Re: dovetails

["Paul O. Johnson" <pojhome@SWBELL.NET>]

As an amateur woodworker for over 50 years, I thought Peter's question would
be one of the few on this list that I could find an answer for. Alas,
although the owners manuals for my Leigh and Incra dovetail jigs explain
more than you'd ever want to know about the history, types, and design of
dovetail joints, they are woefully lacking any discussion of forces,
pressure, contact area, or other physics principles. But it should be a
simple matter to calculate how the force tending to pull the joint apart
actually compresses the standard 8-degree tails and pins together more
tightly.

What a fine opportunity for someone to put out a small book on the physics
of woodworking, and do for this hobby what Robert Adair did for baseball
fans and Lawrece Kruss did for Trekkies.

Paul O Johnson
Collin County College

----- Original Message -----
Subject: Re: dovetails


> At 09:15 4/10/00 -0400, you wrote:
> > Hello all,
> >
> > I have been asked a question by one of my students, and could use some
> > help.  He wanted to do his physics paper (yes, I make them do a paper)
> > on something related to woodworking.
> >
> > Since I am also a woodworker, I thought this would be a great idea --
> > until he settled on a topic!  He wants to try and explain dovetail
> > joinery using physics principles.  He thought there should be something
> > out there dealing with forces and how they interact to make the joint
> > strong, and the compression of materials, etc.
> >
> > He can't find a reference for it, and neither can I.  Then he got
> > ambitious and tried to do the force diagram analysis himself!  What a
> > mess that is...
> >
> > Do any of you know of a reference to which I can steer him?
> >
> > Thank you,
> > Peter Schoch
> > SCCC