Center for Furniture Craftsmanship

A housed stub tenon joint is used as a shelf joint or where the side of a carcase would meet the top. It is a strong joint that is invaluable for furniture making. This video will break down the steps and layout of making a housed stub tenon an easy and accurate joint to cut.

A finger joint, also called a box joint, is machine cut joint that generates a lot of long grain to long grain glue strength and is a quick joint to cut once the machine is set up. It can be tricky to get a perfectly tight joint, but this video gives the techniques to achieve great finger joints.

A carcase miter is a miter that has been cut on a box or case. This joint may be reinforced in a variety of ways, one of the most straight forward is using biscuits. A biscuit is like a little cookie made of compressed wood manufactured to be used in conjunction with a tool that cuts the slot for the biscuit called a biscuit joiner.

A rabbet is when the material at the edge of a board is removed, usually along the grain, but can also run along the end grain. Rabbets are often found in the back of a carcass to house a back panel and in door frames where glass may be inserted. Rabbets are also found on panels where the edges are removed to fit into a frame. This video covers the various scenarios and types of rabbets.

A carcase miter is a miter, a 45-degree joint usually, on a wide board that makes a carcase, as in a cabinet or case piece. The special aspect to using a miter in case construction is that it allows the grain to "wrap around" the piece.

A dado is a cross-grain cut in a board. Unlike a groove that runs with the grain, a dado runs perpendicular to the grain. As with grooves, a dado can be a through cut, or a stop cut in the board surface. Often in dado joinery there can be deeper mortises interspersed along the dado to increase glue surface and joint strength. Also, a dado can be the full width of the board (referred to as a housing) or it can be a simple tongue on the edge of a board that will fit into a smaller dado, creating a shoulder.

A sliding dovetail is a woodworking joint that allows two separate pieces to be slotted together without the need for glue or other fasteners. They are assembled by sliding the tail into the socket. Typically, sliding dovetail joints are used for shelf support or cabinet drawer construction. A sliding dovetail joint may look intimidating but, it’s relatively easy to cut.

A drop-in dovetail is a joint that is often at the top of a table when there is drawer at the front, connecting the legs. The reason for using a dovetail versus a tenon, is to provide a stronger mechanically locking joint where there is little space due to the other joints cut into thin stock such as legs.