Andy Jeffries wrote in message

I'm not far from a newbie (only about 6 months woodworking experience)
but as far as I know, that joint is called a half-lap joint.

I was looking on amazon.com at the "Complete Illustrated Guide to
Joinery" book mentioned in this thread, and using the "search inside
this book" feature you can see thumbnail photos of many joints. Based
on that, I'd say the joint we're talking about here is called a
"halved joint". A half-lap joint is similar, but half the thickness is
removed from each board, whereas in the halved joint each board
retains it's full thickness. Have a look at those pictures and see if
you agree:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/1561...62#reader-link


I've gotta cut about 40 of them soon (in 2x2 for making a frame) so I'll
be trying to find a repeatable method too. In fact, I'm probably just
going to cut them all by hand as:

a)I'm a bit shaky with a router (it is a very cheap router)

b)it's only for a frame underneath an MDF constructions.


I hope you'll let us know how it goes. I'd personally be happy to do
them by hand, it's quiet, safe, and satisfying, but I gotta admit, if
I can do them _better_ with a router....

Regards,
Scott