joinerywoodworking
I'm hoping someone can tell me a couple things about how the clipboard pictured below was made. It appears to be three pieces of wood (the same kind of wood), each stained separately, and then joined together.
First, does this technique have a specific name?
Second, do you know how the pieces are joined? It is very sturdy despite how thin the wood is.
As far as books, I highly recommend The Complete Book of Woodworking: http://www.amazon.com/The-Complete-Book-Woodworking-Detailed/dp/1890621366/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335885982&sr=8-1. It's easy to follow even for the uninitiated. It goes over the major tools, what they are used for, and has excellent instructions on some starter and intermediate projects. There are even some workbench projects toward the end, one of which is made only from plywood and 2x4 lumber. I made it with a jigsaw and really uneven cuts, and it's held together well for about a year (it's usable for everything except hand planing). I'm also a software engineer by trade and learn well from books, so I spent a good few months obsessing over this book in my apartment before buying a house and really getting started.
For video instruction, The Wood Whisperer is one of my favorites; he gets into what tools are used for, how to set them up and tune them, and has some videos dedicated to safety. He's also very technical and comes from a science background, so the engineer in me relates well with him. He doesn't leave out many details. Fine Woodworking is also very good and for $5 a month you can get access to a ton of video content.
http://www.thewoodwhisperer.com
http://www.finewoodworking.com
SawmillCreek and WoodworkingTalk are nice forums to search through for tips and discussions about what tools are best used for what projects.
http://www.woodworkingtalk.com
Most of these will discuss fine woodworking, furniture making, and detailed joinery, which you may or may not be interested in. All of them, however, will give you information you want about tool usage. It may be more detail than what you're interested in for the projects you describe, but if anything you'll be over-prepared.
Metal biscuit joiners, according to Lee Valley Tools.
Lamello, also offers a wide variety of biscuit type connectors.
Best Answer
They are joined...with wood glue. No, seriously...it actually is "stronger than wood". Bandsawn lamination is about as close as you'll get for a "specific name", though it could also be done with a router and templates. Or a CNC router, for that matter, these days.
The efficient approach will result in this one and a dark one with a light section, by sawing in stacks, then shuffling. This also has veneer strips along the glueline.