Alternative to dovetail on drawer box?

[MrYorke]

I'd like some ideas as to an alternative to dovetails on a drawer box as a customer is looking for something a little more "modern"

So what do you think?

 

[undergroundhunter]

What abut a lock rabbet joint? The woodwhisperer website turned up this http://goo.gl/aPC0yu which is a lock rabbet joint but with contrasting dowels for strength, I quite like it.

Matt

 

[dzj]

If you'll be using drawer slides, then you can use any joint you like.
(Find some pictures on Google and see what they like)
If you're not going to use some kind of sliding mechanism, I'd stick with DTs.

 

[Graham Orm]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/45-Deg-Medium ... K2oU5-JiFg

http://www.startwoodworking.com/post/un ... iter-joint

 

[Phil Pascoe]

What abut a lock rabbet joint? The woodwhisperer website turned up this http://goo.gl/aPC0yu which is a lock rabbet joint but with contrasting dowels for strength, I quite like it.

Matt

Your link doesn't work.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

Is the joint going to be decorative? maybe one of the dovetails that slide together at 45 degrees so look impossible?

 

[Woody2Shoes]

How about simple 45 degree mitre joints strengthened with splines or pegged with dowels - perhaps in contrasting timbers? e.g.

http://www.azwoodman.com/splined-miter-joints.html

http://lumberjocks.com/topics/32547

Have fun! Cheers, W2S

 

[Racers]

Explain that no modern alternative works as well, that's why they look old fashioned.

:wink:

Pete

 

[marcros]

domidrawers?

http://festoolownersgroup.com/member-pr ... revisited/

 

[ED65]

Butt joints reinforced with contrasting through dowels? I like the look, they're plenty strong and dead simple to do too which doesn't hurt.

 

[deema]

I've used sliding dovetails before, simple to cut on a router table, self jigging for assembly and a nice dovetail to look down on from the top of the draw. I use this sometimes for putting on draw fronts with a stopped dovetail rebate in the front and cut if about 3/8 of the tail on the draw sides at the top to make a neat edge (the router cutter leaves a circular end in the draw front) (allow more if you want to adjust the draw front by any amount). It saves both time and material. It also provides a good area for glue coverage.

 

[custard]

If it's a flush or inset drawer then Graham's lock mitre joint, if the drawer front flies over a drawer divider at each side then Deema's sliding dovetail.

You're in good company by the way, Rod Wales of Wales & Wales fame says dovetails are a fussy, ugly anachronism. Not sure I agree but then again I don't have his wall of framed Guild Marks, so his opinion probably carries a bit more weight than mine!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I got the impression from the OP's opening post that because it was to be "more modern" that he he was looking for a decorative joint - if it were concealed it wouldn't matter what the method of joining was.

 

[Jelly]

Corrugated fasteners? They look awful modern, (also, just awful).

My take would be to conceal the joints entirely, such that you can't see how it all fits together... Like IKEA furniture, but made well enough to last 130 years of use, not just 3 years...

 

[Phil Pascoe]

.... but then again I don't have his wall of framed Guild Marks, so his opinion probably carries a bit more weight than mine!

It's all in the eye of the beholder - I've seen pictures of your stuff that I would love to own. That dining table that R. W.'s most proud of that carries the Guild Mark I wouldn't have in my house.

 

[Jelly]

.... but then again I don't have his wall of framed Guild Marks, so his opinion probably carries a bit more weight than mine!

It's all in the eye of the beholder - I've seen pictures of your stuff that I would love to own. That dining table that R. W.'s most proud of that carries the Guild Mark I wouldn't have in my house.

I'm pretty ambivalent about their work...

Through Dad, I regularly get booklets and catalogues of the work of young designers graduating from the RCA, St. Martens and various other highly respected design schools, (No idea where he gets them). The Wales & Wales portfolio could be straight out of one of those... That's good in that it shows they're abreast of modern thinking, but also disappointing as it shows either failure to consolidate and develop a unique selling point or a wider stagnation of furniture design.

More to the point, several pieces are barely distinct from IKEA products in form, function and appearance, which I'm unsure how I feel about (I like some aspects of modern design, to which "IKEA but made properly" appeals; but at the same time, I struggle to see what Wales & Wales brings to the table, if some young Scandinavian is thinking the same thing up, but then production engineering and value engineering it to the nines to extract every last kroner from it... I kinda think the Scandinavian is the more talented designer there...).

 

[scholar]

.... but then again I don't have his wall of framed Guild Marks, so his opinion probably carries a bit more weight than mine!

It's all in the eye of the beholder - I've seen pictures of your stuff that I would love to own. That dining table that R. W.'s most proud of that carries the Guild Mark I wouldn't have in my house.

I'm pretty ambivalent about their work...

Through Dad, I regularly get booklets and catalogues of the work of young designers graduating from the RCA, St. Martens and various other highly respected design schools, (No idea where he gets them). The Wales & Wales portfolio could be straight out of one of those... That's good in that it shows they're abreast of modern thinking, but also disappointing as it shows either failure to consolidate and develop a unique selling point or a wider stagnation of furniture design.

More to the point, several pieces are barely distinct from IKEA products in form, function and appearance, which I'm unsure how I feel about (I like some aspects of modern design, to which "IKEA but made properly" appeals; but at the same time, I struggle to see what Wales & Wales brings to the table, if some young Scandinavian is thinking the same thing up, but then production engineering and value engineering it to the nines to extract every last kroner from it... I kinda think the Scandinavian is the more talented designer there...).

I did not know anything about Wales and Wales, but just looked at their website - I realised that I have admired one of their pieces in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge http://www.artfund.org/supporting-museu ... -and-wales
It is a one off piece, whereas some of their stuff is contract design as far as I can tell. What I liked about the chest in the Fitzwilliam is the contrasting use of materials, particularly the fumed, limed (?) oak. In the flesh it is an interesting contemporary design.

Cheers

 

[scholar]

Back to the original question, some of the suggestions are for concealed jointing methods and as has been said, I don't see the point of fancy jointing that you cannot see.

I am not sure that anyone has suggested box joints or comb joints - to my mind these do look more contemporary - they work well with birch plywood. They are easy to do if you get set up with a jig - I made the wood gears jig that is a cinch to use (once you have invested the time to make the jig) - I have just been using it so will sort out a couple of pictures.

Cheers

 

[Jelly]

I did not know anything about Wales and Wales, but just looked at their website - I realised that I have admired one of their pieces in the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge http://www.artfund.org/supporting-museu ... -and-wales
It is a one off piece, whereas some of their stuff is contract design as far as I can tell. What I liked about the chest in the Fitzwilliam is the contrasting use of materials, particularly the fumed, limed (?) oak. In the flesh it is an interesting contemporary design.

Cheers

As luck would have it... I'm in Cambridge with work the next couple of days, so I'll try to and go look in person if time allows

Harsh though my previous post could have sounded, It seemed pretty clear that the photographs on the site you linked looked like they (or my phone screen) couldn't do a clearly exceptional piece justice, I'll have to see won't I?

 

[No skills]

Only one vote for the domidraw? If I don't dovetail my kitchen drawers I will be doing domidraws. Birch ply with a contrasting through sapele domino (or two).
If I were being flash (highly unlikely) I would make my own dominos with a contrasting timber in the middle of them, or even make dominos from birch ply.