Economy Dovetail Jig - Lee valley

[Bill Sanson]

Hey all i was curious if anyone had any experience with this jig or had any thoughts on it. It seems like a pretty good deal just curious how easy it was to operate or if i was getting myself in trouble. Normally i do dovetails by hand but i just dont have the time lately so i thought this could help. cheers

[Steve Wurster]

See the other thread: http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?180897-Lee-Valley-quot-Economy-Dovetail-Jig-quot

[Jerome Hanby]

Haven't seen on n person but on the www it reminded me of the Rockler jig.

[Prashun Patel]

This depends on what kind of dovetailer you want to be.

If you just want something for occasional use, then these economy units are fine. And I'm confident that a product from Lee Valley is either made well or they'll honor a return if it's not what you anticipated. And that $99 price is about the best I've seen on such a unit.

There are a few limitations I see, which is why I say it's probably best for occasional use:

1) 12" capacity. That's really only suitable for drawers and smaller casework. On some units that use a single plate for the pins and tails, it's a little easier to decouple the plate from the base unit and make an auxiliary mounting jig to handle larger stock. Even doing that is no walk in the park, bkz it requires you to move the jig down the stock, which is clamp and time intensive.

2) Fixed spacing. Some of the fancier jigs allow you to alter the tail size. This one's stuck at the 'standard-machine-made-looking' spacing.

3) No dust collection

If you find that you fall in love with dovetailing, it is only a matter of time until you lust for the versatility and ease of use of some of the larger jigs or find yrself on the quest of that Holy Grail - handcut dovetails.

[Jerome Hanby]

You know, if you just want simple full dovetails, why not spend much less on a Stot's Jig and crank out your own template of whatever length you want?