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What’s really fascinating about this “Woodwright’s Shop” video excerpt is the way Roy Underhill expands the definition of dovetails and dovetailing. Woodworkers can get into a rut thinking only about through dovetails and half-blinds. But what makes a dovetail a dovetail is not just the look of the pins and tails on the corner of a drawer – it’s the internal structure of the joint and how the wood faces meet each other. Over the years, woodworkers have taken that basic concept and applied it in many different ways.
After showing viewers the basic half-blind dovetail (and a stuffed dove), Roy displays large carpenter’s dovetails on the top of his workbench. He then points out a dovetail-like through tenon on the base of the same bench, including a demonstration of how that joint comes apart and goes together.
Finally, Roy shows you a tricky little joint that looks like a stopped mortise and tenon, but functions like a dovetail. This involves a wedging method called fox wedging. In true “Woodwright’s Shop,” innovative form, the viewer gets to see the internal workings of this joint. That’s because Roy has built a removable face piece on the mortise board. Pull away the face and there you have it!
Buy the full episode – and all of “The Woodwright’s Shop” season 26 – in our store for only $29.99! (The store page will be live on Friday, May 23rd.)
–Dan Farnbach
Here are some supplies and tools we find essential in our everyday work around the shop. We may receive a commission from sales referred by our links; however, we have carefully selected these products for their usefulness and quality.
