StevieB
Established Member
I have been looking at dovetail jigs and finger joint jigs, reading previous posts and am still at a loss. What I think I want is a system that will do finger joints and dovetail joints (through and half lapped). Not sure if I need infinately variable spacing as for now at least, I have a requirement to make multiple drawers and carcasses in good quality ply, possibly the odd few in good timber, for functional drawers etc only. We are not talking show piece furniture here at all. Hand cutting is not an option and budget is probably somewhat less than £200 if possible. Below is a summary of my findings to date, and anything I have missed or advice is greatly welcomed.
Simple jigs seem to vary in what they do (some do finger joints, some do not) but all have fixed spacing. These range in price from around £30 up to £70 with possibly more for additional templates to allow half blind dovetails or finger joints. The top in this bracket would be the Trend CDJ300 / 600.
The next step up seems to be the leigh DC1600 at around £230. This allows through and half blind dovetails with variable spacing, and if you purchase additional templates (although I can only find these on the American website) finger joints and isolock joints. These templates are fairly expensive though.
Finally there is the Leigh D4 and Trend DC400, which does the same as the DC1600 but in a bigger piece of timber and with a bigger price tag.
There is also the woodrat that does dovetails and more. Obvoiusly I dont want to open a can of worms and reignite the age old debate!
I am leaning towards either the cheap Axminster jig plus fine template, or the Trend CDJ300 and additional templates as necessary. Any fors or againsts this approach would be welcome. The Leigh DC1600 is tempting but a bit pricy and needs an additional finger template. A little rat is a possibility but again a bit pricy and there is always the niggle that the bigger version would be better.
The one concern I do have is that the Trend CDJ300 requires timber to be a minimum of 12mm thick. Is this a requirement of all jigs? If I wanted to put a finger joint in a small ply drawer with sides 6mm thick do I just use a scrap packer piece to make it up to 12mm?
Cheers for reading this far!
Steve.
Simple jigs seem to vary in what they do (some do finger joints, some do not) but all have fixed spacing. These range in price from around £30 up to £70 with possibly more for additional templates to allow half blind dovetails or finger joints. The top in this bracket would be the Trend CDJ300 / 600.
The next step up seems to be the leigh DC1600 at around £230. This allows through and half blind dovetails with variable spacing, and if you purchase additional templates (although I can only find these on the American website) finger joints and isolock joints. These templates are fairly expensive though.
Finally there is the Leigh D4 and Trend DC400, which does the same as the DC1600 but in a bigger piece of timber and with a bigger price tag.
There is also the woodrat that does dovetails and more. Obvoiusly I dont want to open a can of worms and reignite the age old debate!
I am leaning towards either the cheap Axminster jig plus fine template, or the Trend CDJ300 and additional templates as necessary. Any fors or againsts this approach would be welcome. The Leigh DC1600 is tempting but a bit pricy and needs an additional finger template. A little rat is a possibility but again a bit pricy and there is always the niggle that the bigger version would be better.
The one concern I do have is that the Trend CDJ300 requires timber to be a minimum of 12mm thick. Is this a requirement of all jigs? If I wanted to put a finger joint in a small ply drawer with sides 6mm thick do I just use a scrap packer piece to make it up to 12mm?
Cheers for reading this far!
Steve.
