Visual reference sources - dovetail joints

[Phil Pascoe]

The human brain apparently doesn't accept "random". For instance, if your table needed four boards and you had a hundred numbered boards, if you selected at random you could select one, two, three and four just as easily as e.g. nine, thirty, seventy six and ninety - but one set would appear random and not the other. I think it was Apple some years ago that had to have a "random" music selector program rewritten because people couldn't get used to it choosing consecutive numbers - it had to pick what the brain thought was random, not what actually was.

 

[Jacob]

Visual reference sources - better with the things themselves if you get the chance.
It's bugged me from the beginning; how things were done differently from how (we are told) they are supposed to be done. The detail design of most (all?) of the conservation jobs I've done over the years (mostly Georgian and Victorian joinery) is NOT recorded in any texts. The basic principles may be there but the detail is not.
Instead you will find details of the author's view of the "correct" design of the time.
So much so, that if you come across a "correct" textbook example in the flesh you can be sure it was designed and specified by someone (architect?) who didn't know how to do it and was designing with book in hand.
And it's the same with DTs. We all now know what a "correct" DT should look like but if you ever see one (they are rare) you know that the maker didn't have much idea to start with and had picked up the idea from a mag, a book, an unobservant teacher, or worst of all - relying on a gadget sold by a dodgy salesman! :lol:

PS It seems to be a prickly subject this, so I've copied and pasted to put it up elsewhere if necessary. Perhaps it's time I moved on :roll:

 

[AndyT]

Sorry to repeat myself, but my request, back on page 1, was for people to share useful collections of pictures, available on line, of dovetail joints as made over time.

I know that it is better to look at the things themselves, but antique or old furniture is bulky to store. Pictures on the web are more convenient.

I know that somewhere there is a big collection of such pictures, taken as a record by someone able to look at a lot of examples, as a personal reference source, shared with the rest of us.

I wish I had bookmarked the one I am thinking of. If anyone else did, or knows of something similar, please share a link.

 

[richarnold]

Is this what you were looking for Andy?
http://thefurniturerecord.wordpress.com/page/2/.
If not, I'm sure people will find it interesting, well perhaps not all
cheers Richard

 

[AndyT]

Is this what you were looking for Andy?
http://thefurniturerecord.wordpress.com/page/2/.
If not, I'm sure people will find it interesting, well perhaps not all
cheers Richard

Thank you Richard, yes, that's the one!

Your link leads to his blog - which I shall now subscribe to - this link goes to his first set of 473 dovetail photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mark_firley/sets/72157635404664767/

but I see he has since provided more!

 

[Jacob]

Very interesting. I've seen it before but had also lost the link. I've got a very small but similar collection of snaps of my own showing the same sort of diversity. It can be obsessive, a bit like bird watching! My steepest is about 1/2. I'd say 1/4 to 1/5 is most favoured, though for no particular reason I suspect, other than convenience.

 

[Preston]

This is how I've always done them.

 

[bugbear]

Thank you Richard, yes, that's the one!

Your link leads to his blog - which I shall now subscribe to - this link goes to his first set of 473 dovetail photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mark_firley/sets/72157635404664767/

but I see he has since provided more!

Is there information as to the coverage - is it regional, national, period?

The images are great (and there are enough that one need not hesitate to use the term "sample"), but would be more valuable with context, a bit like an archaeological find.

Edit; his blog reveals "These are largely pictures of southern antiques", by which he means Southern USA. That might colour things "just a little".

BugBear

 

[Jacob]

Thank you Richard, yes, that's the one!

Your link leads to his blog - which I shall now subscribe to - this link goes to his first set of 473 dovetail photos

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mark_firley/sets/72157635404664767/

but I see he has since provided more!

Is there information as to the coverage - is it regional, national, period?

The images are great (and there are enough that one need not hesitate to use the term "sample"), but would be more valuable with context, a bit like an archaeological find.

BugBear

I think your guess is probably as good as his.
I can make a stab at the date of some of my bits and bobs but it's not likely to be accurate except where I do know the history e.g. parent's furniture bought new for their wedding I was told.

I'm not convinced by Jack Plane's chronological order - definite wishful thinking unless he has some real historical evidence. As with many things it's likely that all approaches were being adopted often at the same time. The Egyptians were dovetailing woodwork a long time ago.
I'm not convinced by his theory of covering end grain either. In a steady environment - the whole structure would reach a moisture content equilibrium whether covered or not. In a varying environment it'd be 50/50 whether uncovered/covered end-grain would absorb moisture or lose it. In any case moisture is also absorbed through the face so his tiny bit of covering would make very little difference.