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My heads come loose. Must be a bad joint I guess.

Bridle joints - simple frame joints with a large gluing area. The centre third of one piece and the outside two thirds of the other are removed. The corner bridle is used for corners of flat frames.

Mortise and Tenon - There are three main types but they are all variations of the through mortise and tenon. These joints are used for connecting frames together. The through mortise and tenon is a rectangular peg which goes through another piece of wood which has a rectangular hole cut in it. The tenon (peg) shows through on the

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other side. For strength the through tenon can have wedges driven into it to make the shape like a dovetail. The stopped mortise and tenon does not show through on the other side and looks neater. The haunched mortise and tenon is used when cutting the joint at the end of a piece of wood otherwise the joint ceases to be a mortise and tenon and becomes a bridle joint, which is much weaker.

The butt joint is very weak and looks poor. It is used only for the very roughest of work such as nailing seed trays together

The through dovetail is a very strong joint but it is difficult to cut. The tails are the larger pieces and the pins the smaller. This joint gets tighter if pulling pressure is put on it. It is used for boxes and drawers. If a clean unbroken appearance is required then a lapped dovetail is used. The joint gets its name from the tails looking like the tail of a dove. If a strong but simpler joint is required then a comb joint can be used. It looks rather like a dovetail but the pins and tails are the same size and they are parallel and not slanted. (like interlocking fingers) this joint is not shown.

The lap joint is an improvement on the butt joint. It is slightly stronger and looks a little better. It can be used for constructions that are not needed to be strong.

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