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The source of what we do at City Joinery springs from the time-honored techniques of furniture making. This means that while we constantly invent new forms and methods, and generally believe in pushing the boundaries of our craft, we use many of the same tools and techniques employed by our ancestors. But we don't stop there.
We are as likely to hand plane a table's edge as to rely on the might of a three phase five horsepower, state-of-the-art thickness planer. We use the best approach for the job. Ecumenical in our choice of tools and techniques, we do consider our furniture "hand made" in that we assemble it one piece at a time in our Brooklyn shop. However, we do not adhere to a quaint notion that furniture made exclusively by hand is somehow superior to that made with machines. Indeed, we are grateful for technological innovation!
Above all, we depend on our hands and eyes to achieve a high level of perfection. These are the true tools of our craft.
The following glossary describes some of the terms related to our kind of furniture making; please visit the Materials section of this website for more information.
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Gentle Tapers
Furniture designers and makers have been using tapers for centuries in table, chair, and cabinet legs. The basic techniques for cutting them are known to most woodworkers. We have found them so structurally expressive, however, that we have found places and techniques for cutting them in ways few have tried. The underside of a table top is one example, where the tapering of an edge gives the form a lofty dynamism. Another is the edge of a vertical solid panel.
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Metal Floating Splines
This is a technique that we may have pioneered. It involves using a metal
extrusion to connect two pieces of wood that are expanding and contracting (because of fluctuations in relative humidity) towards one another. Because wood and metal tend not to get stuck on each other, the connection can be tight and flexible as needed. The use of "T" extrusions at the center of many of our dining table designs is a favorite example of this technique. It also is the most common way we build all solid-wood cabinet doors and panels. We even have used them as integral structural components in cabinet carcasses.
 View pieces using this technique
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Mortise & Tenon Joinery
This is the classic joint for connecting table or chair legs to aprons or stretchers, or for assembling cabinet frames. Traditionally, it involves the trimming of an end of a piece of wood to a rectangle smaller than the cross section of the piece. This "tenon" is then perfectly matched in length, width, and depth to a rectangular "mortise," carved into the piece to which it is being connected. When very well made, such a joint needs no glue. We use a variety of machines to make these joints, but in the end a perfect fit can only be ensured by some very careful work with a nice sharp chisel.
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Sliding Dovetails
This is an old technique for creating a strong cross-grain connection between two solid boards when they do not meet at a corner. Though we did not invent the sliding dovetail joint, we are very proud of our accomplishments with it. Indeed, in our cadre of details that express the fact that solid wood is a moving material, this is one of our favorites. Creating them involves the careful use of various router bits, and the final trimming with chisels and block-planes.
View pieces using this technique
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Spline Joinery
Though we did not invent the use of spline joinery to connect two wide solid boards at a corner, we feel that we have all but mastered making corner splines and designing with them. We first started to experiment with them because they were less labor intensive than through dovetails, the more traditional box joint. We soon discovered that we could make them extremely strong and durable. Also, we found that the option of using another species of wood to connect two wider like boards was expressive and beautiful. It has become one of City Joinery's signature details.
View pieces using this technique
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Taut Curves
Many traditions of furniture making have employed curvature to mirror the body, to create comfort, to mimic nature, or to connote whimsy. Beyond these, our continued use of taut curves principally serves the expression of the structural forces contained in a piece. For example, the slight arch of a long table apron is actually precisely reflective of the modulation in bending and sheer stresses along its length. We use curves economically, often in dialog with stark rectangular lines.
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