That time a master carpenter told me to stop using glue on dovetails

I was building a set of drawers for a kitchen remodel over in Oakville about 6 months ago. An old timer, Frank, who's been at this for 40 years, saw me spreading Titebond on my dovetail joinery. He told me to stop, said if my joinery was good enough, I didn't need glue. I thought he was crazy, like the joints would fall apart in a year. So I tried a test piece, just dry fit some dovetails on walnut, and after clamping it up and beating on it with a mallet, the joint held perfectly. The glue is still there on my actual drawers, but now I'm wondering how much work I've been making for myself over the years. Anyone else ever skip glue on joinery like that?

2 comments

2 Comments

brian_rivera5918d ago

Honestly makes me wonder what Frank would say about using glue on mitered corners or something with more end grain. Dovetails are basically mechanical locks, so the wood itself is doing all the work. But I've seen old rocking chair joints that were clearly glued and still failed because the wood moved, not the glue. Maybe the real trick is knowing when the joinery is strong enough on its own and when you actually need the glue for stability. Ngl, I've been guilty of using glue as a crutch for sloppy work more than I'd like to admit.

lindaowens18d ago

Life always gets better when you stop forcing things and start trusting the design to hold up.