Hi, I have been given some nice white oak to make a book case with. Given that I am an amateur, can anyone recommend a jig and router, or other way of making good dovetail joints? Many thanks.
Or if you can spend a bit more then a Leigh jig and 1/2" dewalt router, thats what I use. The ability to adjust the spacing is a big advantage for things like this Jason
If you are on a budget and don't mind through dovetails. I use a De Walt 1/4" router and the Dakota jig from Rutlands power tools. It is around £40 and comes complete with two cutters for the pins and tails. It is very accurate very easy to set up and fool proof. It consits of a alloy plate laser cut with pins and tails and all you have to do is add an MDF upright to hold the timber at right angles to it. clamp it to the bench, set the depth and rout the tails. change bit repeat, and cut the pins, easy. I also have a blind dovetail jig but this takes almost half an hour to set up and will only cut blind dovetails. Best on the market is of course the Leigh Jig but at a price. HTH.
if you are building a bookcase, forget about dovetails, and learn how to make mortises and wedged tenons. dovetails have no place in furniture except in drawers.
Ta for all the replies. Is ther a single tool for making Tennon and Mortice joints, and for dovetails? I know that you can buy a dovetail jig and router, and also buy a 'Morticer'. Also, I know that a saw and chisel can be used, but what is the easiest way to make these joints, (can a router do everything)?
yes, you could do all the jointing with a router, ie you could cut the tenons and the mortises, but you would really need a router table to do the tenons properly,(also a home made wooden jig which you could easily make yourself) and you would need a chisel to square off the mortises since the router leaves rounded corners. if you are planning to build more furniture, then a router and router table would be a sound investment.
If you are building a bookcase, forget about dovetails Why forget dovetails, granted they may be a bit OTT for a beginner to use for the carcase but a sliding dovetail is an ideal joint for joining the shelf to the upright, (something that can be done on the Leigh BTW) dovetails have no place in furniture except in drawers How would you join a top draw rail to the top of a table leg, dovetail is the standard way to do it. And wedged tennons will only be of use for the shelf/upright join, what about the carcase (Leigh will also do multiple M&T Joints) The other thing to watch with a lot of the smaller jigs is that they will not handle material thick enough for a bookcase, and the 1/4" routers suggested above won't be man enough.(yes you guessed it the leigh will do 32mm thick timber) It's relatively easy to make a simple jig to cut mortices, then spend your money on a router table ond us ethat to cut the tennons. Copme and have a look through some of the projects on this forum, you should see how people cut their joints Jason
Thanks Jasonb and murrnmac, I 'plan' to dovetail the top board, and M&T the lowest one. Sounds like a router, jig and table are in order. But... the oak is approx 23mm thick, so, what router and jig will be man enough?
You could try, http://www.trend-uk.com/en/UK/product/CDJ300/6/dovetail%20jig/craft_dovetail_jig_300mm.html http://www.trend-uk.com/en/UK/product/DC400/6/dovetail%20jig/dovetailing_centre_400mm.html and/or http://www.trend-uk.com/en/UK/product/MT_JIG/6/mortise/mortise_and_tenon_jig.html If you wanted to use a router, HTH andy@trend
If you intend to use through dovetails then the Leigh and the WoodRat are the only ones that I know will do it for certain, Gifkin may but they are not easy to get hold of and are intended for smaller boxmaking. You will need to use quite a large DT cutter so 8mm collet size will be the minimum, 1/2" better. Trend T10 &t11, Dewalt 625, CMT will all do as will most other decent brand 1/2" routers If you are going for half-lap or blind DTs then one of the ones Andy linked to will do as well as the two above. Jason
I bought mine ages ago and went for a Dewalt. Surprisingly high quality and lasted me for years despite being used frequently on projects. I'd suggest have a look around on some comparison and thorough articles like this (http://woodworkingtoolkit.com/best-dovetail-jig-reviews) to get a better idea, too.
Whatever route you take, (no pun intended!), I make sure you get some cheap pine and practise on that first. You don't want to mess up the nice oak! Regards, Cando