Ben@FineWoodworking Posted October 29, 2010 Report Share Posted October 29, 2010 I'll admit it. I have a hard time passing up a trip to the thrift store. The wife mentioned she was going last night and I just had to know if that radial arm saw was still there for fifty bucks. It wasn't. Didn't really need it anyways. I thought I would look at the furniture and see if there was anything that just needed some refinishing. Saw one piece that looked interesting. Definetly needed a refinish. Looked kinda cool. The wife might dig. Hmm... Opened up a drawer and saw this... Hmmm... messed up looking dovetail but the fact that there is a dovetail is telling of someone who tried at least. This might be worth using as a refinishing project!! Pulled the drawer all the way out and the back looked like this... Are you kidding me? Do people really do this? Put a dovetail on the front so that you pull the drawer out a little bit... see that there is a dovetail and assume it is quality? Growing up I was always told that high quality furniture had dovetails. Well... I guess that is only half the story. Tricky tricky tricky. Ben Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Beechwood Chip Posted October 30, 2010 Report Share Posted October 30, 2010 I think this is traditional construction. The front is fastened to the sides with dovetails because when the drawer is loaded up and you are pulling on the front to pull the drawer open, there's a lot of strain on the joint between the front and the sides. There's not so much strain between the sides and the back. The joint between the sides and the bottom doesn't need dovetails because it's a long-grain to long-grain glue joint, so it's plenty strong. The front and sides are an end-grain joint which is weak without something like dovetails. At least, that's how it looks to me. I guess if you had something heavy and loose in the drawer, like a bowling ball, you might need to strengthen the joint between the sides and the back. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ben@FineWoodworking Posted October 30, 2010 Author Report Share Posted October 30, 2010 Wow... ok. That makes total sense. You learn something new everyday. I am just getting started in woodworking so luckily I learn ten new things a day. Thanks, b Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
adamking Posted October 31, 2010 Report Share Posted October 31, 2010 Actually, what you're looking at is an old piece of mass produced furniture. Those dovetails are all made by machine. Look closely and you'll see no layout lines, saw cuts and the pins are perfectly spaced. They've been doing it since the 1860's. It's true, dovetails aren't needed at the back. But also keep in mind dovetails were and still are used as drawer joint for the selling point. Most people are trained to think a dovetail joint means quality. Well, most of the time, the only quality on the piece is the machine made dovetail joints. Just a little history lesson as you look around for refinishing projects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russjohnson Posted October 31, 2010 Report Share Posted October 31, 2010 My mother has an antique piece with the same construction. I'll be curious next time I'm over there if they were machined or hand cut. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.