If you will pull out one of the drawers of almost any well-built piece of furniture, you will find the front and sides are fastened together with a multiple dovetail joint - the aristocrat of wood joints. This is at once one of the strongest and neatest of fastenings at the command of a cabinetmaker.

It can be made in three principal forms - the half, half-blind, lapped or stopped dovetail, as at the front corners of a drawer; the through dovetail, as in fine boxes, chests and cases and sometimes at the back corners of drawers; and the mitered or secret dovetail, which outwardly looks the same as a mitered joint.

Fig.31. How to make a multiple dovetail joint of the type used in drawers. This is often called a "lapped" dovetail because the joint does not show from the front. It is one of the strongest and most craftsmanlike joints.

There are many ways of making dovetail joints. The experienced mechanic often lays out the tails by eye. He takes care, if doing fine work, to make the pins much narrower than the tails. This distinguishes a handmade dovetail from the much commoner machine dovetail, in which pins and tails are the same width.

The illustrations A to H, Fig. 31, show how to make a haft dovetail (as for a drawer). The steps in construction are as follows: Mark the thickness of each side on the front as shown at A.

Square across each side for the distance it is to lap over the front as shown at B. Gage a corresponding line on the end of the front.

On the side-pieces mark the length and angles (15 or 20 degrees) •of tails as at C. Cutting the tails with a fine back- or dovetail saw is shown at D. Several pieces at a time can be cut.

Remove the waste wood with a chisel as at E. Work from both sides and split the lines with great care.

Transfer the exact shape of the tails to the front member by holding the pieces in position and marking with a knife as at F. Continue the lines on the inside down to the cross line, which was drawn with the square and knife. Saw down on the lines at an angle as shown at G; the wood between the pins then can be carefully removed with a chisel.

Properly made, the joint may be pressed together by hand as shown at H. Apply a little glue before assembling.

Fig. 32. - The two members of a "half" or "lapped" dovetail, and one member of a "through" dovetail.

Substantially the same process can be followed in making a through dovetail joint, except for the preliminary laying out. Figure 32 shows the difference between the two types.

The gaged line at the end of the drawer front referred to previously may be from 1/8 to ¼ in. in from the front face. This lap is shown in the middle of the three drawings of Fig. 32; compare with A, B, and F, Fig. 31.