Before we start learning to use
dovetail joints to build perfect
drawers, boxes and cabinets
far faster than you ever
thought possible, let’s spend a
few moments discussing how
these different joints, all called
“dovetail joints,” differ one
from another.
All can be used to securely join
two pieces of wood end to end
or at right angles to one
another, but that is about
where the similarities end and
the differences begin.
The Sliding Dovetail
Joint
- The simplest joint
called a dovetail joint is where
the male fan shape is cut
laterally along an edge or an
end of one work piece and the
female recess is grooved into
the other.
If these are both cut with
exactly the same slope on the
sides and to the same depth
the two pieces can slide
together to form a very strong,
self-locking joint called a
“sliding dovetail” joint.
These are most often cut with
a router bit with sloped sides
(called a “dovetail cutter”)
where the router is guided
past stationary work pieces in
a straight line. Sometimes this
is accomplished using a guide
rail (my favorite) and
sometimes by holding the
router stationary while the
work pieces slide by in a
straight line guided by a fence.
They also can be cut on jigs
which hold the work piece
stationary and slide the router
past the work piece.
I regularly use sliding
dovetails instead of dados to
join the two sides of a cabinet
together to form the door or
drawer openings as in the
picture above, or to hold
shelves that tie the two sides
together. I also use it for
fastening drawer guides to the
sides of a drawer opening, for
fastening the toe kick across
the bottom of a cabinet, to hold
the top to the sides, and for a
variety of situations when I
need two pieces joined at right
angles to one another in a very
secure and self-squaring joint.
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