A sliding dovetail is very strong. With the glue you apply it will do the
trick. Regular Tite Bond is perfect, no need for expoxy.

Tim

"Steve" wrote in message
47...
Hi All,

I'm new here, and new to woodworking in general. My first real project
is under way and I'll have a few questions as I go, so here's the
first...

My project is a music stand for myself. Store bought ones just don't do
it for me and I love natural wood anyway. For an idea of the kind of
thing I'm making, I found an awesome website with quality that I won't
even try to accomplish this first time out:

http://www.misterstandman.com

The first question I have is how to join the bottom "music rest" portion
to the back piece? The strongest joint that I can come up with is a
sliding dovetail with the slot in the back piece and the tail making up
the shelf, but I'm worried about how large of a bit to use. The wood
itself is 3/4" thick (both pieces), so is the dovetail going to simply
snap off when I put a heavy music book on it?

I guess the second question would be fitting it together with glue in the
joint without it binding or cracking. I figure epoxy will give me the
time to slide everything together (27" long), but I'm looking for any
advice as I only want to do it once

If my description isn't clear, I'll post a quick rendering of what I have
in mind.

TIA
Steve