ASIDES
Double Dovetail
www.ied.org.uk 5
threecups /stock.adobe.com
Colin Ledsome CEng FIED asks: ‘wood’ you believe it?
Look carefully at the double dovetail joint shown in the fi rst fi gure. It
is a dovetail in two directions and, at fi rst sight, seems impossible to
construct. One dovetail stops it coming apart horizontally and the other
stops it vertically!
However, a view of one piece by itself shows the shape is not what it seems.
It will slide into a similarly shaped cut-out in the second piece, as shown in the
lower diagram.
It is intended to intrigue the viewer and has no more strength than
a normal dovetail, but applied in a different direction.
/www.ied.org.uk
/stock.adobe.com