I was at Harbor Frieght this weekend and saw they have their Dovetail Jig on sale for $29.99. Does anyone have one of these? Are they worth it? I'm not talking about doing a tone of work on them. maybe just use it a few times a year. Thanks.
I'll let you know in a few days; I just bought one. I will never learn...
Anyhow, hunt through the pile; I found one that included 4 router bits.
I have one. To be honest I've never used it. I bought it about a year ago. If you do buy one there is a good website (here is a link then click on the download manual link
Hurry up please, I can't wait to buy one too.
Thanks for the link. The one I bought today is aluminum. Not very smooth aluminum, but aluminum.
I've used one, it works fine.
You won't get cool points since it's HF and not really expensive.
But who needs to be cool in a NG?
Of course you could go Roy Underhill and buy tools that cost more than $29.99 and do them by hand. I've heard there's some sort of psychological benefit to doing things the hard way. :P Sorry Neanderthals, just kidding.
Dave
I bought one. Thought it was a bargain. I spent an entire day trying to figure out how to use it. The instructions look like they were written in China by someone who had never seen a dovetail template and had no clue what this thing was. The instructions were useless.
This piece of junk now sits out in the rain and cold until such time as I can acquire a useful dovetail jig. Save your money!
Bill
I have had one for several years and have made a lot of drawers with it. I have made several modifications to my jig to improve its performance. If you have some patience and are willing to made practice joints the "blue monster" jigs can be mastered. However, if you want a jig that will work perfectly right out of the box then one of the more expensive ones may suit you better. Earl Creel
Bill, I'm not sure if I can help you, but read my earlier reply. I provided a link to a better set of instructions.
I am so glad you alerted me to this incredible bargain! I literally was planning to buy a Leigh 24" jig at Woodcraft for $350 and change this coming weekend. Now I can go to HF and buy a similar jig that will work just as well as the Leigh for 10% of the price! I'm gonna spend the difference on a HF drill press and planer and a bunch of their high quality drill bits and router bits.
Geez Bob lighten up on the guy. I think he knows it's not capable of the quality or options of the Leigh. He needs to cut some dovetails a "couple times a year" so he can live with more setup time and less spacing options. He probably doesn't need a $350 jig (plus tons extra for more templates).
I have one... it's easy to setup after you figure out how it works... yes the manual seems to be translated from some other language. All that said after a couple of hours playing with scrap wood and fiddling with my router base the jig turns out tight and repeatable blind dovetail joints with good speed.
Howard
I have the Porter Cable 4112 and will tell you that I spent a great deal of time tweaking it too. While the directions were better, it still took some time so I wish I wouldn't have spent the money and gone with something a little cheaper for no more than I use it. Once I had it though, I took the router setting and ran it into a small piece of scrap so I have a gauge to quickly repeat the depth setting - I would think doing that would make the HF or the other clones just as easy to use.
Don
Hey Larry, I appreciate that. The PDF file is 25 pages and looks well documented. I guess I will go retrieve that dovetail jig and make some sawdust. I need to learn how to dovetail as I have some drawers to make. ] Bill in Mountainair, NM
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