Lock Your Dovetails and Box Joints

Early on in my career, when I took an interest in building furniture, I took a good look at antiques to get an idea of how furniture was constructed. 

One of the biggest surprises to me, was to find that it was not uncommon to see dovetail joinery and box joints falling apart. This really surprised me until I came to understand the reasons why. 

Through my study and observation of antique furniture, I also came up with a simple, yet ingenious solution to lock the dovetails and box joints together. 

In this video I share my favorite woodworking tip and technique of all time, which is how I lock my dovetails and box joints together.

I hope you find the information in this video helpful and that you go out in the shop and give it a try. 

Your friend in the shop-

Todd A. Clippinger

Share the Love - Share the Knowledge. 

In this video I show how to add a locking pin to dovetail and box joints so that they never fall apart. My study of antiques has shown me that dovetails and box joints fall apart over time. But this can be overcome with a very simple solution by adding a locking pin to the mating pieces.