Sellers Home Chest Of Drawers: Episode 3
Posted 4 October 2023
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The cross-rail dividers are dovetailed into the sides of the cabinet carcass individually to increase the intrinsic strength of the overall piece. Accuracy is essential to the cabinet and also to good joinery. The dovetails will scarcely be seen from the front when done, but we rely on this signature joint to maintain the integrity of the overall carcass and the drawers we fit into them later.
I have seen Paul make dovetail joints for rails in other projects. And at least the ones I remember involved fitting the rails into a housing dado behind the dovetail. But for this chest, he just relies on the dovetail, which is only 5/8 inch, to join the rail to the side. The rest of the rail is unsupported. I guess I assumed that the addition of the housing dado to the dovetail gave extra strength and have used it in a few projects. So is the dado really unnecessary? Is the 5/8 inch dovetail sufficient in most (all?) cases?
I asked Paul and his reply was:
I just try to show that there are options to combine two joints instead of staying static.
Excellent episode. Thank you. The quality of the woodworking instruction and the video production is quite remarkable.
Many thanks!