Discuss various kinds of joints in joinery.

It is crucial to understand and identify various kinds of joints and their uses when it comes to carpentry. Joints are used to amalgamate pieces of wood or lumber together to produce more intricate wood-based products. According to David R. Bates (1982), a variety of lapped joints are applied, both in joinery and in construction. Lapped joints are advantageous for carpenters as they are made easily in a quick manner. Besides the advantages mentioned above, they have good resistance towards constrictive stress, and resistance to flexible and warping pressures is only fair. Lapped joints that are made with a longer lap, give more room leading to the joint being held in place firmly. This allows them to have an increase in resistance to tensile stress. Pg 54 R. Bates, also mentions in his book, that lapped dovetails are attached to Common or through dovetails. This is explained as being used for a drawer, and shown as connecting the front and sides of the drawer altogether. According to the author, the component which will have the dovetail joint cut will usually be thinner than the common dovetail. The lapped dovetail joint is an immensely practical joint when being faced with the situation of having an undesirability to show the end grain on the face of the wood-based product. Pg 60 The following names are the authors of “The Woodworkers Handbook” are, P. Metcalfe, M. Farrow, G. Jackson, D. Mackay, S. Newton, A. Smith, and A. Thompson (1984). In consonance with the authors, there are quite a few varieties of halving joints. Even though there are variations, they always consist of having half the thickness of the material cut away, from each component. This is done so that, the joints become connected flush (term/jargon for two facets adjoined immaculately flat to each other). They are beneficial due to their easy and quick manufacturing, plus, there are times when they ensure the same suitability, as more complicated joints. Halved joints are always lapped, on-the-other-hand, lapped joints aren’t always halved. Pg 112 Mortise and tenon joints are considered to be the sturdiest of methods of joining the ends of timber to the edges of others. This is also mentioned by the same authors of “The Woodworkers Handbook”. This type of joint is made by, cutting a hole in the shape of a rectangle into the edge of a plank or where ever the joint will be needed to be implied; then a separate piece of timber, which will have what we call a tenon, is cut around the timber. The tenon is then inserted into the mortise and tightened by hammering two pieces of wedges into the end of the tenon. This is done to expand the tenon leading to the joint becoming securely in place.