Thread: Joints in woodwork

The most common joints in furniture are:

1. mortice-and-tenon (frames)

chisel and hammer by hand; router, Festool Domino, biscuits or dowels by machine.


2. dovetails (drawers and carcases)

saw and chisels by hand; dovetail jig plus router by machine.


3. rebates (panels glued, screwed or nailed into carcases):

rebate plane by hand; router or tablesaw by machine.


Regards from Perth

Derek

Welcome mate. What joints to use really depends ... I recently made a mantle and mitred the returns (wrap around mantle for a kitchen's chimney breast) ... these types of things can be very hard to glue up securely, due to being large sections (250mm wide material) and mitres, which are known for slipping badly under pressure.

Anyway, the device I used to ensure this went to plan, was a Bosch biscuit jointer. These are excellent when seeking to align the boards for table tops etc.

On doweling jigs: I always struggled to get the buggers to line up correctly but that has more to do with my accuracy than anything else I reckon.

The one thing I'd urge you to do, is to always buy the best tools you can and look after them. It's just too embarrassing if there's GMC and Ozito crap laying around when the ambos arrive after you hurt yourself

Derek has covered it well.

I would suggest having a go at hand cutting some mortise and tenon joints, and maybe even some dovetails, before you go buying jigs etc. It's a good skill to have and helps better understand how the joints work.

Good luck mate and welcome to the addiction that is woodworking. There are heaps of good joinery books that can be found online. Websites such as Book Depository are good. Cheers.

Find some woodworking books that explain joints, how to cut them and where to use them. A google search will turn up old woodworking books that can be downloaded free. Your local library should also have some. A few practice joints and you should be good to go.
Dowel jigs and biscuit joiners sort of do the job but a good mortise and tenon joint is stronger. The other downside is you will be less inclined to learn real joinery if you have them. I hear good things about the domino machines (I may even get one) making good joints but again will you learn to hand cut a joint if you have one of those. As NZStu said being able to cut joints is a good skill to have.
That said however you want to get the end result is up to you.
Regards
John

Welcome to the Forum, coq.

Most of us started with power tools and then progressively use hand tools more and more. The are simply nicer to use. No noise, no vibration, fewer risks and much less dust.

Joints essentially rely on accurate cutting for their strength and appearance. You can cut to the line, as most experienced ww's do, or you can cut near the line and then pare to the line with a chisel. As your skills and confidence increase you will increasingly cut closer to the line and thus need less paring.

Japanese saws tend to cut faster and finer than their western equivalents but they do require a little more practice because they cut on the pull stroke. Tage Frid, an excellent writer, advocates doing fifty practice cuts with a new saw until you achieve accuracy! For joints I like dozuki saws.
https://www.carbatec.com.au/handtool...SizeProduct=12


Cheers

Graeme

Welcome to the forum coq.

Originally Posted by cog

Hi everyone, I am a builder but very much new to woodworking, but plan to try and learn a bit more this year. My question is when making items what are good alround joints to use, any ideas on jigs etc. I realise that some joints are suited for certain purposes and I will have to eventually know many, but for the moment should I be buying a dowel jig, biscuit joiner etc.
Any advice would be helpful.

For now forget about what jig, tool or devise you might need to create a functioning joint and buy yourself a copy of Illustrated Cabinetmaking by Bill Hylton.

I can't think of a better first reference. These images will give you an idea of what's inside
http://www.leevalley.com/en/images/item/Woodworking/Books/49L5057v1.jpg
http://www.leevalley.com/en/images/item/Woodworking/Books/49L5057v2.jpg
http://www.leevalley.com/en/images/i.../49L5057v3.jpg
http://www.leevalley.com/en/images/i.../49L5057v4.jpg

I would recommend Pocket Hole joinery.It is fast,accurate and versatile."Kreg" make and market these jigs in Aus.Carbatec are the agents.The Kreg website has D.I.Y.videos and plans on site.
Drammy

Book that I like "The Complete Guide to Joint Making" by John Bullar.
ISBN 978-1-86108-878-9