Attention eBay sellers...

[Sargeguy]

It's tongue-and-groove, not dove-tailed

[Adam]

Respectfully, exactly WHAT is tongue-and-groved, and not dove-tailed?

Dove-tailed is what I would expect to see in a telephone auction, it's an old fashioned way of joining two pieces of wood in a corner, like the box of an old wooden wall phone.

Tongue-and-groove is a method of joining two flat pieces of wood together to make a continuous flat surface, commonly used in flooring.

But, two pieces of flat wood could be tongue-and-grooved together to make one bigger piece of flat wood, like the back of an old wooden wall phone.  So it's conceivable that there could be both dove-tail and tongue-and-groove joints in an old phone.

So, I am confused, Sarge, as to what you meant there?

[HarrySmith]

pictures below of simple joints,
Tongue & groove first, follwed by dove tail

[Sargeguy]

Ooops, I am a font of mis-information.   I meant finger joint  I am in the middle of rebuilding my front porch and have tongue and groove on my mind.   More like "foot-in-mouth" joint.

dove-tail uses diagonal cuts, not straight ones, which lock the joint together.  A finger joint does not lock the two pieces together, it simply provides more surface for the glue to adhere to.  It is difficult to make a proper dove tail, compared to a finger joint, even using jigs.  

I am not sure if any company used dovetails on their phones but every one I have seen on eBay labelled "dove-tailed" has been a finger joint. This is the wood phone equivalent of thermoplastic being labelled Bakelite I only collect WE but have had Kellogg, AE, Chicago and unknown makers and they all use finger joints. I'd like to see an example of a phone with dove-tailed joints, so if anyone has one, please share.  I imagine it would be 1) really old 2) really high quality 3) from a smaller manufacturer.  

[Adam]

Ooops, I am a font of mis-information.

Don't feel bad.  The only reason I even knew what a dove-tail joint was, is that I used to watch Bob Vila a lot.

   I meant finger joint I am not sure if any company used dovetails on their phones but every one I have seen on eBay labelled "dove-tailed" has been a finger joint.

To me, this is not surprising.  These days, people more than ever seem to speak "generically".  A finger joint and a dove tail joint are so physically similar, and "dove tail joint" is so much more a common phrase than "finger joint", that either becomes called by the more common name, dove tail.

I'm interested by this now.  Not being a collector of that period, and thinking dove-tail was more common, I was not aware finger joints were generally used.

[Adam]

Interesting.  Finger joints.  Who knew?

(Actually, Sargeguy knew.)  

Ironically, the eBay auction I just stole borrowed these pics from is entitled "Antique Western Electric Telephone Phone Dovetail Oak Wood & Brass Bells Ringer"

[sebbel]

That has been annoying me since I started collecting phone. The common name for the joint is a box joint. The dove tail is a much strong joint usually only see in high end furniture mostly on drawers.

[Sargeguy]

Is it a requirement that all ringer boxes have specks of white paint on them?