When cutting through dovetails on a rectangular piece, are there any conventions on what side (long 'side' or shorter 'end') gets the tails and what side gets the pins?
Which end to put the tails on?
Jan 22, 2005
4 Replies
one direction will have the force of opening the drawer loosen the joint, the other will tighten it.
Depends on how the box will be used. Not knowing that, I'd put the tails on the longer sides.
Typically the piece that will be pulled will receive the pins, Drawer front. The piece connected to the piece being pulled will have the tails, Drawer side.
If strength will not come into play it does not matter. Basically it boils down to which shape do you want to see.
wrote
It might depend on the overall sizes.
It is probably easier to saw sockets on the end of a workpiece that is too long to easily fit vertically in the vice.
To form the pins, you need to be able to see and operate on the end of the board.
For dovetailing advice, you might like to look at my web site.
Jeff G
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