Video: Cabinet Shop Tour

[Jalvis]

Stumbled on this Custom Cabinet shop Tour.  The Shop is Rutt HandCrafted Cabinetry in Pennsylvania .  Its an impressive shop and well worth watching.

 

[KevinHanna]

Looks they do a lot of nice work.  I got a kick how the VP suggests their dowel drawers are an improvement over dovetailed drawers though. :

 

[Eli]

Thanks, that was interesting.

 

[kfitzsimons]

I still like the look of dovetailed drawer boxes. It just looks more "hand made" and is an additional detail that denotes quality.

 

[Brice Burrell]

I still like the look of dovetailed drawer boxes. It just looks more "hand made" and is an additional detail that denotes quality.

True, that's the illusion.  Truth is dovetail drawers are overkill, a waste of money.  I know  contractor that spend big money on dovetail drawers for his kitchen.  I asked him why he spent that money, he said he didn't want the one of the drawers to fall apart in ten years.  I said, even if one did you could fix it in fifteen minutes....     

 

[woodguy7]

Brice, Brice,,,, if it don't break you don't have to fix it  [tongue]

Give me dovetailed drawer boxes every time.  Doweled drawers are the stuff of flat packs !  But I guess we all have different standards.  For that guy to say dowels are better that dovetails, well he's talking out his ,,,,,,,,

 

[lumbajac]

I got sucked into checking out related videos to this one.  Pretty nice setup this guy has; interesting what he has to say about Festool starting 1:50...

Just saw there was a Part I as well: Worth watching; quite the shop and organization and more Festool praise at 6:15

 

[Deansocial]

Dovetails are built to a standard rather than built to a cost

 

[joraft]

I got sucked into checking out related videos to this one.  Pretty nice setup this guy has; interesting what he has to say about Festool starting 1:50...

After seeing this video back in 2009, a bunch of us drove down there to see this shop (San Diego, CA). The video doesn't do it justice, it is incredibly well thought out.

The shop was designed and built from the ground up by a guy named Tyme. He is very talented, a bit of a perfectionist, and one heck of a nice guy.

We had only planned a quick tour, but he showed us around and talked with us for over five hours.

He thinks a lot of Festool because he's an Inhalation Therapist. He's seen a lot of lungs that have been damaged by dust.

 

[mastercabman]

I still like the look of dovetailed drawer boxes. It just looks more "hand made" and is an additional detail that denotes quality.

True, that's the illusion.  Truth is dovetail drawers are overkill, a waste of money.  I know  contractor that spend big money on dovetail drawers for his kitchen.  I asked him why he spent that money, he said he didn't want the one of the drawers to fall apart in ten years.  I said, even if one did you could fix it in fifteen minutes....       

I agree,dovetail is over rated.

 

[Jalvis]

I think your defining "better" differently.  In this case it sounds like they are "better" based on a cost benefit standard.  If there glueing and nailing the bottoms to the sides and then doweling the box its probably just as strong at a fraction of the cost.  If my cabinets had the other details mention I wouldn't care about dovetail drawers.

Drawers don't need to be nearly as strong with all the new hardware options.  I'm amazed at the ease of opening and closing with ball bearing extensions and soft close options. 

 

[Timtool]

That is a nice shop,
bout dovetails, i think they made more sense in a time when no man made materials were available, when glue wasn't as easy-good as it is now, and mostly when there were no smooth slides.
In that time there was allot of stress on the drawers and without dovetails they would fail rapidly.

Today it is mostly esthetic's, dovetails on a drawer with bearing slides is probably overkill technically. That said when i make furniture with solid wood drawers and/or drawers without mechanical slides then i use dovetails each time. With a good jig (akeda dc400) set up properly you can crank them out just as fast as you would dowel them. Not to mention tight dovetail joints don't require clamping to dry.

 

[Oldwood]

I agree with Timtool! With the smooth running soft-close hardware available now the dovetail drawer is just for show in a kitchen. We build kitchens and all lower cabinets have drawers even some sink cabinets. Who wants to get down on their knees to find something in the back of a lower cabinet. Some kitchens have 30 or 40 drawers. When you add up the extra cost of the dovetails I think there are better places to put your money in a kitchen. But some customers don't have any concerns about cost & we will accommodate them with dovetails if they like ;D

We tend to use dovetails in furniture but even there it is more for show because we use the same drawer slides.

My $.02

Gerry

 

[KevinHanna]

I would never put in the effort to have dovetails in my kitchen, or pay somebody else to do it.  But that wasn't the point.  If somebody offered me drawers that were dovetailed for the same price as doweled and glued, all things being equal.  I'd take the dovetails thank-you very much. 

To say that their method is "better" than dovetails is misleading.  Cost efficient and good enough, sure.  Better?  Methinks not.

K.