Joints

 

The basic mortise and tenon comprises two components: the mortise hole and the tenon. The tenon is cut to fit the mortise hole exactly and usually has shoulders that seat when the joint fully enters the mortise hole. The joint may be glued, pinned, or wedged to lock it in place.

 

 

 

The wooden dowel rod used in woodworking applications is commonly cut into dowel pins, which are used to reinforce joints. Dowel-based joinery typically uses fluted dowel pins. A fluted dowel pin has a series of parallel grooves cut along its length. The fluting provides channels through which excess glue can escape as the dowel is inserted, thereby relieving the hydraulic pressure that might otherwise split the timber when the mating pieces are clamped together.

 

Dovetail joint is a joint most commonly used in woodworking joinery. 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 to extend from the end of one board interlock with a series of tails cut into the end of another board. The pins and tails have a trapezoidal shape. Once glued, a wooden dovetail joint requires no mechanical fasteners.

A half lap joint or a halving joint is a technique of joining two pieces of material together by overlapping them. A lap may be a full lap or half lap. In a full lap, no material is removed from either of the members to be joined, resulting in a joint which is the combined thickness of the two members.

A finger joint is a joint made by cutting a set of complementary rectangular cuts in two pieces of wood, which are then glued. It is stronger than a butt or lap joint, and often contributes to the aesthetics of the piece. Alternate names include box-pin joint or box joint.