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Dovetail Joints Worthy of a page to themselves. Dovetail joints are the most decorative of all woodwork joints. For strength and beauty they must be hand made. Because they are recognised as 'quality' workmanship the machine made dovetail can be found on drawer sides of much mass produced furniture but it is purely for show as there are better machine made joints for drawers. Machine made dovetails are always lap dovetails and the pins and tails are always the same size. |
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Standard through dovetail joint. Normally the tails are made larger than the pins although there is no hard and fast rule. |
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Lap dovetail. Used where the ends of the tail must be hidden. Such as drawer fronts. |
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Machine made dovetails. These are made with a router so the inner surfaces are rounded giving them much less strength than their man made counterparts but as a drawer joint in normal funiture they do the job quite adequately |
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Narrow Dovetails In a wide board this helps prevent curling . |
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There are many ways to use dovetails in hand woodwork. Sloping sides and varying width tails make them decorative. |
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 Jewel box in American Black Walnut. |
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