Tongue and Groove the World

A tutorial. (Plus an update on pins.)

The thick curls form the grooving process.

Nearly every piece of wood in this cupboard (and the other Eastern European pieces I’m building) uses tongue-and-groove joinery.

All the side pieces of the cupboard, the back, the bottom, the shelf and the piece’s top are all made up of narrow boards that are tongued and/or grooved. And sometimes on both long edges plus the board’s ends.

As I got into the (won’t say groove, won’t say groove) swing of things, I realized I should write a standalone chapter on the nuances of the process. It’s easy to get (literally) turned around and create a wonky surface. Or you don’t keep the tongue-and-grove plane adjusted well, and the groove or tongue wander.

So here is a detailed tutorial on creating the tongue-and-groove joint with a No. 48 plane, which was designed for this operation.