Every joint and cut a finish carpenter makes, one entry each, whatever the material.
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Jump to a term: Compound Miter · Cope (Coped Joint) · Crosscut vs. Rip · Dado / Groove · Flush Cut · Kerf / Kerf-Bending · Long Point / Short Point · Miter Joint · Mortise and Tenon · Rabbet Joint · Relief Cut / Back-Cut / Climb Cut · Roundover · Scarf Joint (Joints and Cuts) · Square Cut · Tearout / Blowout / Zero-Clearance · Tongue-and-Groove
Compound Miter
Also called: compound cut, compound angle.
A cut that combines a miter angle and a bevel angle at the same time, most often needed for crown molding cut flat on the saw table.
Cope (Coped Joint)
Also called: coped joint, cope cut, cope joint.
An inside-corner joint where one piece is cut square and butted into the corner. The second piece is then cut with a coping saw to match the exact profile of the first, so the two pieces nest together instead of mitering.
Pro note: Sun's Up's house position: baseboard inside corners get coped, not mitered. A cope holds through seasonal wood movement far better than a mitered inside corner.
Crosscut vs. Rip
Also called: crosscut, rip cut.
A crosscut cuts across the wood grain (shortening a board); a rip cut cuts with the grain, along the length (narrowing a board).
Dado / Groove
A dado is a square-bottomed slot cut ACROSS the grain, enclosed on three sides; a groove is the same shape running WITH the grain. Both differ from a rabbet, which is only enclosed on two sides and always falls on an edge.
Not the same as a rabbet. Dado = across grain, enclosed 3 sides. Groove = with grain, same shape. Rabbet = 2 sides, on an edge.
Flush Cut
Also called: flush trim.
A cut made exactly at a reference surface, leaving nothing proud and nothing shy.
Kerf / Kerf-Bending
Also called: kerf width, saw kerf, kerf bent.
Kerf is the width of material a saw blade removes as it cuts. Kerf-bending is cutting a series of closely spaced parallel kerfs partway through a board so it flexes into a curve.
Long Point / Short Point
On a mitered piece, the long point is the corner where the cut's outside edge extends furthest; the short point is the corner cut back the most. Miter lengths are conventionally measured long-point to long-point.
Miter Joint
Also called: miter, mitered corner.
Two pieces cut at matching angles, most often 45 degrees each, meeting to form a 90-degree corner so the joint line splits the corner evenly.
Pro note: Cut everything on the miter saw, never a utility knife on a factory end. Glue every miter, paint-grade and stain-grade both.
Not the same as a bevel. A miter joins two pieces at their ends; a bevel angles a single piece's face and can exist with no joint at all.
Mortise and Tenon
Also called: M&T.
A joint where one piece has a projecting tongue (the tenon) shaped to fit exactly into a matching pocket (the mortise) cut into the other piece.
This is the joinery sense of mortise. 'Mortise' is also used for the hinge-pocket recess cut into a door and jamb, covered on the Hardware hub; do not confuse the two.
Rabbet Joint
Also called: rabbet, rebate.
A step-shaped notch cut along the edge of a piece. That is different from a dado, which is a slot cut in the face. A second piece sits into the rabbet's notch flush or near-flush.
Relief Cut / Back-Cut / Climb Cut
Back-cut is angling a cut slightly past 90 or 45 degrees so only the front edge touches, closing gaps on an out-of-square miter. Relief cut and climb cut are two more names in this same family of cuts.
Roundover
Also called: round-over.
A curved edge relief, as opposed to a flat chamfer.
Scarf Joint (Joints and Cuts)
Also called: scarf, splice joint.
A joint that splices two pieces of the same molding end to end, usually at a shallow angle so the seam is less visible than a butt joint.
Square Cut
Also called: square end.
A cut made at exactly 90 degrees to the length of the board, no miter or bevel angle.
Tearout / Blowout / Zero-Clearance
Also called: blowout, chip-out, zero-clearance throat plate, ZCI.
Tearout, also called blowout, is splintering on the exit side of a cut, where the blade tears fibers instead of cutting cleanly. A zero-clearance insert supports the material right at the cut line to reduce it.
Tongue-and-Groove
Also called: T&G.
The interlocking edge joint (a protruding tongue on one board fitting a matching groove on the next) that shiplap and similar board products use.
What does your crew call it? If you use a different word for something on this page, or we are missing a term you use every day, tell us and we will add it.