# Add joints

Cut housings or dominoes into a carcass with its joinery parameter, or housings, dominoes or dowels between two parts that you drew.

KerfCraft cuts three kinds of joint into the parts:

- A **housing**: a pocket in one part that the other part sits in. It is a dado across the grain, a groove along it, or a rebate at an edge.
- **Dominoes**: matching mortises in both parts.
- **Dowels**: matching round holes in both parts.

## Add joints to a carcass

1. Select the carcass.
2. In the **Properties** panel, under **Parameters**, set **joinery** to **housings** or **dominoes**.

With **housings**, the sides, top, bottom, dividers and fixed shelves go into housings. A housing is ⅓ of the panel thickness deep, and a rebate is ½. KerfCraft makes the inserted panel longer by the housing depth. With **dominoes**, no part changes size. With **none**, the panels are butt joints, and you fix them as you like.

## Add a joint between two parts

The two parts must touch, and they must be square to each other.

1. Click the first part.
2. Hold Shift and click the second part.
3. Right-click one of the parts, and click **Add joint…**.
4. At **Host**, select the part that is cut into, for example a side panel.
5. At **Part**, select the part that goes into it, for example a shelf.
6. At **Kind**, select **Housing**, **Domino** or **Dowel**.
7. If necessary, type the **Depth** of a housing or the **Count** of dominoes or dowels.
8. Click **Add joint**.

**Add joint…** is in the right-click menu only when you select two parts.

The assistant can also add a joint, for example "two dowels into the leg".

A housing has a default depth of ⅓ of the host thickness, or ½ for a rebate. The other part gets longer to go into it. Dominoes and dowels are sized from the part thickness. KerfCraft uses about one for each 150 mm of contact, and at least two when they fit.

On a part of a generated assembly, you can add dominoes and dowels. A housing changes the size of the part, so use the **joinery** parameter of the carcass instead.

## Examine the joints

1. Select a part.
2. In the **Properties** panel, under **Manufacturing**, read the **Joinery** row.

The part drawing below it shows each pocket. The same drawing goes into the workshop pack.

## Remove a joint

1. Select one of the two parts.
2. In the **Properties** panel, under **Manufacturing**, open the **Remove a joint…** list at **Joints**.
3. Select the joint, for example **Joint 1 with Shelf**.

KerfCraft removes the joint from both parts. After you remove a housing, the part stays at its longer size.

If you change the timber profile or sheet thickness of a jointed part, KerfCraft cuts the joints again to the new size. If a joint cannot fit the new size, KerfCraft does not make the change and names the joint.

## Related

- [Build a cabinet, bookcase or wardrobe](/docs/how-to/furniture/build-a-carcass/)
- [Shape parts and add mouldings](/docs/how-to/furniture/shape-parts-and-add-mouldings/)