Dovetails

My old toolbox, unbreakable thanks to those handcut dovetails. A woodworkers website would not be complete without dovetails so there!

I have used this toolbox a lot, first for the tools, later for the vinyl collection. In the end that too became to big but I'll find a good use for it again some day. This box has taken a lot of abuse and was even exposed to water but the dovetails really proved to be the classic joint with good reason. It is still as strong as the day I finnished it.

These days we tend to think of dovetails as being too labour intensive and therefor expensive. I think it's just a matter of excercise, the more you make them the faster you get at it. Check out some Youtube to see some of the experts cut those tails in no time, that's what practise get's you.

This is interesting because the qualities of handcut dovetails are not yet surpassed by machined ones, especially with the half blind dovetails as used for drawer fronts. They might look the same from the outside but the machined ones are rounded on the inside and therefor lack a lot of the friction handcut tails have. Apart from that there is the great benefit with handcut dovetails of laying out the tails and pins just the way you want for that job. Taking into account the type of wood used and obviously looks.

Here are two examples, the small tables have the same size but the tails are layed out differently;

If you are interested in the king of joints for your project, don't hesitate to ask me about my special dovetail rate. I love cutting them so much, I do it for less.

Ps; I obviously make them in Play-Doh also;