Most conventional woodworking joints require a shop full of expensive tools and specialized skills to make them. This can be a problem for project builders who don’t want to invest a lot of money in tools, and also for beginning woodworkers just getting started in the craft. One solution I’ve discovered to the problem is to use a simplified version of the joinery, which takes full advantage of the strength of a conventional half-lap, but can be made using an inexpensive circular saw and a couple of hand clamps. It’s something I call a “sandwich” half lap, which as the name implies, consists of two boards bonded face to face - with one board overlapping the other.