Dovetails

When I told people I was going off to make furniture, the usual response was something along the lines of, "Oh, like...using dovetails?"

Dovetails were once the method de-facto to join two pieces of wood at right angles, and indeed there are examples of their use stretching back as far as Ancient Egypt. Modern joining methods have largely removed the dovetail from our everyday furniture, and this is not without reason.  The labour and skill required to produce dovetails far outweighs the benefit it offers over modern methods in terms of functionality.  They do, however, offer something else. The dovetail now occupies a sort of hall-mark position of good makers, and great furniture. In the little corner they occupy on a piece of furniture they show us a functional join, the involvement of a craftsman, and a unique aesthetic. A perfect meeting-point, if you will, between craftsman, design and function.

Key to good dovetail work is good saw work. Most of us have used saws plenty of times for rough-cuts, but the dovetail saw should be seen as a precision tool. The kerf (saw cut) must follow the line exactly on both sides of the piece of work, just on the waste side. Too much waste and you will have to shave off the excess with a chisel. Touch the part that you are sawing and - uh oh - start again! So behind the bookends that we produced lies, for all of us, a catalogue of trial and error in our practice pieces. It wasn't a competition, but I think I did the most (I lost count at 15!)

And that is the silent addition that a set of dovetails adds to the piece. The trials and errors of the craftsman. The almost-there-ness of a dozen practice pieces that find their way to the workshop's woodburner stove come the winter. The human effort and care that graces those little corners of the work, adding to the story of the piece. But even without knowing the story, the dovetail still makes a fabulously strong joint. And it's still beautiful.

-sh