Dovetail jig - size question

[DiscoStu]

I am going to have a go at making my first dovetails. I know I can do this by hand etc, but I am intending on using a jig and router.

I've been looking at jigs and I know the Leigh ones are very expensive but they have movable fingers. I think this makes sense as you can ensure that you have a whole socket at either end. How do you achieve this with the fixed width dovetail jigs?

Sorry if this is a real basic numpty question, but I can't figure it out in my little head!

 

[marcros]

you dont- you have to size the components to the jig.

If you are looking at the Leigh, look also at the woodrat. different systems, but each have their advantages and disadvantages. The Leigh can do a bit more than dovetails, the woodrat can do a lot more, much of it without any fiddly setup time.

 

[DiscoStu]

Ah, so I wasn't being silly, I couldn't see how you could do it, because you can't! I am not looking at Leigh jigs etc as I'm not wanting to spend £400 on something that I may only use once. Equally I'm not sure that I want to be forced to size my work to the jig that I have, but I guess I can get it within 15mm or so of where I want to be. Food for thought.

I've looked at the woodrat stuff previously and thought it looked good. I seem to recall it's similar money to the Leigh stuff?

 

[marcros]

they will be similar I think, at least secondhand.

I am not sure what Leigh's go for these days- i looked a while ago and they werent making a huge amount on ebay compared with what they once did.

I actually have both, although havent used the Leigh properly yet, and dont use the woodrat for dovetails. I found the Leigh a bit fiddly to set up but have kept it to use one of the other finger sets I have for it (and I bought it reasonably cheaply on ebay). I preferred the look of the very fine dovetail that you could do on the Woodrat, but have used that in place of a router table for a couple of years. I really should get it set up and batch produce some items.

I like the irregular spacing that you can do on either of these jigs. Do remember, however that there are a lot of projects that you can adjust in size to suit a standard jig- many wont be an issue if thery are a cm or two wider/narrower/taller/shorter etc.

 

[custard]

I've used a Leigh and a Woodrat. For banging out dovetailed drawers for kitchen units the Leigh is the better option, you'll never get the "needle tails" that hand cutting can deliver, but it's fast and accurate although slow to initially set up. The other drawback with the Leigh (besides price) is that the look of the dovetail is a function of the thickness of the materials, a mill or two in the wrong direction and the dovetails start to look more and more machine made, I'll leave you to plough through the downloadable manuals and figure out why that is the case, but trust me it is!

The Woodrat has a unique capability amongst jigs of delivering finer dovetails, not as fine as hand cut but a sizeable step in the right direction. But there are two main drawbacks with the Woodrat, it's slower in operation, and the router bits for fine dovetails have a weird slope angle, something like 1:9, which they have to be to stop the bit snapping off in operation. After you've been involved in cabinet making for any time you'll spot this strange angle straight away...it just doesn't look right, especially as the current fashion is away from the traditional 1:8 and towards bolder angles like 1:7 or even 1:6.

However, as a hobbyist why bother with jigs at all, you're not under any time pressures so why not just dovetail by hand? It really isn't that hard and the results are way better than any jig can deliver.

But if the thought of cutting a dovetail the old school way chills your blood then there is a half way house that's worth exploring.

http://www.davidbarronfurniture.co.uk/d ... ?pg=1&id=5

David Barron's system is a lot cheaper than any router based jig, and the results have that genuine hand cut dovetail look.

 

[mailee]

If it's speed and consistency you want you won't go far wrong with the Dakota jig from Rutlands. OK it only cuts set, through dovetails, but is so easy to set up and use. Not to mention much cheaper than the others on the market. :wink:

 

[dejaa]

Have you considered making a jig? If you're only going to use it "maybe once" you will achieve consistancy on all corners with whatever design you choose plus save a fortune.

I did this for a sycamore bookcase commission it worked perfectly. Ill try and post a picture of it

David

 

[John15]

Hi Stu,
Have another think about cutting them by hand if you don't need mass production. I surprised myself - I hadn't cut a dovetail since my schooldays 55 years ago. I cut myself a 1:7 template and made a simple 6" square box as a practice and they turned out quite presentable - not expert standard of course still not bad.
Cheers,
John

 

[DiscoStu]

Really not too keen on the idea of doing it buy hand. I am intending to make some drawers and thought it would be nice to do some Dovetails, but I'm never going to be a craftsman buying the finest planes etc. I'm more about producing something good using the maximum number of powers tools possible. ie If I can use a sander rather than a block and sand paper, or drill a hole with a battery drill, etc. etc.

I'm sure there will be many great craftsmen shaking their head in disgust, but I don't have huge amounts of time and I am keen to get on and make stuff!

 

[Rhossydd]

One thing to be aware of when using any router jig for dovetails is the necessity of having accurately dimensioned stock to work with. Small errors in thickness get multiplied and you can end up with pretty dreadful joints.
If you haven't got a planer/thicknesser yourself, take great care that all the bits you use are the same width and thickness. When I first started 'serious' woodworking with routers this caught me out with my first fixed pitch jig.
Also allow for quite a few trial pieces to ensure the router and jig are set correctly.

As pointed out above; A cheap fixed pitch jig is OK if you let it define the sizes of the drawers. The Axi one also has an additional accessory jig so you can get two different pitches that will increase your options.
But the Leigh jig really is the Rolls Royce of kit for this.