Need Dovetail Jig That Can Do Half-Blind and Through-Dovetails

I am looking for a dovetail jig that can do both half-blind-dovetails or through-dovetails.

The 12" Porter-Cable dovetail jig looks very nice, and seems to be able to do everything. But it costs $110.

The 12" JET dovetail jig is priced very reasonable. But its product description says that it handles half-blind-dovetails; I assume this means it cannot handle through-dovetails.

The 12" Central Machine dovetail jig in Harbor Freight is priced very very low ($30). But it seems to be able to cut half-bind-dovetails just like the JET. Moreover, its template seems to be black. According to some messages in this newsgroup, I should avoid the one from Harbor Freight that has black template because it is made from plastic.

Another 12" dovetail jig in Harbor Freight is also priced quite reasonable ($46). It claims that it can handle half-blind-dovetails and standard-dovetails (I assume this means through-dovetails). This is good. But it says that it only comes with one template. I am wondering how I can cut both half-blind and through-dovetails with one template. May be I am not understanding this correctly. Currently, this one is the most promising for me. Does anyone use this particular model? You can see it here:

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in advance for any info.

Jay Chan

Reply to
Jay Chan
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I bought that one on sale for $25. It is strictly half-blind. Sorry. I think it is identical to the other one, but with the router bits.

Reply to
Toller

Reply to
Rick Samuel

I bought this jig and if does come with the aluminum template (I called first to be sure). Haven't had time to try it yet.

Reply to
Tom

Reply to
nospambob

buy once...cry once..."ain't no secrets"...."ain't no short cuts"......Buy or team up with a buddy and buy a leigh....anything less could be a waste of time and effort and will end up in frustration

I know that the Leigh is expensive and is a hugh investment if you do not cut lot of dovetails, but it is the most well around good jig. Perhaps you could sell a couple of dovetailed blanket chest and help pay for the jig. Good luck..... Mike from American Sycamore Good luck

Reply to
Mike at American Sycamore

Sorry to hear the bad news. Sound like their "standard dovetails" mean the same as "half-blind dovetails".

Jay Chan

Reply to
Jay Chan

Seem like Porter-Cable dovetail jig is in my future waiting for me. Actually, I can get $25 off from Amazon.com with some other purchases. Therefore, the final cash outflow will not be that bad afterall.

Thanks.

Jay Chan

Reply to
Jay Chan

Reply to
nospambob

Thanks for the suggestion.

I have checked it out from their web site, and find that the one from Keller is probably the cheapest one that I can find so far that can cut "through-dovetails". Although it cannot cut half-blind dovetail, I can get around this by getting the cheapest one from Harbor Freight that can do just that (and only that), or cut "through-dovetails" for drawers and put a false front cover to the drawers to simulate the look of a half-blind dovetails (as suggested in Keller's web site). I probably get Keller for now and worry about getting the one from Harbor Freight (for half-blind dovetails) later when I really need it.

I have checked the $110 version of dovetail jig from Porter-Cable. Turns out it only can cut half-blind dovetails and box joints, not through dovetails as what I originally believed. The one that can do both through-dovetails and half-blind dovetails is a different model called "Omnijig Dovetail Machine" from Porter-Cable, and I would need to buy the template for cutting through dovetails separately. And the total price would have been way over my budget.

Thanks again for the suggestion of looking into the one from Keller.

Jay Chan

Reply to
Jay Chan

I was hoping someone else would bring this up, because I know I'll get flamed by the tool purists :-). But Sears has a jig that will cut both through and half-blind dovetails and, with an optional template, box joints as well.

So far, I've only used mine to cut through dovetails, but it worked fine for that. It does take awhile to assemble the jig, but you only have to do that once.

It won't do variable spacing, but neither will the Keller unless it's changed since I looked at it.

I just looked up the Sears jig and two box joint templates now come with it. But the price is up to $199, which is higher than I remember (and higher than the Keller).

But take a look at it at:

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Reply to
Larry Blanchard

Reply to
nospambob

I have seen the one that is supposed to be for 15" long joint. 15" joint should be more than enough for me.

Thanks.

Jay Chan

Reply to
Jay Chan

Nice to hear this. I will check it out if the price is right.

BTW, my table saw is a Craftsman.

This seems to be even higher than the one from Keller (on sales for $130). Oh well... Thanks anyway.

Jay Chan

Reply to
Jay Chan

But I never bought a tool from Sears that wasn't on sale :-). I guess they don't do that as much as they used to.

Reply to
Larry Blanchard

porter cable jig is 89$ at HD in new hampshire "Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day,fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way......"

Reply to
Rick

So I am new here (been lurking for a while) been around woodworking my whole life. As a young and aspiring woodworker I have found two things true that don't get much attention.

  1. Woodworking is really expensive. Sorry but anyone suggesting there is no valid alternative to the leigh does not understand this, you have to be planning a lot of dovetails to warrant that jig. Sometimes I think for us younger folks we have to take the risk of not buying the best tool on the market. It may not work quite as well. But in my experience, with patience even mediocre tools can produce excellent quality results. I have the aluminum HF dovetail jig. It ain't great and doesn't do a lot of fancy cuts. But when it is set up properly I can produce drawers in about 5 mins for all 4 corners, tight and square. At this point if I had bought a leigh and later found out how well the dollar one worked I would have kicked myself. I just did not need 0 in dovetail jig. Now, at some point in my life I may want the features of the leigh but for now I have served my purpose I made straight beautiful drawers.
  2. Used tools don't get brought up much here. This is a little more difficult with DT jigs but with a lot of things a little patience and garagesaling will find some great deals. For that matter you never know, you might find a leigh someone bought thinking they needed but never used. My one disclaimer, all of this said. Nothing will make me go back to my garage sale special craftsman router now that I have a PC895. When I started the Craftsman worked, now I have upgraded. If I could find a PC, Dewalt, bosch at a garage sale I would buy it in a second, just no more craftsman.
Reply to
Wyatt

You are "kinda right"...most of us learn the hard way that when it comes to the basic tools it is cheaper in the long-run to spend the extra $$$ and get good ones (e.g. a PC router vs the Crapsman as you state...sure you'll agree that there is much more going on there than the color ). After the basics it comes down to how much you are going to use it, how much time it takes to fiddle with it and what your tolerance is. Better tools will yield better results most of the time but sometimes it simply doesn't matter. I personally cannot get a "perfect anything" from my collection of mid-priced Delta/PC/Dewalt tools but funny thing about wood is its modesty. When I am done, I seem to be the only one that knows where the flaws are.

Reply to
Tom Kohlman

Tom, this has to be the Quote of the Year!

Thanks :-)

James snipped-for-privacy@rochester.rr.com

Reply to
brocpuffs

If you mean it, then you are quite welcome! I meant every word of it. If I could figure out how to work the digital camera I would post a few pix of my recent projects and explain what I am talking about. Minor flaws in all of them but nobody seems to notice and as time passes I even forget where they are. Gets back to something I learned about a million years ago...the difference between a good carpenter and a bad one is that the former knows how to hide his/her mistakes.

Now if on the other hand you are being sarcastic (hard to believe on this NG), then I'll suggest you go back to your shop and work on getting that nickle to stand on edge with the machine running. If you are in that group then whatever you do don't cut any wood on it...it may get some saw dust on it and you'll spend your days posting here about how to remove it

Reply to
Tom Kohlman

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