My wife and I like to stay in Bed and Breakfasts, especially in historic towns, mostly because of the architecture and furniture.
Of course within 5 minutes I'm pulling out drawers, examining carving, looking a the back of the furniture, etc.
As a newbie compared to many of you, I was initially surprised (shocked?) to find saw marks for 1/2 blinds extending 6" into the drawer fronts but this was a common practice the apprentice were expected to pound these out or hit the street. Also lots of nails (more than I ever figured), lots of plane marks on the show surfaces. Then I see Phil Lowe actually trying to duplicate this in a piece he demonstrates.
Its funny we obsess over dovetails when they were actually pretty sloppily done on most drawers, approved by a master.
I obsess over dovetails a lot less than I used to. My reasoning is I want it to look like a human did it, but not a caveman :)
Lots of info in this thread I appreciate it. I've found the golden ratio doesn't always appeal to me, especially with drawers. Thank you for making me aware of the root 2 square now if I can only figure out how to calculate the nth root.