4 types of wood joints every woodworker should know

A BeadLock jig facilitates drilling mortises in adjoining parts, again using only a drill. The basic kit is around $90. This is one of many “loose tenon” systems. Instead of the tenon being cut from one of the adjoining parts, precut tenon stock is glued into a mortise in both parts. BeadLock mortises are just a series of overlapping holes, and the tenon stock looks like a stack of dowels. You can buy tenon stock, or you can buy router bits to make your own tenon stock as needed. But you’ll need a router table for that, and it’s a bit fussy.

Pros

Easy to use

Positive alignment in both directions

Cons

Slow

Requires clamping

Sawdust sticks in the holes

Jig is not self clamping

Mark the joint centre line on both parts, position the jig using its alignment guide and then clamp the jig in place. Drill the first set of holes, slide the drilling block to its second position and drill the second set of holes. Repeat the process on the mating part.

Apply glue to the mating parts and the BeadLock tenon. Press the joint together and clamp.

We made L-joints using red oak with all four of these joinery methods. Then, we applied increasing pressure with a turnbuckle and measured the failure point with a scale. While admittedly not very scientific, the results were interesting. And it’s always fun to break things!

All of these methods are plenty strong for typical woodworking uses. There’s no reason to have all of them. One or two will handle almost any joinery situation.

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Source: Family Handyman