There are many myths about furniture out there. Increasingly, as furniture becomes more affordable, these myths are used to convince consumers to buy certain products. By seperating fact from fiction, you can more effectively shop for furniture as an expert. With that in mind, here is the first in a series of furniture myths I would like to cover: you must get wooden furniture that has dovetail joints.
There was a time, when a dovetail offered the most effective jointing with wood. There was more contact between the wood on both sides of the joint. This makes the joints more effectively connected and thus makes for more quality furniture. Though saying that a dovetail is the only way to go sounds good and makes many people feel like experts, technology just simply makes it so that that is not true.
Today, glues that are used to hold together wood in furniture are often stronger than the wood they are holding. I have personally, while managing a furniture store, witnessed a frame break before the glue holding it did. In fact, we could not get the glue to give at all. After that, I was convinced that not even nails were necessary. Still, most joints in any wood furniture will include both gluing and tacking of the wood.
Dovetails look nice and are strong. However, with today's technology, they are really no stronger than any other joint. If you want a dovetail joint on your furniture, good for you. I just wouldn't pay anything extra for it.
Hope this helps,
The Furniture Guy
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