>I'm learning the use of sliding dovetails.I used some full length,one sided dovetails in the construction of a small wall shelf.Now I'm building a hutch.There are going to be drawers in the top of the base so I'm putting in a web frame to support the drawers.For the long parts of the frame(side to side)I'm using 2"wide pieces that will attach to the sides at front and back with dovetails. My question is,should I use full dovetails or just notch one half of the joint?What I mean is,in a 2" wide housing to receive the cross piece,one wall of the housing is at 90 deg to the face and the other wall is undercut.Or should both walls be undercut?thanks---Jack
>I have done it with a sliding dovetail (both sides) and with a dado. Depends on what you want to do. If you just need to support the drawer frame, a dado is OK. If you want to hold the carcass together, then you should use a sliding dovetail (both sides). Using a dovetail on top and 90 degrees (dado) on bottom is wasted effort (on the dovetail part) because you end up with a modified dado joint. Just my $.02 worth. Good luck with your project.
>I learned what little I know about this from books.The best tutorial I could find advocates one sided dovetails.None of the other books I have covers it clearly enough to help.That is why I asked here.I like the strength advantage of full dovetails.So I'm going to start doing it this way and see where that leads me. Thank you for your help.---Jack
