On 29 May 2004 15:58:50 -0700, (Hylourgos) wrote:

What kind of joinery do you use for simple tool storage boxes?

Depends what tools you have. I'd go for box joints, because you
obviously have a router and it's worth sorting out a jig to cut them.
Once you're tooled up, they're fast, strong and look good. Stronger
than dovetails too, for typical combinations of modern glue and
softwood. If you have a dado head and a good saw fence, then sawing
box joints is even easier.

If you have a router but not box-cut jig, then a drawer-lock router
bit is a small investment (with a table) and they're even quicker.

Open tenons have over a thousand years of European carpentry tradition
behind them (search for "Mastermyr chest"). They're quick, can be
strong if you pin them (good stregth along the axis, lousy in
"folding"), and they look interesting. However other woodworkers who
aren't medievalists or Japanese will sneer at you.

Butt & biscuit works for me. If I'm using plywood or MDF, I see little
point in anything else.

I only do dovetails by hand-cutting and aiming for beautiful ones. If
I'm not doing beautiful that day, I don't dovetail.

--
Smert' spamionam