Is this Rockler dovetail jig good enough?

[keith micinski]

I have been getting these Rockler adds for a month or two now and I am almost ready to bite the bullet and by this jig. I am only going to use it once or twice a year. I do not need a 3 or 400 dollar dovetail jig. That having been said if this jig is hard to use or not that accurate I would rather not waste my money on it. Any one have any experience with this jig as a hobbiest jig?

http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=17367&utm_source=NL&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=V1927

[Derek Gilmer]

What are you going to do with it? One limitation of it and other lower end jigs is variable spacing. I've got the porter cable 4212 and it is great. But your drawers/dovetail pieces need to be sized to fit what the template dictates. For the pc it is something along the lines of it always has to be X and 1/4". If you are ok with that limitation the Rockler or PC should serve you well. You can even buy mine cheap since I've become addicted to doing them by hand :)

*edit

Oh ya, have plenty of test stock to get it dialed in. But once it is dialed in to match what you are doing the results should be dead on every time. Especially if you are doing half blind where you route both pieces at once.

[keith micinski]

I would almost exclusively be doing half blind dovetails for drawers. I have an Incra system to do other sizes and shapes but it is kind of a hassel to use just to do one drawer of half blinds. If I am understanding you right, if I want to make dovetailed drawers for a table then I have to make them 4 1/4 inches tall instead of say 4 or 4 1/8 because of the way the pins and tails line up. If thats the case I don't like that at all.

[Bruce Wrenn]

A big PLUS 1 on the PC 4212. Go online and read the "Advanced Manual." The 4212 can do many types of joints, but variable spaced isn't one of them.

[Derek Gilmer]

I would almost exclusively be doing half blind dovetails for drawers. I have an Incra system to do other sizes and shapes but it is kind of a hassel to use just to do one drawer of half blinds. If I am understanding you right, if I want to make dovetailed drawers for a table then I have to make them 4 1/4 inches tall instead of say 4 or 4 1/8 because of the way the pins and tails line up. If thats the case I don't like that at all.
Yep, all not adjustable dovetail jigs, which the rockler and pc 4212 are, will dictate a certain width for the drawer stock. I don't know what it is off the top of my head. And there is some variability. But I know even sizes like 4", 5" etc don't work well.

[keith micinski]

Thanks, it looks like I will have to do a little more research on these then. I don't want to have to start building a project around the size of my dovetail jig thats for sure.

[Greg Wease]

I have used both the Rockler and PC jigs and they work fine for what they are intended to do. As far as the ideal drawer height issue, you can make drawers a bit shorter than the opening and size a plant-on front the desired size. For the same money you could also purchase the ultimate in adjustable dovetails: a saw and a chisel. Cordless, too.

[Prashun Patel]

I haven't used this jig. I have a thru-dovetail plate which I'm able to use on varying stock width by referencing off the top of the drawer for half of the tails/pins, and then the bottoms for the other half of the tails and pins. This requires a lot of pin clean up by 'inching' the template over a little at a time to get at the waste between pins, but has the nice effect of making variable spaced dt's possible.

There's a pic of this on the MLCS website for their thru dovetail jig. I don't see why you can't do the same thing on small drawers with this jig.

[keith micinski]

I recently just tried my hand at some carving and as much as I enjoy the result I didn't enjoy the process all that much. I'm not sure of much in life but one thing I am sure of is that I am never going to get bit by the "Cut dovetails by hand bug"

[Jim Rimmer]

I have this jig (got it before the DC attachement was availble). Previous limitations aside, it is easy to sue. I have two PC 690s set up for through DTs on 1/2" stock.

I haven't considered the height (width?) limitations until now. I wonder if you could use a sacrificial spacer to compensate for the width issue? Now that I've typed this I don't think I have given it enough thought.

[Buck Williams]

I have this jig (got it before the DC attachement was availble). Previous limitations aside, it is easy to sue. I have two PC 690s set up for through DTs on 1/2" stock.

I haven't considered the height (width?) limitations until now. I wonder if you could use a sacrificial spacer to compensate for the width issue? Now that I've typed this I don't think I have given it enough thought.

It could be just blind luck, or half blind luck with me, but I've never considered the width/ depth of a drawer when using a half blind dovetail jig. It hasn't been an issue if I end up with small fraction of a pin or tail at the end of a certain width board. It still all holds together with a bit of glue and makes a solid drawer. Anyone else out there just pick a drawer depth and go with it without problems?

[Jim Rimmer]

It could be just blind luck, or half blind luck with me, but I've never considered the width/ depth of a drawer when using a half blind dovetail jig. It hasn't been an issue if I end up with small fraction of a pin or tail at the end of a certain width board. It still all holds together with a bit of glue and makes a solid drawer. Anyone else out there just pick a drawer depth and go with it without problems?

My sentiments as well. That's why i hadn't given it much thought.