eBay Dovetail Jigs

[Locutus]

have any experience with these?

[Dukes909]

> anyone have any experience with these?

Looks like the Harbor Freight "blue monster" dovetail jig. I think they put it on sale for about $25 or $30 occaisionally..cheaper than this ebay sale anyway. I have one and it actually cuts decent dovetails but it's a beast to get everything just right on it. Remember you can't adjust the spacing or pin layout with these jigs. I guess you could cut the sides oversized and then cut them down to get half pins on each end,... (shuddering at the setup time again).

Cheers! Dukester

[Locutus]

>>> anyone have any experience with these?

Thanks, so while it might work, it sounds like setup would be a pain? Is that the main advantage of the more expensive jigs?

[Dukes909]

I think their advantages are the ability to do through and half-blind dovetails (the HF jig only does half-blinds contrary to this ad that says "standard dovetails"). Plus you can vary the spacing of the layout. Someone that owns a Leigh or other jig can answer better than me regarding setup time since I don't have one, but I think it must be easier than this one.

Are you planning on cutting a lot of dovetails? If so, the Leigh is probably a good investment. If you're only doing a few I'd recommend learning to cut them by hand. I did this last winter and had good success with it and enjoyed it far more than the aggravation of this jig. Spend the money on a good chisel and saw and maybe the Veritas dovetail guide instead.

Cheers! Dukester

[Chuck Taylor]

The advantages of the Leigh jig are adjustability and versatility, not necessarily setup time.

[Joe T]

Just got the Porter Cable DT jig. No assembly required and easy to use and set up. Built-in guides to set the depth of the router bit. Took me about

45 minutes of reading instructions and had my first blind dovetails that fit tight and in perfect alignment. Haven't tried making thru dovetails yet but I expect they should be pretty easy as well. I also picked up their mini template for small boxes.

A worthwhile investment if you intend to make drawers, jewelry boxes, etc.

Joe T.

> anyone have any experience with these?

>

[Dukes909]

Which Porter Cable jig did you buy?

[Teamcasa]

>>>>> anyone have any experience with these?

There are several eBayers that resell the crap Horror Fright sells. Its truly buyer beware with them. I have the Leigh and it is very easy to setup and make many different type and sizes of dovetails. It is a joy to use. I do not regret spending the extra money for it. That said Leigh has introduced a smaller 1600 version and it looks like it would do very well for less money that their 2200.

Dave

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[Andy]

Well, if you really can't afford or justify a high-end jig, for a few dollars more than ebay, you could get Rockler's half blind dovetail jig. I just got a new catalog that says it's on sale for $59.99 + $10 shipping (the ebay one with shipping was at least $65). Andy

[Rick Samuel]

I just got PC 4212 from Amazon, total price $126. Had two bits and two guides Looks like the ebay one has neither.

[Joe T]

I got the 4212 plus the optional mini dt template for smaller boxes.

Joe T

[CathyLee]

I would like to hear comments also..:>) anyone?

CathyLee

> anyone have any experience with these?

>

[brianlanning]

No. How's that for helpful. :-) I do have a leigh D4 though. If it were me starting out, I wouldn't go with one of the cheaper jigs. I would do one of two things. The first I would try is to cut dovetails on the band saw. David Marks does this in one of the woodworks episodes. There's not very much chisel work in that case, but there is some. The other thing I would try is this tablesaw technique I saw in fine woodworking a year or two back. In that case, this guy had a special tablesaw blade reground so that all the teeth beveled the same direction, and at a dovetail angle, like maybe 8 degrees. Then he would tilt the saw blade to 8 degrees to match. Then he would gang the drawers together and cut one side of the tails, then flip it around and cut the other sides. The special grind got into the corners of the tails perfectly. All that was left was this tiny triangle that was trivial to chisel out. Then I think he used a stacked dado set with the miter gauge set to 8 degrees to do the pins. I've been thinking about trying that technique anyway. The skinniest pin any dovetail machine can give you is the thickness of the shank on the dovetail bit. For the tablesaw technique, it's the sawblade kerf.

brian