A couple of points:
- I don't think that 5 hours is an adequate investment in time. I think 1 hour each on 5 quick & sloppies would be better time pent developing the skill and figuring out what works.
- Over time, I have become somewhat jaded by the whole "dovetail" concept. With a glued in plywood bottom, and a well fitting lock rabbet, you will have throw a drawer across the room to break a drawer. Even then, the wall might win. IMO, there is no *practical* reason for dovetails in this age of modern glue. I will probably never make a *utility* drawer with a dovetail again.
I can think of 2 really good reasons to design in dovetails:
*aesthetics (they look pretty) I can tell the difference between a variable-spaced machine-cut dovetail and I prefer the look of delicate pins, even at the expense of some accuracy. I acknowledge that joe-non-woodworker would probably select dead-nuts machine accuracy 9 times out of 10. *customer-perceived quality. Joe-average has been trained to believe that quality drawers *should* be dovetailed. You would have to get to have some serious skills not to use a jig to create a kitchen full of dovetailed drawers.-Steve