Graphical Construction Glossary >> Woodwork. >> Joints >> Tongued Joint

Tongued Joint

A type of narrow housing joint, using a thin tongue rather than the full thickness of the timber as in a standard housing joint.

Quite often a standard housing joint is not quite the one to use. Take a door jamb for example. The frame is made in a workshop, with the joggles left on. Then the site fixer cuts them of and when he fixes the jambs the joint open up. The way to stop this is to tongue the joint rather than a full width housing.

1. Here is the standard tongue joint.
2. When the joint is used where the outside is seen, quite often to hide the fact that the joint may shrink and open up, a small feature is made, either a "vee" as here or a small beading so that any movement in the joint is not immediately noticeable.
3. The joint is used extensively for the joint between a stair tread and a riser.

Below is the joint used in Victorian era door panelling.

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