I'm double jointed you know.

Through housing. A channel or housing is cut to about one third of the wood thickness. The shelf fits into the groove and is glued and or pinned. The joint is seen from both front and back. It is often used for bookshelves.

Stopped housing. The same sort of channel as above is cut across the wood but it is stopped before it gets to the front edge making the job look neater. Used for shelving.

T halving - Used mainly for softwood. Half the thickness of one piece of wood is cut away and a channel is cut in the other piece to slot it in to. Can be glued and pinned for extra strength. This joint is not particularly strong. It is much easier to use two pieces of wood of the same thickness.

Dovetail halving. Exactly the same as the T halving but the rail and channel are cut in the shape of a dove's tail which gives the joint added strength if it is to be pulled in the direction of the arrow. You would always cut the dovetail first and using a knife mark the shape of the housing directly from the tail once it had been cut. This makes for a good fit.

Crossed Halving
This is cut when two pieces of wood cross each other. The table shown is an example. The drawing on the left shows how both pieces of wood are prepared.

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