Lap Joint Project

In this project, you will be creating two joints on a pair of 4" long pieces of 1X2 stock. Follow the progression below:

Corner Lap Joint

Step 1:

Cut two pieces of wood that are 4" long:

Step 2:

Cut the piece of wood at the 4" mark ... be sure to keep your saw on the waste side, otherwise the piece you cut will be the width of the kerf too short! In the example below, the kerf is on the side wit the "X" marked. The side with the "X" is the waste:

Step 3:

For the lap joint, you will need to measure the width of the piece that needs to fit into the other piece. In my case, the width of the piece I am using is 1 1/2" wide:

Step 4:

Use your width measurement of one piece to measure how far from the end of the other piece you need to make your first cut:

NOTE: When marking (like above) mark a V so that the vertex of the V is pointing towards the measurement (in this case 1 1/2") THEN be sure to use the square to make a line that is 90 degrees from the edge.

Step 5:

You will need to cut half way through your stock when making the lap joint. In order to mark the centre of the stock, you will need to use your finger and pencil as a marking guide. Make two parallel lines the same distance apart from the edge of each side, then move your pencil to the centre of the two lines and continue your mark all the way around the stock:

Step 6:

Cut down half way through at the mark made on the surface. You are going to want to check repeatedly to see if you've made it to the middle of the stock or not:

Click here for the continuation of the Lap Joint Process.