Amish-made furniture has a reputation for being some of the finest furniture built in America today and critical to this craftsmanship are very high standards. These standards are met to ensure the furniture you buy not only looks beautiful, but lasts for many years, with some pieces made so well they can be classified as heirloom-quality, to be handed down from generation to generation. Many "best practices" exist, and two of them include mortise-and-tenon and dovetail joinery.

Dovetailed drawers (shown at left) are one of the best- known indications of quality in well-made furniture. The term is thought to have come from the observation of how tightly and uniformly the wedge-shaped tail feathers of a dove were and how beautifully they fit together. Dovetailing, in one fashion or another, has been in use commonly since the 18th century. Carpenters who once had to hand cut the pins and tails of dovetail joinery now use jig and router machinery, which accomplishes the same results, though much faster. Some purists, however, still prefer to cut all their dovetails by hand, but purchasing furniture with hand-cut dovetails would be prohibitively expensive and in reality, not any better quality-wise. Furniture makers who still hand cut dovetails almost always do it in the making of furniture for their own use or for personal gift-giving.

With furniture whose use includes frequent opening and closing of drawers – such as dressers and desks – you will very often find the Amish-made carefulness of dovetailed drawers. Dovetailing ensures a tight and lasting grip between the drawer front and the sides of the drawer box. Of course, incorporating this extra detail into furniture takes more time – and skill – than simply nailing the drawer front.

Another type of joinery is known as "mortise and tenon." Arts & Crafts/Mission furniture often features this carpentry method of joining wood as an adjunct to the style. As a style, Mission furniture was originally created as a sort of rebellion against the earlier Victorian style, which very often featured many highly decorative, though completely unnecessary, accents. Curlicues, gingerbread, and all kinds of ornamentations were added to catch the customer's eye. When Mission came along, it created a 180-degree reversal of this exceedingly decorative mindset in furniture style. With an almost severe functionality, Mission instead focused primarily on the pure utility of a piece with its construction to be first and foremost of the highest quality. Beauty was found in the very simplicity and lack of ornamentation of the style. The exposed mortise-and-tenon joinery method became not only a sign of excellent workmanship, but also was (and still is) viewed as a part of the handsome Mission style.

This type of joinery not only serves as an excellent method of strengthening joints, when it is done as "exposed" joinery, it also works to highlight the style and accent the simple aesthetics and practical functionality of Mission/ Arts & Crafts design. The exposed mortise-and-tenon joinery (shown at the base of the end table pictured above) not only firmly interlocks the pieces, but also provides subtle ornamentation that advertises its strength and durability.

When browsing the many offerings of fine furniture from Cabinfield, be sure and take note of the dovetail and mortise-and-tenon joinery featured in many of the pieces. These are just two of the many examples of superb craftsmanship our customers have come to expect and appreciate when shopping for beautiful furnishings that are also built to last.