---
title: "Joinery"
url: https://seventhdesigns.com/joinery
description: "Frames, fits and the cuts that hold a piece of furniture together, from the mortise and tenon to the marking that comes before it."
published: 2014-03-18
updated: 2014-03-18
---

# Joinery

Published 2014-03-18

Frames, fits and the cuts that hold a piece of furniture together, from the mortise and tenon to the marking that comes before it.

## [The Case for the Mortise and Tenon](https://seventhdesigns.com/mortise-and-tenon)

[March 18, 2014](https://seventhdesigns.com/mortise-and-tenon) — [Joinery](https://seventhdesigns.com/joinery)

Almost every joint in furniture is a compromise between strength, wood movement and the time it takes to cut. The mortise and tenon has survived because it settles all three at once.

[Continue reading](https://seventhdesigns.com/mortise-and-tenon)

## [Measuring, Marking and the Story Stick](https://seventhdesigns.com/story-stick)

[October 7, 2013](https://seventhdesigns.com/story-stick) — [Joinery](https://seventhdesigns.com/joinery)

Most dimensional errors in furniture are not measuring errors. They are errors of transcription, and the story stick removes the transcription entirely.

[Continue reading](https://seventhdesigns.com/story-stick)

## [Three Hand Planes to Begin With](https://seventhdesigns.com/three-hand-planes)

[September 16, 2013](https://seventhdesigns.com/three-hand-planes) — [Joinery](https://seventhdesigns.com/joinery)

The bench plane range looks like a catalogue of near-duplicates. It is really three jobs, and three tools will cover them.

[Continue reading](https://seventhdesigns.com/three-hand-planes)

Aside

Sharpening treated as an occasional project produces tools that are dull most of the time, because the threshold for starting a project is high and the threshold for carrying on with a slightly dull blade is low. Treated as maintenance, a blade goes back to the stones for a minute at a time, several times a session, and it is never actually blunt. The equipment hardly matters next to the frequency. Whatever is at hand, kept out on the bench rather than put away, will produce sharper tools than a better arrangement kept in a cupboard.

[August 26, 2013](https://seventhdesigns.com/sharpening-routine) — [Joinery](https://seventhdesigns.com/joinery)

## [Gluing Up a Wide Panel Without Cupping](https://seventhdesigns.com/panel-glue-up)

[June 24, 2013](https://seventhdesigns.com/panel-glue-up) — [Joinery](https://seventhdesigns.com/joinery)

A panel glued from several boards can be flatter and more stable than any single wide board, provided the boards are arranged rather than simply joined.

[Continue reading](https://seventhdesigns.com/panel-glue-up)