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Wood Joinery Techniques





Corbel Furniture Bracket

Corbel Furniture Bracket


Corbel Brackets:


A corbel bracket is a triangular bracket that holds up a protruding horizontal surface against a vertical surface. It braces a horizontal protruding surface against the vertical side beneath. The triangular shape distributes weight across the horizontal top and down the vertical side. Note the squared 90 degree angle where the top of the corbel bracket meets the corner of the bracket that attaches to the side of the furniture.

They redirect weight to add tension to the strongest parts of furniture and relieve parts that are not made to hold weight. Protruding horizontal surfaces have the least support at their outermost edge, so it presses down and in from that edge.

Corbel construction has been a part of the Arts and Crafts style of furniture woodworking since the 1800s that contribute to the style as well as structural integrity. Corbel brackets not only hold a piece of furniture together better, but also improves its longevity, the wood structural integrity, increasing the lifespan of the furniture. Occasionally they are decorative, but still contribute to the lasting quality of the furniture. Its a common yet underappreciated wood joinery technique of Mission Craftsman type furniture.






Dovetail Joint

Dovetail Joint


Dovetail Joinery:


A Dovetail joint is used to join the ends of two boards at right angels to each other. If you put your hands together with your fingers meshing at the knuckles, you will more or less have a dovetail joint. The dovetail joint is the strongest of all joints used in cabinet-making. Dovetails are often used when it will add to value to the furniture's construction. All dovetails are fully dovetailed ---The fronts are actually dovetailed into the sides, not merely attached to a dovetailed drawer box. The parting rails which separate the drawers from one another at both the front and back of each piece are dovetailed into the sides.







Mortise and Tenon Joint

Mortise and Tenon Joint



Mortise and Tenon Joinery:

The Mortise-and-Tenon is one of the best joints for building furniture because of its superior strength. Its primary function in Craftsman furniture is to join the major frame of each piece (legs to rails, slats to rails, and stretchers to rails). A variety of mortise-and tenon joints exist in furniture, including keyed, doweled, blind, and doweled through. Each variation uses the basic mortise-and-tenon form.

Beveling - Through tenon ends are beveled to prevent splitting and to cut down the visual harshness of the tenon's projection.

Dowels - Many types of joints are strengthened by the insertion of dowels. The dowel strengthens the mortise-and-tenon joint (pegged mortise-and-tenon) and to butt-join larger pieces edge to edge.

In the pegged mortise-and-tenon joint, the dowel passes through both the mortise and the tenon, preventing the tenon from backing out of its mortise. Doweling (pegging) adds strength to stress points in the furniture. On cabinet doors, for example, the vertical and horizontal members fit together with a mortise-and-tenon joinery, the pieces are joined, glued, clamped, and finally a hole is drilled through the joint, and a peg of matching wood is dipped in hot glue and driven securely into the hole.







Butt Joint

Butt Joint



Butt Joints:

The Butt Joint joins two pieces edge-to-edge. This craftsman technique or finger joinery is used depending upon thickness of the piece for tabletops, wide shelves, and sides. With this method, two piece of stock are lined up edge-to-edge, equal size holes are drilled on the sides facing each other, then using the holes to hold as connection points, dowels are inserted to strengthen the bond as the boards are glued together to form the larger surface.





Mortise and Tenon, Dovetail, Butt joints & more

Most Wood Joinery Styles







SFC: Sustainable Furniture Council

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