How to Identify Furniture of the 1800s by Its Dovetailing

Old wooden cabinet with dovetailing.

Dovetailing is a form of joining joints in wood. The wood is easy to identify as antique by looking at the angles, or connecting parts of wood. Joints on wood were not machine-cut until 1860. Joints were connected and held in place by wooden pins that were narrower than the parts of the wood being connected. By looking at the sections of joined wood and seeing these pins, you can identify furniture made in the 1800s.

Things You'll Need

• Denatured alcohol
• Cotton balls
• Soft cloth
• Ammonia
• White vinegar
• Kerosene
• Mild soap

Instructions

1. Remove the drawers and look at the front and back of the drawer, where the sides of the drawer are fastened together. Observe the workmanship to see if there are many dovetails and if the dovetails are matching and without pins. These would indicate modern machine-cut dovetails, not pieces of furniture made in the 1800s.

2. Look at the condition of the wood. Look for nicks and cuts in the wood. This would indicate the use of a plane tool or a draw-knife. See if there are straight saw marks, which would indicate an older piece from the 19th century. Arc shapes would indicate that the wood was cut by a circular saw, which was used in the later half of the 19th century.

3. Look for odd shapes or pieces of wood that do not match perfectly or joining parts of different sizes. This would indicate an antique piece with dovetailing. The wood should never be uniform; only machine-cut pieces were made to match exactly.

4. Observe the finish on the wood near the dovetailing. There should be a shellac finish on the wood made from oil, wax or milk paint. Look for fine French-polished pieces with dovetailing, as this will indicate a finer wood piece with detailing made in the 1800s. Anything coated with a lacquer or varnish finish indicates a later piece.

5. Test the wood if you can. Sometimes you may not be able to tell by dovetailing alone. Rub denatured alcohol with a cotton ball or cloth onto a small section of the furniture. If the alcohol dissolves, the finish is probably made from shellac.

6. Test painted dovetailed wood with ammonia, using the same method as you did with the alcohol. Clean the wood before testing it, if it's overly dirty, with equal parts denatured alcohol, white vinegar and kerosene. Clean off the wood with mild soap and water after testing and then let it dry.

References

• Antique Marks: Identifying Antique Furniture