A BOX which is either simply glued or nailed together, can be considered only as a very rough specimen of joinery. If however, the sides be dovetailed together, and the work be neatly executed, it will present a finished and artistic appearance.

Small boxes and similar light works which do not require much strength are frequently mitred and keyed: this mode of attachment is shown in fig 87. The extremities of the end and side pieces of the box are mitred or planed to an angle of 45 degrees on the shooting-board (fig. 22, page 49). If this be properly done, the ends will form angles of 90 degrees with the sides, and the work will be truly square. The four pieces must be glued together in the ordinary manner, and when the glue is quite hard, several cuts, inclining alternately a few degrees upwards and downwards, must be made by a back saw across each of the corners of the box; small pieces of veneer or other thin wood, K K, called keys, must then be glued and pressed into the saw kerfs. This joint is very easily made, and is stronger than many people imagine. It often proves a useful substitute for the dovetail, especially in light articles, such as work-boxes, etc, which are usually veneered.

Fig. 87.

Fig. 88.

The simplest form of dovetail attachment is shown complete in No. 88. In fig. 89 the two pieces which respectively represent the side and end of a box are detached, in order to exhibit the formation of the joint.

The four pieces which are to form the sides and ends of the box must be cut out a trifle longer than they will ultimately be required, to allow for trimming off after the work is put together. The end pieces must be as long or wide as the external width of the box, in order that the dovetail pins which are to be made on them may penetrate the sides.

Fig. S9.

The internal length and width of the box must be marked on the sides and ends respectively, care being taken to make the lines equi-distant from the extremities of the "stuff" The marking-gauge may be set to one of the lines, and the four pieces can then be gauged at each end and on both sides, or the square and scriber may be employed. These lines, which also determine the bottoms of the pins and dovetails, are seen at at g, g, fig. 89.

Sometimes the pins on the piece P are the same size as the dovetails on D, which latter occupy the spaces between the pins; but in joinery and cabinet-work the pins are made only one-fourth or one-fifth the size of the dovetails. The strength of the work is thus diminished, but greater neatness is secured, as less of the cross-grain of the end pieces is seen on the sides of the box, which are generally more exposed to view than the ends.

The pins must be marked by a pencil on the two end pieces of a box, care being taken to have equal spaces between them. A practised workman can set out the pins unaided by either rule or compasses; but the amateur would be unwise, while yet inexperienced, to work without their assistance. The pins should be marked not only on the extremities, but also on the sides of the end pieces, to afford some guide in sawing the sides of the pins straight. The pins must be about as wide again on the inner as on the outer side of the box, and the two external pins should be at least twice as large as the others. In fig. 89 the dovetails, d, d, are external, consequently all the pins are of uniform size.

Having set out the pins at both extremities of the end pieces, one of these latter must be fixed perpendicularly in the chops of the bench. Both sides of each of the pins must be very carefully sawn down to the guage line g, g, by the dovetail saw. The lines representing the pins should almost be left standing in their favour, the waste of the saw being taken from the spaces. If the material be thick and the spaces wide, the wood between the pins may be cut out by the turning or frame-saw, fig. 47; the bottoms and the angles at the roots of the pins can afterwards be pared out by the firmer-chisel.

In light joinery or cabinet-work, however, the sides of the pins are always cut by the dovetail saw, and the wood between them removed by the chisel. To accomplish this, the end must be removed from the chops and laid on the bench, and, if necessary, fixed by the holdfast. The chisel must be sufficiently narrow to pass easily between the pins, and it should be applied to the work about the sixteenth of an inch outside the gauge-line. The tool is driven into the wood by a few blows of a light mallet, and after taking several slanting cuts, the work is turned over and completed from the opposite side.

The bottoms must next be finished, the gauge-lines being very cautiously approached. In taking the final cuts, the chisel must be allowed slightly to overhang the ends of the pins, in order to undercut the bottoms, to make them hollow or lower in the centre, instead of quite flat. As the cuts are taken half through from the opposite sides of the work, and meet in the centre, there is no difficulty in making the middle lower, and close contact of the edges with the side pieces will be insured.

Having finished all the pins, the dovetail must next be marked from them and wrought. One of the sides is laid on the bench, and upon it one of the ends is placed in its intended position. The extremities of the pins rest on the surface of the side piece, and their wide faces must be set upon the gauge-line which represents the bottoms of the dovetails.

The end being properly adjusted in every direction, a scriber is passed along the sloping sides of the pins, in order to mark their exact shape on the side piece. The spaces just marked for the reception of the pins are generally too contracted to be cut out by the turning saw, and are therefore usually wrought by a dovetail saw, and an ordinary chisel applied in the manner already described.