ability to moderately resist racking. It is also used to join frame pieces when the frame is shaped. A mechanical fastener and pin are required in the woodworking joint.
Dado joinery:
A dado is a slot cut into the surface of wood pieces, usually used to attach shelves to a bookcase carcass. It has three sides when viewed in cross-section and it is cut to a perpendicularly to a grain, making different from the groove which is cut parallel to the grain.
Dovetail joint:
A dovetail joint is a strong woodworking joint which is great for tensile strength (resistance from pulling apart). It is often used to connect the sides of a drawer to the front. People often use a dovetailed dado because of the tensile strength it offers. The joint is permanent when glued, and it requires no mechanical fasteners. Addition to the making, there is a series of pins cut to extend from the end of one board interlock with a series of tails cut into the end of another board. This pins and tails have a trapezoidal shape.
Finger joint:
The finger joint is a popular type of woodworking joints also called box joint. it is used to join two pieces of wood at right angles to each other which makes it similar to a dovetail joint except that the pins are square and not angled. Finger joint does not have mechanical strength like dovetail as it relies on glue to hold the parts together. The joint is easy to make if one knows how to work with a table saw or a wood router with a simple jig.
Lap joint:
Lap joint is of different types but the most frequently used is a half lap joint. it joint is produced by removing an equal portion from each piece in order to obtain the same thickness of the piece when joined. The joint is suitable for making workshop storage items.
Read: Everything you need to know about wood finishing
Mortise and Tenon woodworking joints:
Mortise and tenon joint is one of the strongest wood joints performed by carpenters. It is simple to make. Normally you join two pieces at 90-degrees which one end of a piece will be inserted into a hole in the other workpiece. The end of the first workpiece is the tenon while the hole in the second piece is called the mortise. Glue is used to make the joint and one may pin or wedge it to lock the joint in place. There should is a perfect registration between the two pieces.
The mortise is a cavity cut into a piece of wood that allows tenon to enter while the tenon is a projection on the end of a piece of wood which is inserted into a mortise. The side of the mortise and tenon is determined by the thickness of the workpiece.
Pocket-Hole Joinery:
The pocket hole is one of the most popular woodworking joints which is just like a butt joint with a pocket hole screw. Two drilling operation is performed when making the joint, the first is counterboring of the pocket hole that collects the screw head on the workpiece. The second hole is to drill a pilot hole that has the same centerline as the pocket hole. This pilot hole allows the screw to pass through a piece to the adjoining piece. two different drill bits are used for the drilling operation.
Rabbet joinery:
The rabbet types of woodworking joints contain a recess cut into the edge of a wood piece. They are two-sided and an opening to the end of the surface when viewed in cross-section. The rabbet joint is found at the back edge of a cabinet which allows the back to fit flush with the sides.
Tongue and groove joint:
These popular types of woodworking joints are edge-to-edge joint. A one-piece that contains a slot (groove) is cut all along one edge and the other piece has a tongue cut on the mating edge. This result in fitting two or more pieces closely together. Tongue and groove joint is often used to make wide tabletops out of solid wood and can also be used in wood flooring, parquetry, panelling etc. the joint can be cut in numbers of way. This has been discussed in another article.
That’s it for this article “various types of woodworking joints”. I hope the knowledge is attained, if so, kindly commend and recommend our site to other technical students. Thanks!
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