Abstract: The tapered dovetail joint is a method of joining two boards, or other rigid materials such as particleboard, wafer board, etc., by a unique type of modified dovetail joint. The modification to the classic dovetail joint includes tapering the dovetail pins as well as the dovetail tails with the same angle of taper in the same direction. The mating of this tapered dovetail joint will be greatly facilitated due to these corresponding tapers. The tapered nature of this joint minimizes difficulties in assembly due to the wedging action that takes place as the two boards are brought into union to create the joint. This wedging action allows the joint to be assembled even when there is moderate damage to the tails or pins including swelling—due to moisture, from the time of manufacture to time of assembly, impact damage, as well as minor manufacturing tolerance deficiencies in cutting of the pins and tails.