I'm building a hope chest for my daughter out of cherry, and wanted to use dovetails to join the panels. My hand-cutting skills aren't quite up to snuff for a fine detail like through dovetails, so I've been looking for appropriate alternatives.
I recently built a sled for cutting splines on a table saw, including a slot for dovetails cut on a router table. I've used it on small pieces and the splines do a fine job.
But my real question is whether a dovetail key would add enough strength to the miter joint overall, and is it a good alternative to a through dovetail joint?