A tongue-in-groove joint is useful for many applications. It requires special tooling and takes some time to make. A dovetail joint is even more specialized, and takes even more time to make. Another way to join wood is to make a dado groove, and slide a piece of wood into it (figure A).You can also make a joint with half a dado groove. This is called a rabbet joint (figure B). The word 'Rabbet' comes from the Old English word 'rebate', meaning to take away. With this joint, you take away wood from the top surface to a lower surface. Therefore, you're rebating at the joint.
A rabbet joint is simple to make on a table saw using a dado stack (figure C). You can adjust the height and width of the dado stack so it's great for rabbet joints.
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