9 Essential Woodworking Joints – WOOD magazine
9 Essential Woodworking Joints – WOOD magazine
Learn 9 essential woodworking joints that give longevity to your project. WOOD magazine’s Craig Ruegsegger covers topics such as biscuit joints, dado and groove joints, mitered joints, pocket screw joints, rabbet joints, screw joints, spline and glue joints. Learn which methods are best for your project and how to create them.
Does it look like you’re missing some videos in your playlist? If you see a gray Private window, don’t worry, you haven’t missed a thing. In fact you should be excited because that tells you we have more videos to come in the weeks to follow. I could tell you the titles but that would ruin the surprise. Thanks for watching and enjoy – now go make something!
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if I am making a frame I always cut the mitered joints in pairs works for me
Great video. Even though it’s over 90 minutes it didn’t seem to drag.
God I hate school
Thank you for this great presentation with lot of tips in detail!!
Thanks for this. Lots of useful techniques here!
Details worth mention: 1:08 a "Screw Joint" is often called a "Butt Joint" or "Flat Connection", since one piece of wood *sits* flat against another, without cutting any sort of notch or support into the wood. This joint may be an "L" shaped corner as shown at 1:04 (best to have the horizontal piece sit on TOP of vertical board, to support weight and not slip/break) or you can make "T" shape as shown 1:08 if the joint does not need to support much weight.
The "butt joint" is super-simple, yet you still want to understand it well, so you don’t cause problems, and are happy with the results. The wood connection may use screws (as shown), wood dowels (glued or friction fit), metal pins (like some book shelves), metal "L" brackets (not pretty, but easy for repair) or by adding corner piece(s) to keep the boards in place.
The "butt joint" has some disadvantages: (1) It is NOT very strong. Any weight/stress on joint pushes *only* on your fasteners (screws in this example) so this type of joint is not strong, and a shelf of this type may fall down if the screws/fasteners come loose, snap, or if the wood splits near the screw holes. When talking about this type of joint, the piece of wood you *see* (where a screw head will sit) is the "face board", and the piece of wood underneath, where the screw *threads* will be is the "base piece".
1:18 Nice Cut-away demonstration piece… Most people will *not* have a tapered/shaped drill bit to make pilot holes; but drilling these correctly is VERY important, to make butt-joints work well, and allow a screw to hold things securely. Drill the hole into your *base* piece using a drill bit that is just a little bit *smaller* diameter than your screw, so the threads will grab/bite the sides of that hole securely. If the drill bit is the same size as your screw, then threads don’t have anything much to hold on to, and can come apart, by pulling back out of the hole. Also, drill the hole into your base piece a little bit short/shallow, so the very tip of your screw grabs directly into solid wood. (not extra deep like 8:36, unless using *long* 2in/5cm screws)
This will make sure your screw holds as tightly as possible, and you can even feel how it needs a little more twist/torque when a screw goes that last few turns.
Notice at 2:05, the "production screw" does not have much thread bite near the head (where it is near your "face board") so this allows threads closer to the tip to grab/bite in the 2nd underlying base wood, and pull the wood/joint together tightly without binding in the face board. For people who don’t have this type of "production screw", it’s best to drill the pilot hole in your "face board" with a slightly larger drill bit, that is about the same diameter as your screw. This way, the screw goes through the face board easier without binding, then threads grab the base piece securely and "pull" the wood joint tightly together.
Note: Some beginners try using only glue to attach the wood. Don’t rely on glue alone!
Over time the glue will dry out *and* the wood will dry too… Because of this, the wood shrinks a little and breaks the glue connection, causing your joint to fail, which will drop your shelf (and break what ever is sitting on it)
2:26 When adding a "counter sink" to your face piece, be careful not to drill too deep… If you are using a power drill like 7:19, sometimes the drill bit will suddenly grab into the wood, and go deeper than you wanted. If you are a beginner, practice making 5-10 counter sink holes in scrap wood, before working on your nice finish piece. If you are using bevel-head screws that you want to be flush/level in pine or soft wood, then you often do *not* need to drill counter sink at all… As you tighten the screw, the beveled head will force/wedge its way into the wood on the last three turns, and make its own counter sink: No extra drilling required. For hardwoods like walnut or oak, you would need to drill a counter sink… or if using a "counter bore" (as shown near 3:15) so head of screws are inset, and covered later with wood plugs. When covering screws with wood plugs ( 3:55 and 12:26 ) notice that there is at least 1/8" or 3mm of countersink hole left above the screw head, so the plug or dowel has enough space to glue in, and not wiggle loose later. Be sure your counter sink holes do *not* go too deep, which will weaken your face board near the screw, because a deep hole leaves thinner wood, which may crack near your screw.
2:45 If you are going to make hundreds of pilot holes for screws, then this taper shaped bit can be good to purchase, and makes it quick/simple to drill a perfect pilot hole with counter sink. Most beginners and home hobby woodworkers, do not have these, since they can be expensive. There are several shape/tapered counter sink bits, or even cheaper "flat bits" for pilot holes.
9:20 There *is* some skill/control/technique for installing the screws themselves… Notice in this video, when the screw goes all the way in, the drill makes a "clicking noise". This is because Craig’s drill has a "torque limiter" setting, which prevents the drill from over tightening the screw… which would tear out the wood threads, mess up the screw heads, or deform the tip of a screw-driver drill bit. Many drills do not have that torque limiter setting… or it may be set too high/strong, even if you have one… For beginners it is better to use a manual/hand screwdriver for the first 10-20 screws, rather than a screwdriver bit in an electric drill.
(1) You are less likely to "strip out" threads/hole with a hand screwdriver, because it takes 40 seconds to install the screw, rather than 1.5 seconds.
(2) You learn how much twist/torque is needed to properly insert the wood screws without tearing up the wood.
(3) You are much less likely to slip and poke a screwdriver into your finger. (ouch) I’ve seen that happen a dozen times…
(4) You develop skills & reflexes that will make using the drill much more accurate later.
(5) You can allow your kids to use manual screwdrivers more safely, and "help" build with wood. For children as young as five, this gives some good "family project" time, which builds "can do" confidence, planning skills, 3-dimensional thinking, problem solving, self reliance, patience (while glue dries), imagination (for their own project ideas) and lets them see that "helping mom and dad" with wood working might be *fun* or let them build something from their own ideas… Woodworking can teach kids to "THINK outside the box"… "about the box"… "on *top* of the box" (reach upper cabinets, or change light bulbs)… "how to make *better* boxes" (shelves, cubbies, containers, bins, storage)… "where the box comes from"… "what to *do* with the box" (don’t trap little brother)… "how to make the box pretty" (paint, designs, poly)… "what to put *in* the box" (clean up your room)… "mount boxes on the wall" (secure mount into studs, of course)… "*moving* boxes" (add wheels, garden cart, toy wagon, kiddie car)… small *house* boxes (for the birds)… boxes up *high* (ceiling storage in garage)… boxes down *low* (extra clothes under bed)… baby boxes (high chair)… *bigger* boxes (race-car bed frame)… pet boxes (dog house)… jack-in-the boxes… toy boxes… *hidden* boxes ( storage under stairs)… planter boxes… Creativity is a Good Thing.
This description only covers the simplest "but joint", and first 15 minutes of Craig’s video. I may come back later to add comments about other techniques in his video. Even with this one simple type of joint, you can see that there are many things to learn, and several ways to get things done, even with basic woodworking. You can start with simple projects and a few basic tools, have some success, and figure out even better ways to design & build projects later. Good Luck -have fun -and keep building !
Great demonstration this will help many people. Great work young man God Bless.👍🙏
lmao sa
Excellent video. Methodology clearly and concisely explained and demonstrated. A must for noobies like myself.
This is an outstanding video that is detailed and comprehensive and leaves out no detail. It is incredibly difficult to find videos online of this level of detail, instruction and breadth.
He reminds me of my shop teacher in High School. Mr. E. really knew his way around wood and woodworking and was really good at explaining the obvious stuff we were going to miss. I learned a lot from him, and just now, relearned a few things from this video. well done!
Most informative and exquisitely done! Thank you
can somebody please tell me what the 9 joints are i dont wanna watch the whole hour video
Great work.
Wow this is so detailed and amazing; all the stuff I wanted to know
Where are you safety glasses?
Why not just use a counter sink bit ?
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One and half hour of pure knowledge . well explained and well demonstrated . this video will be saved for future reference thank you
Talk about your comprehensive tutorial. Thank you kind sir.
Excellent video, very well done. Thank you.
Hi, I would like to introduce you to this excellent product, the product is very useful for carpenters, I recommend the saw six
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Curious what type of table saw you use in the video. Excellent work!
Very Nice. Thank you
Ery well explained and demonstrated!. Clear and to the point. Thanks
Great craftsmanship.
That would suck to have to look all over the shop for one of your glue spreaders lol
oolrait 5555th like!
Very good now do it with out the fancy machines that a lot of us dont have but still manage basic woodwork
When doing searches for Button Plugs, Do Not let autocorrect mess you up, and leave off, or add a space on th "ON" …. Totally different search results!
thx ,easy to understand for Indonesian 🙏
One of the best presenters on woodworking on YouTube
I am really learning so much with this video!!!
Great video! Thanks for sharing! Very informative!!
Hi Craig, this is by far the best tutorial i ever followed on jointing, many thanks for the generosity, your experience and proven trainer skills. I’ll follow your channel for all your videos from France.
I thought he said butt plugs
To the advertisers that put in unskippable ads… I will NEVER buy your products
24:34 rip edges for glue.
50:50 slot cutting bit for router
1:04:25 Rabbeting router bit
https://youtu.be/yEfRJ8bRxSA
Thanks for the informative video. Just one question though. The vast majority of home, DIY’ers , do NOT own the vast array of industrial, mechanised tools that you are using! So, what does the average, home carpenter do to make these various joints, in the absence of all the machinery that you use?
Awesome video, unfortunately you must have forgotten about the SAFETY FIRST.
Where are your Safety Glasses??
Question about dados and grooves. If you’re using MDF or something similar, what would be the correct term. Not super important, but I am curious. I’m a complete novice, and am trying to learn.
I must say this has been the most informative & coolest hour and half I’ve spent in a long time.
I’ve been a framing carpenter for way more then twenty years & I’m now looking to get more into this side of woodworking. Thank you very much. ps thanks for the demonstration of glue strength, I would have had a hard time believing glue was that strong.
Jos lurr
Excellent video, I feel the need to get back in the workshop and get busy, also learned a lot thank you.
Great tutorial for learning about different types of joints. Still wondering about when to use one or another. Seems one criteria may be aesthetics (e.g. no screws). Another may be strength required. I feel traditional construction relies more on dados, grooves, rabbets, biscuits, half-laps rather than screws. Curious to hear perspectives from seasoned woodworkers here…
Antique doors can be repaired because the glue ISN’T stronger than the wood. You can whack it apart with a hammer and replace the rotten pieces without damaging the good wood. Modern glue? Forget it.
Excellent video and demonstration. Great information. Great tips. Thank you for sharing.
Bull Shi👁🐒t
Nossa muito bom, eles ensina direitinho