Dovetail jigs

[egon]

Need advice:

I am considering getting a dovetail jig. My router has 1/4 in. shank and is a 30 + year old black & Decker. The jig will mainly be used on drawers and half blind is fine with me.

My knowledge on jigs is nil.

Thanks for the help.

Egon

[RobS]

Egon, my first router was a Craftsman and I still have it. It's OK but nothing compared to my 3hp Dewalt. Shortly after I got the Craftsman I bought a Craftsman dovetail jig. Big mistake. The clamps don't hold the wood well, the alignment features are crude and it's not wide enough. I have made a lot of drawers with it but I will upgrade next time I need to do any dovetails. Probably a Leigh or another top line jig [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[pbenven]

Canadian Tire has a cheapy model - I don't think the fingers are adjustable.

Busy Bee Tools has some nicer units - but again, not adjustable.

If you want the one that Norm uses, you can get one here - but YIKES on the price.

[RobS]

Whew, you guys gotta warn us when you throw out those Canadian dollar prices [img]/forums/images/icons/shocked.gif[/img] I knew these things were expensive, but not THAT expensive.

Another nice jig is the Porter Cable but it doesn't have the flexibility. With the Leigh you can set your spacing to whatever you want [img]/forums/images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[beenthere]

There is an article on building your own dovetail jig in one of the wood magazines, and I think it is either Shop Notes or Woodsmith. I will look for it and if I find it again, I will post it. A friend of mine made one for me, and it works very well (albeit I have to "think" a lot about what I am doing everytime I go to use it). Making dovetails is an art, whether by hand or with a good jig. I can't imagine trying to make them with a poorly made jig.

[wingnut]

we did a review of dovetail jigs at our workworkers giuld meeting several months ago. One guy brought in a 30 year old Craftsman and it worked very well ... much better than any of the new ones (craftsman).
I'm partial to the Incra jog ... it can be configured to do dovetails, blind dovetails and a host of other joints.
I got mine at "The Tool House" in Edmonton ... believe they do mailorder and they put out a pretty nice catalog.
Good dovetail jogs are NOT cheap.

pete

[chrisjbell]

This might be the article you're looking for - it is from Popular Woodworking and can be found here. It was printed a while back - my copy is from Winter of 2001 (I could find it, though, because it was carefully filed in the Reading Room [img]/forums/images/icons/wink.gif[/img]).

[beenthere]

No, not the one. This was complete with clamps, both boards in and being cut at one time, and fully adjustable (ahh, the headache) for a variety of tails, and with several templates.

I will look. And I found it. Woodsmith, Vol. 10, No. 58, 1988

No. 58

[egon]

Thanks for all the replies fellows.

I've done some net browsing and it would seem that its about $100.00 or $600.00 with not much in between. Anything over 12 inches gets real pricey.

There seems to be one style that comes in many different colours for around $80.00. The one name I remember is King.

Decisions and broke so really no decisions.

Thanks again.

Egon

[egon]

This is the jig.


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Egon