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.