Dovetail Jig Buying Advice
George VondriskaDovetail joints are a beautiful addition to your woodworking projects, so master woodworker George Vondriska shares his buying advice on what to look for when purchasing a dovetail jig. A WoodWorkers Guild of America (WWGOA) original video clip.
Joinery Jig provided by Prazi. For more information, visit www.praziusa.com.
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Woodworkers love a dovetail joint. The people who receive your woodworking projects love to see a dovetail joint. And there is nothing like a dovetail joint that fits great and goes together well. I get asked all the time about buying advice for dovetail jigs. I got a couple things I wanna tell you about.
One, I recommend you shop for capacity, versatility, ease of use. So for capacity, there's a lot of jigs out there that will easily handle 12-inch components. What if you wanna do a blanket chest that's 22 or 24 inches deep? You wanna look for an item that for your future woodworking need is gonna handle that. What about joints outside of dovetails?
I can give you some examples here. I can show you what I'm talking about. I've got a jig here that will let me cover these things that I'm telling you about. So for instance on the capacity side with this particular setup, I can make a storyboard or a layout board as wide as I want to. So it's a little bit unique in that I don't have a specific dovetail template I have to follow.
This is what I'm gonna follow. The way it comes together is that once you've got the board kerfed and this simple screw in here for a stop, I can place that against my target material that I'm gonna be working on. Get that firmly clamped in place. Then there's a corresponding pin in the dovetail jig that goes into that kerf. So so far versatility, capacity, ability to control your own layout.
Great features that we've got covered here. Let's get a couple of tails cut on this piece. So you can really see now how I'm getting my diversity of layout in this. And again, that infinite capacity. My cuts I've made here line up with the kerfs in this board.
That provides the tail cuts I need on this one. Now with just a simple change over, I'll be ready to do pins and sockets. With that changeover on the jig and a fresh storyboard here clamped to my pin and socket board, same kerfs as we used in the previous layout, I'm ready to cut pins and sockets. So that's the start of the formation of our pin and socket board here. Now we talked about a couple of buying advice things here.
One is the infinite, the diversity of layout that we can get. Capacity, got those covered here. What about the ability for a jig to change from dovetails to other functions? Some jigs are capable of doing box joints, finger joints as well. Let's have a look at that.
Now back to that versatility. With another change of the insert, I can cut both halves of a finger joint. Once again, story stick on here that I produced with my own layout, kerfing that on the table saw. Could be of infinite length providing both components of a well-fitting finger joint. Now I'll show you another function we can manage here.
With another change of the insert, I can cut a mortis with this. So the guide bushing on my router is gonna travel back and forth inside the slot. Here's how it goes. That provides the mortis. Now one more function after this I can still show you.
So once again, back to the storyboard that I can make with whatever layout I want. Now I can put this jig on, and I'm just gonna use one side of that slot. Watch what I get. So once again using a storyboard of my own creation, I can get perfectly spaced dowel holes on a bunch of different boards, and then I can use dowel joinery to bring those boards together. So let's go back to this buying advice idea, recommendations on dovetail jig shopping.
Look for capacity, make sure the dovetail jig will do every project you want it to do. Look for that diversity of layout so that you can control the layout rather than be married into a layout that's dictated by a fixed-comb dovetail jig. Finally, versatility is a wonderful thing to have. That's a bang for your buck idea. The more the jig'll do, the more bang you can get out of it, the more projects you can use it for.
So that versatility is a wonderful feature to have in any tool in your shop, especially in a dovetail jig.
Hi George, The video popped up on my app this morning. I ran it and touched the link. PraziUSA does not have the Jig on their website. Do you know anyone that offers it for sale?
The jig used in this video is exactly what I have been looking for. While I love the dovetail joint, I much prefer the look of a "hand cut" look. With all the dovetail jigs I have seen, you are locked into a set pattern and size . But this jig looks to be exactly what I need for my shop. Where can I get it? I looked on praziusa and was unable to find it. Maybe you can help. I very much enjoy your videos and all the articles, keep up the great work. I hope to someday be as knowledgeable as you. Thanks
Good afternoon I am looking for a dovetail that I can use with my router table. Since I do not have a hand held router and do not want to take apart the router table every time I need it would like to find one I can use with the table. Tony
I picked up a "ChestMate™" several years ago at Sears for, if memory serves, about $30.00. It was a display model & is missing the video and the bits. I foolishly tossed it on a back shelf and have studiously ignored it ever since. Your demonstration of its heretofore "Hidden" capabilities have inspired me to brush off the dust on the box and clear the cobwebs from my mind and put it to use. Thanks. (I'll send for their video, if they still have it and pick up the bits w/carbide cutters from Whiteside.)
When I went to praziusa your link, they do not recognize the term dovetail jig and show no such tools??
Hello Video does not work : / Commercials Only\
If dowel joints are your choice then strongly consider the DowelMax jig. It is versatile, easy to use and produces a strong and stable joint.
Hi George. I hope you can answer my question regarding this jig. I am going to be making our kitchen cabinets. Due to my wife's health issues and limited mobility, I am going to make all the lower cabinets with pull out shelves instead of shelves. As such, I am debating on the best way to make a lot of drawers. I have been thinking of dovetails as they would be the strongest joint, but don't have the money for a jig like Katie or Leigh. I could cut them by hand but it will be a LOT of drawers to cut. I saw the Prazi Jig in a magazine review and your demonstration of it here. It looks like it might work, but was wondering how fast would it be having to move it for every joint. It also seems more limiting on the size of the joint it makes. What are your thoughts on the usefulness on this jig for using this jig for a whole kitchen worth of drawers. The other joint I was considering is the drawer lock joint. This seems like a quick and easy joint to make with a router table. I could use my pin nailer to help hold it together. I am just not sure on the how long a joint like that would last under daily use of kitchen cabinets. I will be using solid wood not plywood for the drawers. Mike