Of Drawers and Dovetails

Like the wheel, the dovetail joint owes its existence to some very ancient genius whose name has been lost to history.  The dovetail is a remarkably effective form of joinery used on ancient Egyptian coffins, chests and boxes.  Since that time, it has been used on log-cabins, musical instruments, machinery, furniture of many kinds, and especially on drawers.

The major draw-back to the dovetail has always been the complexity of the joint.  That is, it is relatively time-consuming to create...especially before the invention of dove-tailing machinery.  It has always been much faster/easier to drive a nail or other fastener (and doesn't require a tremendous amount of technical skill).  Therefore the dovetail was very much a mark of high-end workmanship for the greatest part of its history.  Even now, with availability of fully-automated machines, lower-end manufacturers frequently chose alternate joining techniques.

The earliest dovetails were of the "through" variety.  That is, the boards to be joined were cut-through with a saw, leaving the joint fully visible on both sides.  Very soon, people began experimenting with ways to cover the joint.  The ancient Egyptians used veneer to great effect, both to cover joints, and to make common woods look more attractive.  More commonly, a "false front" is used to cover the joint...especially when used on drawers.  Today, one is most likely to find through-dovetails on carpenter-made boxes and chests from the 19th century.

The photo at the top of this text if of the half-blind variety.  That is, half the joint is visible (one side only), while the other half of the joint is hidden (i.e. the front).   The half-blind variety of dovetail requires that pockets to accept the tails be chiseled out of the wood.  They are substantially more labor-intensive than a through-dovetail, and much more attractive.

A variety of half-blind dovetail popular in the 19th century (especially in England), frequently called the "arrowhead dovetail", is shown above.  This style uses very acute angles, and may have as few as one pin.  As shown in the photo, the fit and finish tend to be very fine on quality furniture.  That is, better furniture, appropriately preserved, won't show gaps and looseness in the joint. 

Because hand-cut dovetails (especially half-blind) were so labor-intensive, there was much experimenting with machinery to cut dovetails.  The photo above shows a machine-cut dovetail, frequently called an "English" dovetail.  There are a large number of pins and tails, of equal size and angles.  Alternate names are "pin and cove" or "post and cove".  This style of joinery is a very useful tool for recognizing furniture made after 1900.  However, the exact date of this innovation is uncertain.

The "sliding" dovetail is also very old.  Proponents like this dovetail style because glue is not essential, and the joint can flex with wood as it naturally expands and contracts.  The sliding dovetail also works well with  the various wood-particle and wood-fiber products.  This has not enhanced the sliding dovetail's reputation as a mark of quality, but has made it more common in homes.