CWG Library Item No. 110
 
Possibly THE most important task in woodworking is joinery - attaching one board to another. It can also be a thoroughly confusing task. There are countless woodworking joints - rabbets, dadoes, dovetails, mortises and tenons - which do you choose? How do you make it? In Joining Wood, author/craftsman Nick Engler simplifies this complex subject, showing how master woodworkers use good sense and a few elementary rules of thumb to produce strong, durable designs. He also demonstrates how to make dozens of popular woodworking joints, from a simple miter to an elegant through dovetail, using just five basic cuts! The techniques required to make each joint are clearly illustrated, step by step, in over 200 drawings and photographs. There are also plenty of shop-tested tips, ingenious jigs and fixtures, useful charts, and inside information to help hone your joinery skills.
More importantly, Joining Wood shows you practical applications for much of this valuable information. There are complete plans and instructions for popular projects that combine many of the joinery techniques explained in the text:
• A cabinetmaker's workbench joins a mortise-and-tenon frame to a butcher- block top to make a useful table that is a pleasure to look at and work on.
• A cut-off jig for your table saw makes it easy to cut precise, close-fitting joints.
• A country pewter rack is joined with simple dadoes and rabbets.
• A half-moon bench is assembled with traditional dovetails and wedged mortises and tenons.
• A miniature chest of drawers combines stopped grooves, lock joints, reinforced miters, and haunched mortises and tenons.

© Collins Woodworkers Guild