Two solid cedar raised beds. Double dovetail joinery.

Very impressive joints, these should last a good long time. I wonder though no worries about the latex paint on the inside??

Very nicely done. I love those joints.

Can you talk about your irrigation tubing?

Very nice. I love the application of dovetails.

Well done!
That's the joint we used to use on deck hatch coamings ( about three feet high) on commercial fishing boats.
A rod bolt down the corner will tighten everything at once, a great joint.

Wow, that's cool. Nice joints, make it look nice and add some natural holding power.
Although I might have put the pins on the long side, and the tails on the shorts.. because I think the long side has more pressure on it.

But nice build.

dpmeyer4867, just standard rain-bird drip irrigation. The tomato supports are sch 20 3/4" plastic drilled with 1/2" holes and 7/16" dowels put through.
The beams are held together with 3 1/2" decking screws in pocket holes drilled on the inside at 18" centers.
Thanks for the interest and kind comments.

Impressive joinery. Great execution.

woodchuckerNJ Your intuition is generally right. However in this case, there are no pins. Double-dovetails literally means there are tails on both the short and the long boards. It is a slick joint that due to the stacking nature of the beams, they don't need to slide together like traditional tails and pins.

swirt, Thanks for the explanation so clearly put.You are right, the build starts with the bottom ends, and then the two sides, then the two center ends etc., etc,. The screws apply pressure holding the layers together that way the joints can't come apart.

^^^ that's what I found so cool about this build. A quick check of exelectrician's projects reveals another build with double dovetails, but on a smaller scale. The bat box. Also excellent execution there.

Shipwright makes a great point about how he used them in shipbuilding, and how rods would be used to force compaction on the joint and tighten the entire structure in each direction. I hadn't seen this type of joint previously, and find it fascinating.

What makes them so appropriate here is that they lock the structure together without the need for glue or mechanical fasteners. We've all seen retaining walls that have failed or are in the process of doing so. This box lasts as long as the wood does.

I was just buttressing our sloppy raised beds. I'm pretty jealous.

We live in Seattle (Green Lake) and with the consistent moisture /humidity the boxes look pretty tattered after a year. I just build some hanging planters using compound dovetails I should post.

Where did you buy the lumber? Best deals on Cedar I've found (w/I driving a hundred miles) is at limback lumber in Ballard.

Just cannot take my eyes off of the beautiful straight cuts using a hand saw

They look great.

Fettler I paid $1.80 a b.f. delivered. I found these guys on Seattle C/List out of Port Townsend, I was happy at first when they delivered them but after I started cutting I discovered two of the 14 foot pieces had massive cracks (looked like the tree fell on a rock and partially broke the beam) but they sold them to me any way. I weighed the probabilities of me winning the argument and the cost of the aggravation, I used the spare four footer I bought, in case I made a stupid mistake which I didn't. Cut out the broken pieces and glued in good wood, called it good.

three years later they are still looking like new. Wow I'm so happy I made the extra effort