How Does Joinery Work?
Joinery is part of fine woodworking and lets remodellers create lovely items from wood. So does carpentry, you might think, but joinery uses methods that don't place a nail head in the middle of a wood-grain pattern. Joinery is used for cabinet fronts and other wood items that carry cosmetic value in kitchens, bathrooms and additional areas. If your home is undergoing a remodel, joiners, not carpenters, will produce these pieces.
Self-Locking Features
Some joints created in joinery have features that essentially self-lock. The through-dovetail joint is a great example because the widened ends of each pin make it harder for each piece of wood to fall away. When these joints are made well and with thick pieces of wood, they offer an amazing amount of strength, not to mention beauty. The cut of the joint is not the only way that joiners make these joints stick together, but the stronger the joint itself, the less the joiner will have to do to ensure the joint stays put.
Good Fits and Glue
Regardless of the type of joint, the cuts must fit together very well, so well that you can't see any spaces between the parts of the joints that go together. These joints should not be loose; pressure from the parts fitting together tightly helps create friction that makes it harder for one piece of wood to fall away. That being said, glue is usually used to secure joints in items where the wood needs to stay in one place. A drawer, for example, where the back and side portions can't be even the tiniest bit loose, will likely have glue holding the joint together.
The Pocket Joint
The pocket joint is a hybrid technique that is often categorised as joinery, but it's best for hidden areas that you won't see once the wood item is in place. A divot is created in one piece of wood and extends into the other piece of wood, with the line of the divot on a diagonal, forming a sort of pocket. A screw is placed inside the divot so that it joins the two pieces together, with the head of the screw hidden inside the divot. Because this uses a metal fastener, it's not always considered joinery by everyone. But it's a useful technique that has made joinery faster to complete. Don't be surprised if you find these pocket joints in items that you had made by a joiner.
Good joinery isn't restricted to just big fixtures like a row of cabinet fronts. However, it can be time-consuming work. Start discussing joinery at the start of your remodel project so that the joiner has adequate time to create these items without delaying the completion of the remodelling job.
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