How to Make Basic Woodworking Joinery

Most woodworking projects involve 90-degree angles. The challenge with making 90-degree angles work is that you need to work against the grain when trying to attach the two pieces together securely. You can accomplish this task using screws, but you can use other basic woodworking joinery techniques instead to make your finished product look much nicer.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Use a hand-held power tool called a plate joiner to cut matching slots into the two boards you'd like to join. You'll have a total of four slots, with two on each board. Shove a biscuit-shaped wood disc called a gluin into the two slots. Attach the boards together, and this joinery is called biscuit joinery.

2. Cut a square groove along the edge of one piece of the two pieces of wood you'd like to join with a router. This cut allows one piece of wood to smoothly fit into another to create a nice finish. Glue the two pieces of wood together. This basic woodworking joinery is called a rabbet and it works because it offers more gluing surface than you'd get simply gluing the ends of two pieces of wood together.

3. Join shelves to the side of a bookcase with basic woodworking joinery technique called a dado joinery. This technique involves using a router to cut across the grain of one piece of wood. The other pieces slides into the groove and is secured with clue.

4. Put in drawer bottoms and cabinet backs with a technique referred to as groove joinery. This technique is similar to dado joinery except instead of cutting against the grain, you'll be using a router to cut with the grain.

Tips & Warnings

• Wood shrinks and expands with the changing seasons. Take this into account when making basic woodworking joinery.
• Wear safety glasses and follow all safety guidelines when using woodworking tools.