Single-lap Dovetail The single-lap (known to many folks as a half-blind dovetail) is the best known of the dovetails since it’s used to join the front to the sides of a drawer. Whether the drawer is housed in a veneered or solid wood case, opening it reveals the pedigree of the piece.
What is the most popular dovetail joint?
The half-blind dovetail joint is popular for its strength and visual appeal. It is commonly used in drawer construction and cabinetry. The Half-blind Dovetail Joint is a type of dovetail joint commonly used in woodworking to join the front of a drawer to its sides.
What is the most common dovetail bit?
The MATCHFIT System was designed around a standard ½”, 14-degree dovetail profile because it is one of the most common dovetail router bits on the market. Despite its benefits, readily available dovetail bits presented a challenge – they cut to a sharp tapered point.
Which is better English or French dovetail?
While both English and French dovetail construction are very sturdy and high quality, English dovetail construction is slightly sturdier with the trade-off of being more expensive and time-consuming to produce.
What is an English dovetail joint?
A dovetail joint is a locking joint. The English dovetail construction tends to allow for the largest possible drawer storage capacity. French dovetail construction is used for more elaborate features such a curved, bowed design.
What is a standard dovetail?
Standard dovetail joints have evenly spaced cut pins and tails, traditional dovetails have wide-cut pins and smaller tails. Standard cut pins and tails offer more strength in the drawer, traditional is not quite so strong but are often specified because of their traditional finish.
Are dovetail joints worth it?
This adds extreme strength to the drawer box joints. It is almost impossible for the joints to break because of the dovetail cuts as well as it being made from solid wood. In addition to this, most companies will also add the full extension, undermount, soft closing drawer guides.
What is the strongest joint in woodworking?
While there are many adequately strong ways to join wood, a properly executed mortise-and-tenon joint is the strongest option.
How deep should a dovetail joint be?
Typically we use 1 ½” – 2” deep dovetails that are about 2” less deep than the joist, and 4” less deep than the girt – but that is just a starting point – the loads and reactions have to be calculated from there.
What is the easiest dovetail jig to use?
A popular and highly-rated dovetail jig recommended by woodworkers is the LEIGH Box Joint & Beehive Router B975. It’s made to simplify and expedite the process of making box joints and beehive joints with pinpoint accuracy.
What is the best angle for a dovetail joint?
Percy Blandford, who has been writing about woodworking for a long time, writes in “The Woodworker’s Bible” that any angle between 7.5° and 10° is acceptable. The ideal, he says, is 8.5° for softwoods and 7.5° when joining hardwoods.
Is dovetail joint the strongest?
The advantages of the dovetail joint are that it is the strongest of all joints, has a large gluing area, is interlocking, resists being pulled apart, looks attractive, and would hold together even without glue.
Is a finger joint stronger than a dovetail joint?
For box joint, some people put a lot more fingers than it is possible to do with Dovetail. In this case, the gluing surface is larger, and the joint is likely stronger. Also, some find a way to hide a finish nail in the joint. Dovetail has the advantage of a mechanical lock independent of the glue.
Are dovetail joints permanent?
The strongest and most permanent right-angled joints made in wood are the ‘dove-tail’ joints, as illustrated below. The so-called tails and pins fit together to form a secure joint.
Is a box joint stronger than a dovetail?
For this test, the box joint proved stronger. Plus, the box joint is strong in both directions, whereas the dovetails are useful only for pulling from one piece, but not the other. So really, to use a dovetail joint for the sake of strength is obsolete, mostly on account of the strength of wood glues.
What is the most popular wood joint?
Pocket-hole joinery is one of the most popular woodworking joinery methods and is well suited for beginners and professionals alike. At the heart, this is a butt joint that’s been reinforced with screws. The pocket-hole joint requires forming an angled hole/slot located close to the end of a board.
What is the easiest dovetail jig to use?
Perfect for drawers, boxes and so much more. The TD330 is easy to use. The e10 guide bushing guides the router with installed bit in and around the comb of the template to rout the dovetails. The TD330 can be used on a router table, providing quick and easy routing of through dovetails.
What is the most versatile dovetail jig?
No other dovetail jig offers the incredible range of joinery than that of the D4R Pro. Rout all types of variably spaced through and half-blind dovetails, as well as single pass half-blind dovetails and box joints (finger joints), all using the standard dovetail finger assembly.
What is a French dovetail joint?
French dovetails have sliding joints and are shorter in height. A piece of furniture with a curved front will always have French dovetails, because English dovetails will not work with that shape.
What are the disadvantages of a dovetail joint?
Hand cut dovetail joints require precise handsaw and chisel skills, and can be fiddly to mark out and cut. If dovetail joints are poorly made they will lose the advantage of strength and durability.
What are the rules for dovetail joints?
The space between half pins is divided between pins and tails. Fine work the pins 4mm > 6mm, larger work 7mm > 12mm. To have a desirable appearance the pins smaller than the tails. Your tails should be around 18mm > 35mm for fine work like drawers and 35mm > 55mm on larger work like a chest.
Should you glue dovetail joints?
Michael Dresdner: The only areas that require glue on dovetails are the diagonal faces. All the diagonal faces are long grain, all the square faces are end grain, and all the flat faces abut end grain. Therefore, you need only apply glue to the diagonal faces on the tails or pins, or both.
Is 11mm dovetail the same as 3 8?
However, that is not the only difference between the two dovetails. They also have different groove angles as shown below. The 11 mm dovetail has a 60-degree angle, while the 3/8” dovetail has a 45-degree angle.
When did they stop using dovetail joints?
By 1730, through dovetail joinery was abandoned in English furniture making in favor of the lapped construction. As furniture became more refined, furniture makers began to take pride in the construction of their drawers as well.
Do you need to clamp dovetails?
No need for clamps if you dovetails are tight. I will clamp a board that may have bow a little. Don’t sweat the glue bond, a good dovetail doesn’t depend on glue for much of it’s strength. I bang them together with a rubber mallet.
How hard is it to make a dovetail joint?
Hand-cutting a dovetail joint is kind of a woodworking high-wire act; one slip of the saw or chisel and the joint either won’t fit together or will look sloppy. It takes a lot of time to master the ability to cut dovetails quickly and well (by hand or machine), without a lot of fussing around.
