The Joint Book The Complete Guide to Wood Joinery

I picked this little book up this past weekend for thirteen bucks. Its a small (7”x9”approx) spiral bound hardcover with nice thick pages that would feel right at home on a shelf close at hand to the workbench. There is a lot of information packed into its 192 pages. With well made diagrams and pictures.

The first chapter is an overview on layout and clamping.
The second designing joints- wood movement, grain orientation, choosing a joint and gluing
Third Chapter Edge and Scarf Joints
Fourth Lapped and Housed
Fifth Mortise and Tenon
Sixth Miters and Bevels
Seventh Dovetails
Eighth Dowels and Biscuits
Ninth Fasteners, Hardware, and Knockdown

Each chapter provides pros and cons of the particular joint, diagrams, pictures, variations, and “trade secrets”.

At the end before the glossary is an index of 53 joints with a picture and the page number they can be found on.

If you’re just getting into wood working I’d say this is a must have. If you’ve been at it for a while, I think you can still find a few tricks that for it’s price make it worth while.

-- What do you learn from being right?