How to do the dovetailing by hand. Step-by-step explanations

Dragoș Costache and Costi Iosif from IPlan Furniture I met them shortly after I started the adventure called revistadinlemn.ro. I like to think we liked each other. We liked their passion for wood, a passion that led them to leave their old professions and devote themselves entirely to woodworking. You can discover their story here. They started out using simple hand tools with which they made that fascinating jeweller's cabinet, continually developing. In the meantime they bought machinery, including a circular Felder and intends to purchase others. Some time ago, at our request, they made several wood-specific joints step by step. Among them the dovetail joint, one of the oldest and most used 90º wood joints. As a woodworking enthusiast recently asked for details of this joint, we thought that Dragoș and Costi's explanations might be useful to others.

Description of the swallowtail joint

Swallowtail (Dovetail Jointis a corner joint used throughout history in the construction of furniture or houses from rectangular beams. As far as furniture is concerned, there are several ways of making cuts and joints, each belonging to a particular period. But in all dovetail joints, the wood is cut at the ends in a trapezoidal shape, and the teeth formed interlock to make a very strong joint. The teeth can be joined with or without glue, but nails or screws are never used. The joint is, however, also strong without adhesive.

Swallowtail is one of the strongest ways to join two pieces of wood at right angles. It is used in the construction of cabinets, drawers and other pieces of furniture that need great strength. Its tensile strength is noteworthy, which is why it is the main joint used for drawer fronts. The joint is also very aesthetic, considerably improving the quality of the piece of furniture. Its use shows the high quality of the furniture and the skill of the craftsman. In addition, the angle thus formed by the wooden elements is much more effective than the use of nails or screws in ensuring the tensile strength and durability of the piece.

Preparation of wooden elements and materials

Before starting the jointing, the wooden elements are prepared and cut to the required dimensions. The necessary tools are also prepared to make the teeth, called swallowtails, and the sockets, called pins. The wooden elements are placed on top of each other (Photo 1), marking the positions with a tracer for cutting accuracy. It is very important at this stage to determine the part where the pins are made and the part for the tails because the tail is cut with the edge of the saw on the inside. The cutting area can be additionally marked for safety. Before starting the cut, mark the depth of cut with an instrument as accurate as possible (Photo 2)

Cutting tails, pins and making joints

A Veritas template was used to cut the swallowtails and pine trees. It is one of many templates for this joint. Veritas has the advantage that it has magnetic sides and fixes the saw at an angle very well (Photos 3, 4 and 5).

To cut the pins, mount the template on the vertical side so that the edge of the saw falls inside the mark and cut to the marked depth (Photo 6). After the vertical cut of the pins, the bottom side is cleared with chisel and hammer or cut using a hole punch. We have chosen to go for the roughing option because on thicker pieces or when using very hard wood the fretwork can lose the cutting angle. With chisels, however, control is very good. (Photo 7, 8).

It is important to cut the swallowtail first and then the pincers to be able to make adjustments with the scraper so that the fit of the two parts is perfect. The pins have a 90º angle at the base and are easy to trim. After adjusting with the scraper the two parts will fit together perfectly and the tail is fixed by tapping gently with a wooden hammer. (Photo 9, 10)

Types of swallowtail joints

A joint has several such pairs of pintail swallowtails. Depending on how they look from the outside, there are several types of joints:

• finger-jointed - the finger-jointed wooden elements have the side with the visible fibre ends on both sides of the joint;
• half swallowtail (or half stock) splice - the pin cut is made so that the fibre ends are only visible on one side of the splice;
• groove joint (sliding) - a trapezoidal groove is cut in one piece of wood and the other piece has a trapezoidal tooth at the end. The joint is made by sliding (translating) the tooth from one end of the groove to the other.

Joining drawer fronts is usually done using the second method to remain hidden. But the dovetail is a special, special joint, so specialists often choose the version visible on both sides, thus enhancing the beauty of the furniture.