Best dovetail jig?

[Christopher Kanda]

What do you think is the best most versitile and easy to learn/use jig out there at this time? You never know if santa might get you one. Pics of samples would be great too.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Christopher,

That's kinda like Chevy or Ford......Honda or Toyota.....it really depends on what's important to you.....what your skill level is.....what your budget is.......router or neander....

Are you trying to start a battle here?


I bought a Porter-Cable just because that's what the local HD carried at the time and the nearest competing store was 110 miles away.

[Ray Chalenski]

I bought a barely used Leigh Jig from my partner's father-in-law. There is a nbit of a learning curve needed but it's a great jig.The manual explains everything in great detail.The only thing you should get would be the 8mm bits over the 1/4 shank bits.They do make a difference in the cuts.

[Keith Harrell]

Without a doubt the leigh only because I have one. I have never tied the others and but liked the fact the leigh has a number of options. It does take time for the setup but once it's done it's very fast to cut dovetails. I have to sit down with some scrap wood the first time if it been along time:confused:. If I cut dovetails every week the setup would only be five minutes. It's without doubt the more expense on the units. I decided on the L4 model which can do 24" boards. I thought I would never do that width but find I do a number of projects over 12" now. I just did two that were 20"
Good luck

[Stephen Edwards]

Seek information and opinions on the Akeda DT jig. That jig gets high marks by people who have used it and others. So, you can get opinions from folks who have actually used and compared different jigs. From my research, I've decided that's the one that I'm going to get.

Any Akedea owners want to chime in and help this fella make his decision?!

[roman fedyk]

I have all the major DT jigs, but the one that gets used all the time is the Akeda. It requires no setup, has guide rails so that the router slides evenly without actually touching the guide fingers. On the Leigh you have to buy a VRS attachment to have that capability. Also if you want to make box fingers on the Leigh you need to buy an attachment for $250. That capability is included in the Akeda.

There are many more good things to say about the Akeda. Go to www.akeda .com and check it out.....