There was an article in August 2001 Wood Magazine comparing various dovetail jigs. If anyone read it, can you tell me the ranking, or perhaps email me the article?
Needless to say, if anyone knows of any other more recent and decent reviews, I'd like to know the same.
Thanx
Like anything else, it all depends on what you want to do with them. Ranking is irrelevant if a low ranked jig is criticised for not being able to do something you don't intend on doing.
I wanted to know the overall ranking at the very least. A jig is not likely to finish last only because it cannot do half-blind joints. I am well aware of the point you raised, which is why I also requested a copy of the article.
Google it
"dovetail jig review"
a whole bunch of independant reviews.
Actually a gig is likely to finish last if it cannot do the VERY COMMON half-blind DT joint.
Have you tried your local library?
Nonsense. Half blind joint is done by an appropriate template, so the jig itself may be of superb quality, and not include half blind joint template as standard, but as an option. Likewise, a jig may have all the templates, but be of poor overall quality.
Anyway, all you smart Alecs might as well shut up if you cannot answer what I asked for.
Look dip stick if you are too lazy to look this information on your own then don't be calling us names. As far as half blind DT's are concerned, I do not know of any jigs that will not produce a blind DT. I am sure that there some out there but even the most basic and cheap DT jig will make blind DT's. If a jig did not produce blind DT's out of the box I would not even consider buying it. It is the most basic of DT's.
There are a lot of reviews of all of the major players on the market at the moment. Just do a little research. Anyway, I'd summarize things like this:
The leigh D4R and the new smaller one (D16?) are probably king I would say. Others would probably disagree, but these seem to be the cadillac of dove tail jigs. High in quality, spectacular manual, very versatile.
I haven't used the akeda jig, but a lot of people like it. The dust collection is supposed to be better than the leigh stuff. It looks that way from the design also. I think the template forces you into
1/8" increments which would annoy me but probably isn't that big a deal.A lot of people really like the porter cable jig. I think it doesn't do as much, but seems to cost a lot less and is still very good quality. Also less adjustable.
There's this thing called the katie-jig which you use upside down on your table router. Looks interesting but doesn't seem too popular.
Then there's the incra router table fence system with the micrometer adjustment. That comes with a huge book for making different kinds of dovetails.
There's the woodrat which seems more popular in the UK than in the US. Don't know much about it.
David marks has an episode of woodworks where he makes through dove tails on the band saw. That worked great.
There was an article in one of the woodworking magazines that talked about this guy who gets table saw blades reground so that all the teeth are at the dovetail angle. Then he cuts them out on the table saw and uses a scroll saw to cut out the waste. I know this article is available completely for free on the web. The major advantage here was that the pins could be as narrow as the saw blade thickness whereas on a router based jig, the pin can only go down to 1/4" which is the shank size on the router bit.
IIRC, the harbor freight and rockler jigs get bad press here. I believe they're the same thing.
Just google for each of these. There are about a dozen or so online reviews of varying combinations of these machines. That should give you a better picture than just one magazine article.
brian
Thanks for this. Before posting my inquiry, I googled for dovetail jig reviews, looking primarily for side by side comparisons of major brands. The only such review that I could find was the one from the August 2001 issue of the Wood Magazine. It compared Craftsman 25450, Katie Jig, Keller 2401, Leigh D-4, Universal Jointer, Vermont American 23461, Incra 16" Ultra, and Jointech JS1827. The article itself, however, was not available for free, so I thought perhaps one of you guys may have a copy or at least tell me the ranking with as many details you'd care to provide.
Thanks anyway. I found it particularly interesting that people would do DTs on table saw :)
I tried to find a link to the tabelsaw article. This is the best I could do:
My opinion on dovetails is this: If all you'll do is drawers, probably the new d16 is enough, or maybe the porter cable. If you think you'll do casework, get a good one like the leigh d4r.
brian
With that attitude, that's exactly what we'll do. Get your information somewhere else.
HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.