I suspect you're right. The small amount of experimentation I've done seems to indicate that a row of small through tenons makes a tough-to-beat (for strength) drawer joint. (example at bottom of
Well yes; but "readily available" is undergoing rapid change. I have a CNC router - which is a bit of a reach for hobby use by most people; but I saw a 3-axis CNC router with a 48"x48" work area (can handle larger workpieces, but spindle travel is only
48" for x- and y-axes and 6" for z-axis) for $2000 yesterday. That price included a PC and monitor but not a spindle. Now two grand isn't a cheap dovetail jig; but it can be used to cut any kind of dovetails the high-end jigs discussed here can cut, as well as more flavors of mortise and tenon than the high-end tenoning jigs discussed here can cut. Suddenly the $2K figure doesn't seem quite so high. As more and more people recognize that, we'll see more and more CNC tools in wood shops - and the price can be expected to drop...Agreed. At one point the French royalty laid out aluminum tableware - because at the time aluminum metal was more rare than platinum or gold!
I think they're /interesting/; and built a dovetail jig onto my
3-axis machineJust noticed your sig. Linear algebra is coming soon to a workshop near you! (-: