*that all woodworkers need to know.

I hope you read this: I'm a 46 year old dude from Amsterdam the Netherlands. I never touched woodworking because of my father. Who was a woodworker! But his gruff way of "non-explaining" how to do things made me hate the whole thing. Watching you, learning from you, is filling in the gaps my late father left behind. And now I'm starting to understand what he was trying to teach me, and why he was doing things the way he wanted me to do it. So, without a doubt, you are helping me understand my father better even when he is no longer around. And I thank you for it... It's meaningful to me.

I'm very much a casual wood worker and I think an idea people need to keep in mind is to creep up to your lines. Once you master this skill most joints become much easier because I think that's where most people's problems come in.

Your commitment to detail in discussing this "basic joint" was both refreshing and welcome. I really appreciated this video and hope to see more just like it.

Reminds me of how my woodshop teacher 40 years ago worked and taught us monkeys. Thanks for keeping the craftmanship alive.

I've been using the half dovetail joint for 50 years making reproduction furniture and cabinetry and never had one to fail me. I also make a reproduction 1774 tavern step stool with thru dovetails on the top and the sides and then a half dovetail joint brace between the sides. Sold 100's of them and never had a failure. Anyone getting into woodworking and joinery should watch this video. Simple and straight forward. Thanks for sharing.

This brought back memories working with my dad on a popsicle stick bridge back in my youth. We had 100 popsicle sticks to build with and my dad being a carpenter had lots of wood glue. We built a bridge that could stand 400lbs of weight as well as 2 grown men standing on the weight pulling down. The bridge only broke when they started jumping on the weight. Needless to say I earned my plaque on the trophy that year and learned the strength of glued sticks and clamps. One of, if not my favorite memory growing up.

The workshop, lighting, videography, and editing look great. We noticed.

You're an awesome instructor. This requires not only mastery of the skills you are teaching, but also mastery of the language you teach in. Everything is articulated so well.

Monkeys, wasps and spiders can cut straighter than me ... but Rex, I'll give this a go😊

Damn, the angled halflap dovetail joint looks doable and still 100% rock solid. This is a joy to watch.

I love how natural the recording is. Even with mic failure and single camera view this video is interesting to watch. And thank you for showing this options. I'm not even in woodworking and enjoyed whole part.

Did you guys notice that no Power Tools were involved? None whatsoever. No advertising. Just showing us how to do things simply. I say AWESOME 👍👍👍!

As someone who has been doing this sort of work recently to make shop/garage furniture I say: The most important part of this video is the initial planing of a face and truing of an edge. Also, notice rex is using a big marking gauge, unlike those smaller wheel ones, as those will wobble and not give good results on raw construction lumber because of the rounded corners. If your marks are not accurate it doesn't matter how accurate your cuts are.

My favourite joint. I made a huge garden gate last week with 6 halflap joints. Yay

Rex, this was really nicely done. All of this stuff seems completely obvious, but it really isn’t. There are a lot of little details that you did a masterful job of covering.

The dovetail could well be weaker than the plain half lap. The compressive forces concentrate at the inside lower corner, causing the upper inside corner to pry apart. Wood is weak in tension across the grain. The plain half lap distributes the compressive forces more evenly. There is less twist exerted on the upper inside corner. Flipping the dovetail edge to the top might make it more resistant to downward force. The occurrence up upward shock would be mighty rare. Yes, the joint survived, even though there was a wood failure that would make it more susceptible to a second shock. But in a controlled test I suspect that the plain half lap would require much more force to fail regardless of orientation. I was really glad to see this test!!

Rex, you’ve done many fine videos over the years but this one is your best work yet! It’s exactly what I need and I’m sure others will agree. Thanks for sharing your knowledge and experience.

This is more important than people may think starting out. Secretly hidden in the value of a half-lap are detailed examples of how to prep, how to mark, how to saw and how to clean up a joint. I think it's good you left out measuring because that's a whole skill set by itself.

“This joint came together so tightly, it didn’t even need a clamp. But I put one on anyway because I’m insecure.” I too have messed up so many times that I won’t be tricked even when it looks perfect.

Your videos are always a breath of fresh air. No over-priced machinery, all common sense and instructions based on actual experience. I bought the Compass Rose router plane kit several months ago. I was in the market, but didn't want a plane that looked like it was from outer space nor did I want a cheap plane from an unknown entity. I got frustrated looking for an older model. It's beautiful and works perfectly. I used a simple tung oil/wax finish on it. Thx.