ferenc

I find functionality trumps bias. With todays glues being so strong it is the strength of the remaining wood that determines the strength of the joint. I find a box joint to be the strongest joint in my experience. After awhile I also really came to like their appearance. There are a lot of ways to dress them up if you want visually striking appearance. One way is to cover the end grain with some striking veneer. This will give an appearance of all smooth grain edges. Another is to utilise blind box joints, their appearance is very similar to that of rabbet dado joint, I find dovetails to be a much weaker joint since the total cross sectional area of intact wood connected to the substrate is much less then that of box joints. As far as skill is concerned the ability to cut a perfectly fitting set of box joints to be just as much a demonstration of yours hand skills as dovetail joints and you end up with a stronger joint which can be readily executed in six or eight sided boxes not just rectangles.