5 Ways to Improve Your Joinery
Focus on the process rather than the tools
This is part three of nine of a deeper dive into the nine steps I originally outlined in a post about how I make boxes. Because the information is applicable to furniture generally, I have dropped the box-making context. Links to the previous posts are below.
The bulk of what we do in the shop is cutting and fitting joints together, and there is an absolutely massive number of social media posts, videos, articles, and books about how to cut them, and many more will be shared in the near and distant future. So, I am not doing that. Instead, I’ll share some lessons I've learned that apply to any and all joinery. They are, in a manner of speaking, foundational principles for joinery.
However, before I get to those lessons, I’ll share something Michael Fortune once told me. He designs first and then figures out how to make what he’s designed. In other words, don’t worry about joinery when you are designing. That means, at least in part, that joinery should not be the focus of design. It’s one thing to design a cabinet, and then decide that dovetails are the best joint for the casework, and an entirely different thing to decide that you want to showcase some fancy style of dovetails (e.g. houndstooth), and then design a cabinet that displays them prominently. In all likelihood the first cabinet will be more attractive than the second.
A similar point can be made about 99% of all bandsaw boxes. They are made in such a way to emphasize that they were made with a bandsaw. The fact that they were made with a bandsaw is the entire point of the box’s design. They are ugly and dumb. Now look at Michael Cullen’s bandsaw boxes. They are beautiful, because the bandsaw is merely the tool he uses to execute a really good design. In fact, you wouldn’t know they are bandsaw boxes if you weren’t told.
So, design for beauty, purpose, and function, and then worry about the joinery. Your work will be the better for it. And, now, let’s get to those five principles for better joinery.