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Dating all the way back to Neolithic times, the mortise and tenon is the oldest wood joint known to mankind. While the specific provenance of the joint is unknown, I'm willing to bet the inventor wasn't a virgin.
NSFWIn the thousands of years since, craftspeople have developed an almost absurd variety of joints, some of which you learned in the ID shop at school, some of which you've never heard of, and that one that you can always see in your head but have forgotten the name of. To help you remember for the next time you're building something out of wood, or to give you some alternatives for any current designs you're working on, here are some visual guides:
This image is from the book Good Wood Joints
This image is from the book Good Wood Joints 
This image is from the book Good Wood Joints 
This image is from the book Good Wood Joints 
By Jochen Gros 
By Jochen Gros 
By Jochen Gros 
By Jochen Gros 
By Jochen Gros Here are some books that those of you researching or making joints may want to peruse:
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Enter a caption (optional)The Joint Book: The Complete Guide to Wood Joinery
Enter a caption (optional)The Complete Guide to Joint-Making
Enter a caption (optional)Joining Wood: Techniques for Better Woodworking
Enter a caption (optional)Classic Joints with Power Tools
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If you've got any more joint resources you'd like to see included, please let us know in the comments and we'll expand this section.
I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.
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Reference: The Ultimate Wood Joint Visual Reference Guide
Love this article. Such a handy resource during these stay-at-home times. I’m also loving this joinery guide too! www.joinatree.com
Great resource! Thank you!
Nice collection, but the Good Wood Joints classification of Easy/Difficult is such a gross over-simplification as to be practically meaningless. Consider that a basic mortise and tenon (#18) rates Difficult (though even Neolithics did it!) and #10, #11, #26 rate as Easy.
A very cool and inspiring bunch of visual. I'll admit I don't use much of any of that with a Domino joiner in the shop, but this gets the mind moving.
The first set of unattributed pages are from "Good Wood Joints" by Albert Jackson, Collins, 1996 (ISBN-13: 978-0004127804)
Thank you Antonin!!!
good resource
Awesome article Rain. Great resource.