How To Make Wood Joints

If you are willing to learn how to make wood joints, then I’d like to congratulate you for the deep passion and enthusiasm you carry in your veins as a woodworker!
It has been several years ago when I took the first leap towards making wood joints. Indeed, the process takes a lot of efforts, willingness to swallow the trials and errors, and nevertheless – a genuine desire to become better with all things woodworking related.
The good news is that nobody gets born a perfect wood joints master. One of the most important things you need to remember is that you can’t make it without constantly upgrading your arsenal of tools. Plus, the more you practice, the sweeter the rewards.
Check out the tutorial we have compiled for you. We will go through the simplest but most popular types of wood joints. We are listing the essential tips you want to know in order to pick and make the most suitable joints for your next DIY masterpiece.
Read More: How To's, Techniques and Tips [List 1]
- How To Stop Sap Coming Out Of Wood
- How To Seal Wood Without Changing Color
- How to Make Cardboard Hard Like Wood
- How To Round Wood Edges Without Router
- How to Bend Wood Without Steam
- How to Transition Between Two Different Wood Floors
- How To Make Wood Drawers Slide Easier
- How To Stencil On Wood Without Bleeding
- How to Flatten a Workbench
- How To Make a Wood Table Top Smooth
- How To Age Wood With Baking Soda
- How to Whitewash Dark Wood Furniture
- How To Make Slime With Wood Glue
- How to Burn Wood with Electricity
- How To Apply Water Based Polyurethane To Wood Floors
Read More: How To's On Joints, Inlaying and Connecting [List 1]
- How to Glue Boards Together For a Table Top
- How to Connect 2 x 4 Side by Side
- How To Attach Wood To Brick
- How to Wrap a Beam with Wood
- How to Make a Perfect Dovetail Every time
- How to Do Wood Inlay
- How to Glue Felt to Wood
- How To Attach Bottle Caps To Wood
- How To Attach Wood To Metal
- How to Inlay Metal Into Wood
- How To Inlay Turquoise In Wood
- How to Join Two Pieces of Wood At 90 Degrees
- How to Join 2x4 at Corner
Read More: How To's & Woodworking Techniques [List 1]
What You Will Need To Follow This Tutorial
Mind that you will not need all of these tools in order to make wood joints. However, as the different types of wood joints will require different instruments, we are compiling all of these in the neat cheat sheet below.
- Screws/nails
- Glue
- Biscuit joiner (aka Plate joiner)
- Dowel kit
- Mitre biscuit jig
- Dowel mitre
- Speed square/ Combination square
- Mitre saw
- Table saw
- Router table
- Route cutter
- Marking gauge
- Chisel
- Mallet
- Marking knife
- Pencil
- G Clamp
- F Clamp
Quick Pro Tip
In order to master joinery techniques, you need to focus on planning and researching properly. Does this sound way too fluffy? Maybe. But the truth is, taking the time to research and pick the most suitable joinery techniques for your project makes the biggest difference between amateurs and pros.
Step by Step Instructions for Making Wood Joints
1 – Butt Joints

Image Credit: woodworkingempire.com
Read More: How To's & Woodworking Techniques [List 2]
- Usage: Frames for cabinets; door frames
- Difficulty: Easy (butt joints are among the simplest wood joints you can make)
- Strength: Weak
- Tools you will need: Glue, nails/screws
Tips for making butt joints:
- use long screws to increase the lateral strength
- use a Biscuit joiner or a Dowel kit to reinforce butt joints and make them more durable and stronger (in such case you will create the so-called Dowel joints and/or Biscuit joints)
- insert the butt joints through pocket holes to make the joinery invisible on the outside
2 – Mitre Joints

Image Credit: startwoodworking.com

MUST SEE: Make 16,000 Projects With Step By Step Plans
Ted's Woodworking Plans contains complete instructions from start to finish, leaving absolutely no guesswork. Here is what you get:
- Step-By-Step Instructions
- Cutting & Materials List
- Detailed Schematics
- Views From All Angles
- Suitable For Beginners & Professionals
Read More: How To's, Techniques and Tips [List 2]
- How to Remove Nails From Wood
- How to Resharpen a Japanese Ryoba’s Rip Teeth
- How to Sharpen Woodworking Tools
- How to Whitewash Pine Wood
- How To Modge Podge Pictures To Wood
- How To Apply Shellac To Wood
- How To Take Apart A Wood Pallet
- How To Install A Wood Accent Wall
- How to Do String Art on Wood
- How to Remove a Stripped Screw from Wood
- How To Upgrade Wood Frame
- How to Get Nails Out of Wood
- How to Refinish a Wood Table
- How To Make Vinyl Letters Stick To Wood
- How To Measure A Cord Of Wood
Read More: How To's On Joints, Inlaying and Connecting [List 2]
- How to Join Two Boards Lengthwise
- How To Join Two Wood Pieces With Screws
- How to Join Two Boards Side By Side
- How to Make a Dovetail Joint
- How to Make a Mortise and Tenon Joint the Easy Way
- How To Join Two Pieces of Wood at Right Angles
- How To Edge Join Boards With Kreg Jig
- How To Join Wood Corners
- How To Join Two Wood Pieces End To End
- How To Make Wood Joints
- How To Join Two Pieces of Wood at a 45 Degree Angle
- How To Join Wood Planks for Table Top
- Usage: Moulded frames around doorways and/or windows; picture frames
- Difficulty: Easy to intermediate
- Strength: Weak
- Tools you will need: Mitre saw/table saw, measuring tool; Dowel mitre/Mitre biscuit joint
Tips for making Mitre joints:
- the 45 degree is your top target when making Mitre joints. Even a small degree of error (such as cutting at 45.2 degrees) can spell disaster so be calm and precise
- you can strengthen Mitre joints with the help of dowels, biscuits or splines
3 – Half Lap Joints

Image Credit: woodworkersjournal.com
Half Lap Joints are also known as Halving, Lapped or Halved joints.
Read More: How To's, Techniques and Tips [List 3]
- How To Start A Fire With Wet Wood
- How To Stencil On Wood
- How to Finish Wood With Polyurethane
- How to Refinish Wood Dresser
- How To Age Wood Grey
- How To Apply Gold Leaf To Wood
- How To Apply Polyurethane To Wood
- How To Bend Wood With Water
- How to Burn Designs Into Wood
- How to Carve a Face In Wood
- How to Carve Wood By Hand
- How To Replace Wood Siding
- How To Split Wood With A Wedge
- How To Transfer Pictures To Wood
- How To Treat Pallet Wood For Indoor Use
Read More: How To's & Woodworking Techniques [List 3]
- How To Sand Wood
- How To Season Wood
- How To Spray Paint Wood
- How To Stack Wood
- How To Stain And Seal Wood
- How To Stain Wood
- How to Carve Wood
- How to Hand Plane Wood
- How to Paint Wood
- How to Cure Wood
- How to Petrify Wood
- How to Pickle Wood
- How to Preserve Wood
- How To Screw Into Wood
- How To Split Wood
- How to Find Wood Studs
- Usage: Half lap joints provide a 2 strong surface of the join
- Difficulty: Easy to Intermediate
- Strength: Weak to medium
- Tools you will need: router cutter, router table, router, rule, marking knife, pencil, F clamp and G clamp, mallet, chisel, square, bench hook, marking gauge, saw
Tips for making Half Lap Joints:
- it’s crucial to saw cuts perfectly inside the lines. Doing so will help you to finish exactly on the line with a chisel
- you can screw or nail Half Lap joints for extra strength
While we focused on some of the easiest and most commonly spread types of wood joints, there is much more to explore when it comes to timber joinery techniques. Even though these are only the basic woodworking joints, you will most certainly need them in your life as a woodworker.
If you want to find out more about the strongest wood joints, then you need to get familiar with Dovetail Joints.
Did you learn something useful from this article? Your support keeps us going! We’d love to see your thumbs ups and shares to help us spread the good vibes. Don’t be shy and join us in the comment section below at any time.