# A cutaway of the part nobody sees

> A finished dovetail hides everything that made it good. Printing the cross-section — grain direction, tolerances, the angle — shows the half of the work that disappears on assembly.

August 17, 2026 · https://justog.club/stories/woodworker-shop-shirt

A dovetail, drawn in section, with the grain hatched in the right direction, the pin angle
dimensioned, and the tolerances called out.

Once that joint is glued and planed flush, none of this is visible again. That's the point.

## Why the section rather than the finished piece?

Because the section is where the work was.

A photograph of a finished cabinet shows the outcome, which anybody can appreciate and nobody can
evaluate. A cutaway shows the decisions: where the grain runs, how deep the socket is, whether the
angle is 1:6 or 1:8, how much was left for the plane.

Woodworkers argue about exactly those things. Everybody else sees an elegant technical drawing.

## What does the grain hatching signify?

That the person drawing it knew which way the wood moves.

Grain direction is the fundamental fact of the craft — it determines what will split, what will
hold, what will move with the seasons and which way to plane. A drawing that shows it correctly
is making the same claim
[a correct wiring diagram makes](/stories/electrician-trade-shirt): this was drawn by
somebody who knows.

Get it wrong and the audience you were aiming at is the audience that notices.

## Which joint should it be?

The one they've cut a hundred of, or the one that beat them.

Dovetail is the emblem and it's slightly obvious. Better: a bridle joint, a drawbore mortise and
tenon with the offset shown, a mitred half-lap, a Japanese joint that shouldn't be possible. Each
of those is a specific choice with a specific difficulty.

The interesting version names the ratio too. `1:8` on a dovetail is a whole position in an
argument that has run for two hundred years.

## Does it work for other making trades?

Directly, and the cross-section is the transferable idea.

Stonemasonry has coursing sections. Boatbuilding has hull lines. Bookbinding has a spine
cross-section. Leatherwork has a stitch-and-edge detail. Tailoring has a seam construction
diagram.

All of them share the property: **the finished object hides the work, and a section reveals it.**
That's the strongest single idea in this batch.

## Should there be text?

Dimensions, and nothing else.

Callouts, an angle, a ratio, a wood species in small italics. What breaks it instantly is a
slogan — *measure twice*, *sawdust is man glitter*, anything in that family — because it converts
a drawing into a joke shop item.

The drawing is the statement. Adding words to explain it says you didn't trust it.
[The register does the talking](/stories/affirmation-shirt-that-isnt-cheesy).

## Does it print well?

Yes — it's line work with generous spacing.

Hatching is the one thing to watch: grain hatch at real drafting density fills in on cloth, so it
wants to be coarser than a printed plan.
[The weave has a floor](/stories/bold-shapes-survive-fabric) and hatch spacing is the
usual place it bites.

Coarser hatching, fewer callouts, printed large. It reads more clearly and it looks more like a
shop drawing than a CAD export.

## What garment colour?

Sand, oatmeal or a warm grey — paper colours.

The drawing tradition is dark ink on light stock, and keeping that relationship makes it read as a
plan rather than as a blueprint. A dark garment with light line is also good and reads as a
blueprint specifically, which is a different and slightly more industrial register.

Either works;
[the ground decides which tradition it belongs to](/stories/pick-a-garment-color).

## How do I get one made?

Describe the joint at [JustOG](/) — which one, what ratio, and which timber. Pick a direction,
drag the crop frame, see it composited on the real garment, and it's made to order and shipped.

Designs other people have published are in the [shop](/shop).

Once it's glued up, nobody will ever see it again. That's why it's worth drawing.