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The concept of joinery is as old as recorded history. Furniture with hand-cut dovetail joints has been found entombed with the mummies dating back to ancient Egypt. Several thousand years later, dovetails are still being used today to fasten objects of wood.
The fact that there are thousands and thousands of pieces from 18th century still being used today shows just how durable good joinery can be. In these articles collected by the editors of Fine Woodworking magazine, you’ll learn how to use your hand and power tools to make tight joints that will help your furniture last for generations.
Learn the secrets to:
- Through Mortise and Tenon Joinery
- Slip Joints
- Through Dovetails
- Sliding Dovetails
- Wedged Mortise and Tenon Joinery
- Rabbets and Dadoes
- Testing (and fixing) Joints
You'll also learn about the machines and the math behind the joinery.
From the Introduction
You can have the most beautiful wood and lovely design, but without rock-solid joinery, your furniture won't hold up. Joinery holds the structure together and allows the piece to be used and even a bit abused. Take dining chairs, for example. Although they have four legs, your guests may occasionally test their structure by leaning back so that only two legs of the chair support their entire weight. If you haven't built your chair with sufficient joint strength, your diners could well end up on the floor in a heap of sticks.
The concept of joinery is as old as recorded history. Furniture with hand-cut dovetail joints has been found entombed with the mummies dating back to ancient Egypt. Several thousand years later, dovetails are still being used today to fasten objects of wood.
Fast forward to the 18th century, a period that is arguably the zenith of fine furniture making. The joints used – dovetails, mortise and tenons and edge joints, are still the most predominant joints used today. And there are thousands and thousands of pieces from that era still being used today.
While the tools may have changed in the last two centuries, the concepts have not. We know a little more about how wood behaves – cross grain joints, for example, are risky unless the parts are narrow – and we now have better glues. But for the most part, you can still build furniture using the exact joinery employed by craftsmen dating back to Colonial times. As long as they are properly executed, your pieces will last into the next generation and beyond.
The most essential factors to strong joints are dry wood and close tolerances.
Whether you cut mortise and tenon joints with hand tools or craft them with machines, the same rules apply. In this book of articles reprinted from Fine Woodworking magazine, you'll learn the secrets to tight fitting joints using both traditional and modern tools.
When you fit together a well-crafted joint, the experience is as satisfying as putting on a pair of well-designed leather gloves. And the pride you feel will the appreciated by those whose use your furniture and aren't relegated to a pratfall.
—Anatole Burkin, Editor-in-Chief |
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