Has anyone ever tried to make a dovetail jig?

presumed_druid

Dovetail joints fascinate and confound me! I've never actually cut one, so my question may be full of holes...

I've seen simple shopmade jigs for cutting tails (or is it pins!??) for half-lap dovetails, but never for through dovetails.

I've looked at manufactured dovetail jigs, and they look rather complicated... but the actual guide looks relatively straight forward.

Has anyone ever tried to make one?

It's in my head that some day I will try to make one... but I have the feeling that any response to this post is going to be of a negative persuasion

If I were to attempt it, what pitfalls should I be aware of?

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template tom

Never ever having bought a jig I set out to make a dovetail Jig and produced a dovtail joint with the second cut
Tom

presumed_druid

Could you describe it? Or better yet, describe it and send in a picture?

template tom

I'll work on a drawing for you
Tom

presumed_druid

I appreciate it, and I'm sure that others will as well! No rush on this end... just don't totally forget about it

hal

Hey Presumed, a couple of nights ago I was looking though my binder of Shop Notes and saw just what your are looking for. It is after midnight and the binder is in the shop and baby it is cold out there, so you will have to wait a day or so and I will send you the issue number. The jig looked to be well thought out and not to complicated and can be setup to make different size dovetails. I read through the plans and I think even I could build it. See you in a day or two.

hal

I looked up the Shop Notes this afternoon. What you want is issue #43 January 1999. You can go to www.shopnotes.com, and order a copy for about $4.99 that is if you can't scrounge one from someone. Hope this helps.

trap

I have made a jig, not the usual type but for a splin dovetail. You can read about it at jointech.com Hit download and then scroll down to splin jig. unusual, yes, but does a really good looking dovetails.

zxxer12

Has any body tried one of the Rockler dovetail template master??

jeff12002

Hi everyone, New to the site, and so far it seems great. I have built the dovetail jig from plans out of Woodsmith Magazine, which is quite likely the same one featured in Shopnotes Magazine mentioned in one of the earlier posts. It is relatively straight forward, and it does work well. Making the comb was a challenge because it has to be just right. An adjustable finger joint fixture makes this process alot easier. Once I had the finger joint jig dialed in, I made a second comb the same as the first. I then filed the round end in one of the fingers on one of the combs. clamped the two together with the fingers and slots lined up, and used the router table and a pattern bit to duplicate the rounded end on the other fingers. Rounding the ends of the fingers on the comb took less time that getting the finger joint jig dialed in. I downloaded my plans for both the adjustable finger joint jig, and the dovetail jig from www.plansnow.com for about $5 each (Both work very well). I've used the Stots Dovetail Template Master also. It works well for through dovetails. The only pitfalls I see with either set-up, and this goes for any non-adjustable jig, is that your project plans need to be planned around the jig if you want to get half-fingers on both ends of the dovetail joint. I made a drawing for a through dovetail comb for the woodsmith Dovetail Jig, but have yet to make it. (It's based off the Stots Jig)