Different types of joinery?

[Brandyn Melton]

Hello everyone. I hope everyone is ready for the holidays. My name is brandyn and am new to woodworking. I consider myself a begginer DIYer. I am an electrician by trade and love working with my hands. I recently bought my first kreg jig and absolutely love it. I've only finished a couple of projects but always looking for new ones. I know the kreg jig can eliminate alot of problems with joining wood but there some times when the kreg jig wont work. If anyone could tell me some books or websites that I could check out to learn different types of joinery I would really appreciate it. Also what are the main types of tools I would need to have an well rounded shop? Right now I have a 10 in table saw, 10 in sliding compound miter saw and drill press. Thanks and happy holidays!

[justin waldron]

Brandyn,  I'd say that you'd need a biscuit joiner for when you don't want to have exposed screws or don't want to fill them.  The one that I have is a Porter Cable, (Grizzly has them on sale right now) and they cut slots for a biscuit that expands with glue.  One of the oldest forms of joinery is the Mortise and Tenon joint, (which can be done by hand), there are mortising machines that can chisel your mortise for you etc.  There are tons of things out there to joint wood, but I would definately say the KREGJIG is a great start and a biscuit cutter would be a great addition.  There are projects where you could certainly use both.  If you look at my page at my photos you will see several different types of joints there as well.  Good luck!!

[Mike McGuire]

Hi Brandon,

I am not a beginner but I am certainly not as experienced as some of the guys in this community.  Add a router to your list.  Since I got mine, I have been able to a lot of different kinds of joinery and details.  On my wish list is a band saw which looking at the pictures in here so many guys use to create added details on their work.

 

As far as joinery, I am self taught.  Early on I bought a lot of DVD's on the subject and to some extent I still do.  Fine WoodWorking Magazine has a bunch that are pretty good.  There are also a lot of free videos on You Tube but be careful with those ones, I have found that some of them demonstrate things using very poor safety practices.  But they will all give you ideas and then take it from there.  Good luck.

[Kerry Drake]

Go to the www.thewoodwhisperer.com or www.newtowoodworking.com and become glued to your computer for next 3 days....

[Robert J Guidry Sr]

Subscribe to woodworking magazines for ideas.  Wood, Woodworkers Journal, Woodsmith, etc.  It is hard to tell you what tools you need, not knowing your budget or exactly what you want to do.  There are some good recommendations made so far, but you will want some hand tools, chisels, planes, saws just to name a few.  On joinery you may want to look at a dovetail joiner.  The list is never ending.

[wallace freeman]

welcome to Kreg's community.  The Kreg jig seems to be the easiest and quickest way to do the joinery work, but there are other old time and tested ways.  The bisquets, dowels, glued miter joints.  Just go on line and google "joinery" or "woodworking"  and you will get a start to information that will help.  You may want to consider getting a Router,  dovetail jig, a good circular saw, and etc. the list is endless but fun to work on filling and accumulating different tools as you grow in woodworking.  Good luck and keep your JIG up. Wallace 

[Wayne Kivi]

If you're looking for woodworking books, try Amazon.com and look into "used" books on woodworking. They can be bought for $2-$10 and are usully in very good condition. 

justin waldron said:

Brandyn,  I'd say that you'd need a biscuit joiner for when you don't want to have exposed screws or don't want to fill them.  The one that I have is a Porter Cable, (Grizzly has them on sale right now) and they cut slots for a biscuit that expands with glue.  One of the oldest forms of joinery is the Mortise and Tenon joint, (which can be done by hand), there are mortising machines that can chisel your mortise for you etc.  There are tons of things out there to joint wood, but I would definately say the KREGJIG is a great start and a biscuit cutter would be a great addition.  There are projects where you could certainly use both.  If you look at my page at my photos you will see several different types of joints there as well.  Good luck!!

[Charles Andrews]

Buy Woodsmith magazine.  No advertisements and lots of projects plus tips and how to dos.  I can't count the number of things I have learned from the magazine.

[Jack]

Hello Brandyn:

Let me add my 2 cents. I'm a woodworking hobbyist. I've been producing sawdust for  30ish years, but it still takes me 10 times longer to do anything then a professional needs.

Every thing stated here so far is good info, I've used all these methods of connecting. Just 2 additional methods that haven't been covered yet.

Where a tendon/mortise is prefered you can use dowels instead. Layout of the 2 peices perfectly can be a bear, but there are are cheap layout aids/jigs. With a bit of practice and an investment of a few bucks you can get a joint that rivels (but not quite as strong) a full blown mortise and tenden.

The other method is the floating tendon, Where you use a jig simular to a kreg jig to drill 5 or 6 holes and insert a matching piece of hardwood in each side. Initial investment for me was $40ish bucks. Balance that cost agains the German diamond shaped floating tendon cuter at $800+.

One other gem, before you  buy any expensive tools, do you research, learn the good from the bad and spend a few saturdays yardsaling. I'll bet you'll find a dozen barely used routhers at least.

[Lee Walker]

Welcome abord Brandyn.  I don't know what your budjet is, but I would assume you need to take it kinda easy to begin with.  Here are a few suggestions for you  to consider in the order of importance (in my openion).  A measureing tape, a carpenters square, a speed square, a hand saw, a Japanise pull saw, (cuts in the pull direction), an assortment of small tools screw drivers, chisels, a hammer, glue (I like titebond), sand paper.  Now as for power tools, the ones mentioned plus a cordless screwdriver, jig saw, an orbital sander, grinder, and maybe a lathe.  When you have acquired all of this stuff you will have a pretty nice equipped shop. Don't get worried at this point. Usually it takes years to acquire all of this. Just get it as you can afford it and as your projects warent it.

 

Now I would like to suggest the small worrkbench from the plans offered on this site.  You can build it with the tools you now have and won't need to buy more. Also as you find things to build, look over the plans, sometimes they will tell you what tools are needed to build the item.   Usually simple plans don;t need many tools.