Wood Joinery for Beginners Handbook by Stephen Fleming

"There would be no trees without branches, and there would be no furniture without joints."

The one which binds together has always been special across cultures. Wood joinery has also evolved across various schools of woodworking in their unique ways. For example, in Japanese joinery, the whole wooden house was built on the strength of joinery. Joinery is used for both connecting the wood and also enhancing the aesthetics of the final product.

My Journey:

Back in the days when I was starting with Wood Craft, I was desperately looking for the go-to guide about the processes and the tools involved.

Woodworking is a vast subject with many branches or verticals of this craft like Cabinet Making, Wood Carving, Joinery, Carpentry, and Woodturning.

The online content was information overload and not presented in a sequential manner. The books I referred were either focused on a few processes or assumed that I had the necessary information. Also, I found that most of the books were a little aged.

There are two ways of learning; one is learning from subject matter experts who have years of experience, and then there are people who are just a few steps ahead of you in their journey.

I am the second one, five years into this hobby, and still learning from the experts.

I still remember the initial doubts I had and the tips which helped me.

This book comes after Woodworking for Beginners Handbook, and it focusses entirely on the joinery process. This book is for people who are in their first lap (0-3 years) of the wood-crafting journey and want to have a holistic idea of methods, tools and need help in their initial projects.

I have included ample photographs of realistic projects of beginners explaining the process and standard operating procedure while starting.

In the last chapter, I have provided a glossary of joinery terms and tips for beginners.

Below is the flow of the information provided in the book:

Introduction to Joinery

Joinery tools: Type of tools and how to use them

Detailed discussion on 15 types of joinery: advantage,disadvantage,strength,usage etc.

Japanese Joinery: Introduction, types, pros, cons, and application

CNC wood joinery: Introduction, various kinds of CNC joinery,

Five starter joinery projects with step by step instructions

Glossary of joinery terms

Tips for beginners

So, what are you waiting for? As said  in the woodworking community:

Measure Twice and Cut Once and let's start the journey.