If you’ve taken the time to browse through our furniture – or any Amish furniture manufacturer’s catalog for that matter – you’ve likely noticed that these pieces feature “dovetail joints.” If you don’t already know this type of interlocking design, you’re likely wondering “What is dovetail joinery?”
An Age-Old Woodworking Technique
To understand what a dovetail joint is, we’ll need to define the building technique known as joinery. Joinery is essentially the process of perfectly fitting two pieces of material together by creating shapes that “lock” into place. It’s like building a furniture puzzle.
There is a large selection of joinery styles, and you can identify them by the design of the “joints”. The joints are a “trapezoid-like” shape. Dovetail joinery uses these wedge-shaped tabs, or dovetails, to interlock one piece of wood with a corresponding tail in another piece of wood. It is one of the strongest woodworking joints.
These joints used to only be done by hand, which was not an easy task. Today, it is more common for manufacturers to use table saws or routers.
Benefits of Dovetail Joinery
Using a dovetail joint when building furniture means that each piece connected by a joint does not need additional dowels, screws, or nails. This allows a manufacturer to build a solid piece of hardwood furniture without needing to add the costs of these fasteners.
As we mentioned earlier, the strength rating on this style of joinery is one of the highest. It’s extremely difficult to pull a constructed dovetail joint apart. A builder does not have to apply glue. However, some will for added strength.
Also, the appearance of a dovetail joint is one benefit that we feel is often not highlighted enough. An experienced craftsman can create a beautiful seamless pattern in a piece of wood furniture through dovetail joinery. Especially, when the conjoined pieces vary in color.
Common Uses
Dovetail joinery is frequently used in high-quality furniture such as these:
- Cabinets
- Credenzas
- Dressers
- Nightstands
- Trunks/Chests
- Tables
- Intricate chairs
- Other pieces with drawers
Shop Our Dovetail Furniture
Have we sparked your interest in Dovetail joinery? If you’d like to see more furniture made with this technique, we’ve got a great supply.
If you can’t find what you’re looking for, we’ve got a unique custom furniture program. Our staff can take your requests to our many Amish manufacturers and we can get you that beautiful piece you’ve been looking for. Amish furniture builders excel at making custom orders in a timely and well-executed fashion.